High school seniors just starting their school year, back to cheer on their school football team, enjoying one last ride with friends and eager to start the college application and scholarship search process - we’ve got the details for you. First a quick rundown of Wichita State for the uninitiated. With about 17,000 students and located in the largest city in Kansas, a core focus of ours is helping Shockers leverage the best of a college environment with all the rewards of a city teeming with internships, entertainment, cultural attractions and affordability. If Wichita State is somewhere on your college search list, let’s cut to the chase with what you need to know about scholarship opportunities for new freshmen.

The first step - get accepted to Wichita State. That’s the key to all scholarships with us as admission gives you access to our freshmen merit and academic scholarships with total awards between $4,000 to $24,000. Scholarship offers from our Financial Aid team will start rolling out as early as September so grab your share now. While we’re excited to offer a completely test-optional admission and scholarship process, the scholarship pockets go a bit further for those who provide qualifying test scores. There’s no separate scholarship application to be considered, we’re able to send you an award letter based on the academic profile you share with us on your admission application.

Second, for those who are interested in deeper scholarship opportunities (who isn’t, right?) consider our Distinguished Scholarship Invitational and related academic competitions based on select majors. We offer three Gore Scholarships valued at $64,000 each, the Barton and Walsh Scholarships worth $50,000 each, two $32,700 Jabara Scholarships, ten $28,500 Wallace Scholarships, and much more.

For the most part, though, if you have at least a 3.5 GPA or a 27 or higher ACT (1260 SAT) or rank in the top ten percent of your class, it’s likely you’ll qualify to compete for specific opportunities. Not to mention that we also offer a $50,000 scholarship for National Merit Scholars. Many of the competitions have an Oct. 15 priority application deadline so don’t wait to apply for admission!

Third, ScholarshipUniverse is the super-powerful scholarship search platform you need to become besties with. The financial aid team has endless Wichita State, regional and national scholarships available to admitted students to browse and apply for. You can create your official all-things Wichita State myWSU account and then log into ScholarshipU to create your profile. Your profile will help us match your interests, major, academic profile and much more with scholarships you should consider applying for with ease. Every scholarship is different and while some may just take a few clicks, others may require an additional essay or two, and then others may need more documentation like a reference letter. The key is, ScholarshipU is loaded with millions of dollars in scholarship opportunities and our students – both new and returning students – get to see them all.
 
That should be enough to get you started with our scholarship process at Wichita State. Your admissions rep is always ready to help you by answering questions about anything in Shocker Nation, whether it’s scholarships or otherwise. They’re a good place to start if you need an extra nudge in the right direction.