Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards

OMSFA advising

Before you schedule an appointment with OMSFA advisors

To get the most out of your meeting with us, please take a few first steps:

STEP 1: If you are just getting started with searching for scholarships, please first

    1. explore our “Getting Started” resources or
    2. watch this short “how and where to search for scholarships” video. 

STEP 2: Try some scholarship searching to identify specific scholarships you would like to pursue. Browse through these scholarship guides and expand your search using additional search tools.

STEP 3: Schedule an appointment to talk with an advisor using the calendar below.

    1. Please schedule one appointment as a first step. During your appointment, please discuss with your advisor if additional appointments might be helpful.
    2. For students/alumni working on specific applications over a significant time period, multiple meetings may be needed, and your advisor can talk with you about frequency.
    3. We are a small advising team, so we may limit appointments as necessary to equitably serve our student and alumni community.

STEP 4: For feedback on drafts: Please share drafts with us at least the day before your meeting so we can prepare robust feedback, generate questions and ideas.

    1. Email drafts to the adviser you’re meeting with: either Robin or Chetana. 
    2. If you can’t send drafts in advance, that’s ok, you can share in the meeting, but please expect our feedback to be less thorough.

What to expect

Appointment length & format

  • Advising appointments are usually 30-45 minutes long.
  • We will likely ask a lot of questions about your interests, activities, studies, goals, etc. But don’t worry, we don’t expect you to have all the answers!
  • This is also an opportunity to ask questions you may have after doing preliminary searches and attending a workshop. Don’t be afraid to ask us any questions you might have about scholarships, applications, letters of recommendation, etc.
  • We may be able to suggest scholarships and programs for you to consider, but we won’t be able to give you a perfect list. Plan to set aside some time to do more searching.

For feedback on drafts

  • Please email your drafts the day before, as noted above.
  • You don’t need to be at final polishing stages to seek feedback. We are happy to offer feedback all along the way, from early to later drafts. 
  • If you don’t have drafts yet, but want to brainstorm before writing, we also welcome that! Plan to bring the application prompts and your initial ideas to the meeting.

More about our advising approach

  • We are here to support you and we view the scholarship application process as a learning opportunity.
  • We respect you and your experiences. Advising discussions can sometimes touch on sensitive topics (for example financial, legal, identity or other personal information). We will approach these conversations with care and emphasis on supporting you in reaching your goals. 
  • We understand applying for scholarships requires resilience!

Book an appointment with OMSFA: