Veterinary Scholarships for College Students

Veterinary Scholarships

Veterinary Scholarships

If you plan to enter the fields of veterinary medicine when you finish college then look into veterinary scholarships for college students from the Saul T. Wilson Scholarship Program. This veterinary scholarship program is sponsored by the USDA-APHIS, and is available to students who are already in college, and already enrolled in a program that will lead to veterinary medicine upon graduation.

In order to qualify for the Saul T. Wilson Jr. Scholarship Program, you must be a citizen of the United States. You must already be enrolled as a student in a college or University that is accredited and located in the United States. You must be a fulltime student, and your academic standing must be good. If you are an undergraduate, you must have already completed two years of either pre-veterinary study or another biomedical science study for these scholarships. If you are a graduate student, you must have completed up to, but not more than one year of a veterinary medicine curriculum.

When you apply for the Saul T. Wilson Jr. Scholarship Program, you must agree that if you win a pre-veterinary scholarship under this program that you will work for USDA-APHIS during summer and holidays while you are attending school. While performing your duties, you may work with livestock and poultry, in a veterinarian capacity. These tasks may include observation, routine medical procedures, scheduling and performing tests, tagging animals, keeping records, and other tasks associated with veterinary science. This gives you the opportunity to get real world experience in the veterinarian environment before you finish school.

The deadline for applying for the program is March 1st of each year, and the scholarship benefits are available to winners of the veterinary scholarships for the following fall semester. When you apply, you must include your resume, your college transcripts, and a letter of acceptance into a graduate program, if you have already been accepted, three recommendation letters, an essay, and any documentation concerning your service with the United States Military, if this applies.

Winners of the veterinary scholarships will receive $5000 per year if they are under graduates or $10,000 per year for graduate students. These funds are to be used to pay for tuition, fees, books, and tutors, if they are needed. Additionally, the winners will be paid for the work that they have agreed to do for the USDA-APHIS during the summer months and holiday seasons while attending school, and an opportunity for full time employment upon graduation.

When you accept your veterinary scholarship, you must agree to work for APHIS for one year for each year that you received the award while in school. If you fail to meet this obligation after your graduation, you will be required to reimburse the USDA-APHIS for the entire amount of your scholarships for veterinary through this program.

Considering the amount of the veterinary scholarships for college students offered with the Saul T. Wilson Scholarship Program, the real world experience gained while you are still in school, and the opportunity for employment upon graduation, even after your work obligation has been fulfilled, these are definitely scholarships for veterinary students worth considering if a career in veterinarian medicine is your goal.

FFA Scholarships in Agriculture

FFA Scholarships

FFA Scholarships

If you are a member of Future Farmers of America, you may be eligible for their national FFA scholarships in agriculture. The FFA has about two million dollars in scholarship money available every year. These national FFA scholarship awards are spread out over multiple agriculture scholarships awarded by the FFA annually. The FFA has a variety of ag scholarships available, with different eligibility requirements for each.

Many of the FFA scholarships in agriculture that are available do not come directly from the FAA. Instead, they are awarded by private businesses and major corporations, to members of the FFA. Scholarships are available from Ford, Cargill, The National Association of Farm Broadcasters, AGCO, AGDATA, Wilbur-Ellis, Alpha Gamma Rho, Agrium, American Family Insurance, the American Veterinary Medical Association and many others.

To help students and members of the FFA to find out about FAA scholarships that are available, the FFA makes a agricultural scholarship guide available for download, free of charge, from their website. All students who are members of the FAA and their parents are encouraged to download and view this guide by the student’s junior year of high school, so that they have time to see which agriculture scholarships they are eligible for, and so that they can get their applications filled out and submitted by the deadline.

These ag scholarships may only be granted if you are majoring in a specific agricultural related field. Many of them use a wide range of criteria in awarding the national FFA scholarships, and most will include your involvement with the FFA, and may possibly include leadership skills and community service, as well as your grades and ACT and SAT scores. Again, there are different requirements for each scholarship that is offered in association with the FFA.

Through the FFA website, FFA members can apply for more than one thousand of these agricultural scholarships, with just one application. However, some of the scholarship programs require their own separate application as well. The applications are available in November of each year, and winners are selected and notified by May of the following year. These awards are for the school year that begins either in August or September of the same year. If you win one of these FFA scholarships, you will receive information about how to claim your ag scholarship by May before you start school in the fall.

Along with the agricultural scholarships guide that is available to students and parents from the FFA website, you should also be aware that you must fill out and submit your application online, as hard copy applications are not accepted. Information that you will need for your FFA scholarships application include your FFA chapter number and membership number, your FFA advisor’s contact information, your class rank and GPA, and of course, your ACT or SAT scores.

As you can see, being a member of the FFA has more benefits that you first imagined. The FFA is a wonderful organization for students, but just being a member of the organization also enables you to pay for your college education more easily. Aside from the experience and learning opportunities that the organization provides, this is why many students join the FFA during their freshman year of high school so they may apply and hopefully land a few of these national FFA scholarships in agriculture to help pay for college.

USDA Scholarships in Agriculture

USDA Scholarships

USDA Scholarships

If you are considering apply for the USDA/1890 National Scholars Program agriculture scholarships, there are several things that you need to know about what is required and expected of you in order to win these scholarships in agriculture, to attend school, and to find employment after your graduation. These USDA scholarships in agriculture are offered from the United States Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the 1890 Black Land Grant Universities.

First, these USDA scholarships are only available for students who will attend one of the 18 Black Land Grant Universities. These Universities include Florida A&M, Kentucky State University, Prairie View A&M, the University of Arkansas, Alabama A&M, Langston University, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Southern University, West Virginia State University, Tennessee State University, Lincoln University, Tuskegee University, Virginia State University, North Carolina A&T University, Fort Valley State University, Alcorn State University, South Carolina State University, and Delaware State University.

Attending one of these colleges isn’t the only thing that is required for the USDA/1890 National Scholars Scholarship Program. The student must also major in agriculture, nutrition or food science, or other fields related to the agriculture and natural resources industries. You must be a citizen of the United States, have a GPA of at least 3.0, and have leadership qualities and have verifiable proof of community service. You must also have a score of at least 1500 on the SAT or a score of 21 on the ACT.

If you are not currently a high school student, but are instead a sophomore or junior in college, you must also submit a resume, two letters of recommendation, and an essay to apply for the USDA/1890 National Scholars Program. Applications can be obtained online, but must be mailed in once they are completed, and postmarked on or before the February 1st deadline each year. Winners are notified between March 1st and April 30th, and those who did not win the USDA scholarships are notified by mail during the month of May. The applications are not sent to the USDA, they are sent directly to the school that you will be attending.

If you are awarded one of these agricultural scholarships, you will be required to work for the United States Department of Agriculture for a certain number of years beginning immediately after your graduation. The number of years coincides with the number of years that you received the award while attending school; so at most, you would be required to work for the USDA for a period of four years.

There are approximately 36 USDA scholarships for agriculture awarded under the program each year, and each ag scholarship provides the students with full tuition and associated fees, books, a laptop computer with a printer and software, room and board, and summer employment with the USDA while you are still attending school. Essentially, your entire education is paid for, which is what makes the USDA scholarships in agriculture offered under this program so attractive, and the application process so competitive.

You should also note that you can apply for the USDA scholarship program at more than one 1890 Landmark University by sending a copy of the application to each school that you are interested in attending. However, with the copy of the application, all signatures and transcripts must be original.

The USDA/1890 National Scholars Program should definitely be considered and applied for if you will be attending a qualifying college, if you meet the eligibility requirements and you will be going into an agriculture field, as you not only get the financial aid, but you will also get almost immediate experience in your chosen field upon graduation – guaranteed.

ARMS Agriculture Scholarship from USDA