Overall Process

Below is an overview of what to expect throughout the scholarship application process.

General tip: Make sure everyone (principal, nominator, student, recommender, etc.) involved in this process sets their spam/junk mail filters to accept all emails from @email.zenginehq.com and @webportalapp.com and @carsonscholars.org. Zengine is the online application host and many important emails will come from them.

Step 1: The Carson Scholars Fund (CSF) reviews the nomination.

We make every effort to review nominations within two business days.

If the nomination does not appear to be valid, we will contact the school. Reasons a nomination may be questioned include but are not limited to: the nominator does not appear to be a qualified school official, the school has already nominated a different student, the nominated student has already been awarded a Carson Scholarship, or the nominated student does not appear to meet our requirements.

Step 2: The nominee receives the application link.

Once a nomination is approved, an email will be sent to the student inviting him/her to start the application. The email will be sent to the email address for the student provided in the nomination form and will include a link to the online application. Make sure the nomination form is filled out accurately to ensure that your student receives the application in a timely manner! The principal and nominator will receive confirmation emails at this time as well.

The sooner a student is nominated, the more time he/she will have to work on the application.

Step 3: The nominee completes the application.

The application includes the following components:

• Biographical information.
• A current report card.
• Details about the student’s community service/humanitarian activities.
• An essay.
• A recent photo of the nominee. (While we highly encourage students to include a photo at the time of application submission, it is not required.)
• Recommendation letter written by a teacher. The applicant will enter the recommender’s name and email address. An email will be sent to the recommender with a link to complete the recommendation. While an application can technically be submitted without a recommendation, it will not be considered complete until the recommendation is submitted as well. Recommendations must be submitted by the deadline. Applications missing a recommendation after this time will be disqualified.

If the student desires, he/she can ask up to three different teachers to complete the recommendation.

The recommender(s) will be asked to address the following topics:

1. The applicant’s leadership ability and impact in the classroom/school
2. The applicant’s scholastic work ethic, motivation, and achievements

Step 4: The nominee submits the online application.

Once all required components of the application are complete, the student can submit the application.  Applications must be submitted by the deadline.  Please note that this is not the last step of the application process.

Step 5: The CSF reviews applications

All winner and non-winner scholars and schools will be notified of our decisions in March 2025.  Please understand that during this time we are processing many applications so we are not able to provide updates about the status of applications through phone or email.

If you have any questions please call 410.828.1005 or scholarship@carsonscholars.org