It can be very expensive to pay for your education. The various things to buy along with paying your school finances can be especially straining on our finances. Fortunately, there are various scholarship programs around to help financially challenged students through their post-secondary or post-high school education. The Coca-Cola scholarship is one such program. Let us know more detail about ‘Is Coca-Cola Scholarship Legit?’.
Is Coca-Cola Scholarship Legit?
The Coca-Cola scholars program is a merit-based program for students about to graduate from high school and have started applying for colleges or universities. It helps to remove the financial burden on students who are challenged in this area.
However, is this scholarship real and legit, or it’s just false hope? Read on to find out.
Is Coca-Cola Scholarship Legit?:
Yes, the answer is yes. The Coca-Cola scholarship is a legitimate one. It has been since 1986 when the leaders of the industry decided to help 150 high school seniors who were about to graduate with a monetary gift. This then evolved to be the Coca-Cola scholars program, which now annually awards 150 graduating high school seniors or college freshmen with $20,000.
Now that we have confirmed its legitimacy, let’s discuss more on the scholarship program.
Coca-Cola Scholars Program
The scholarship is a merit-based one so this means applicants are reviewed based on leadership and academic qualities. Although they have to submit income information, it is only for reporting and statistical purposes.
Unlike other scholarships where the funds are sent directly to the school and are only for tuition, the funds from Coca-Cola scholarships are sent to the student. So, students can pay their tuition fees and get other necessary materials. Also, you don’t have to use the award immediately. Awarded scholars can choose to use the scholarship anytime within ten years.
Apart from the cash benefit, the program offers many other goodies. Through the program, you become a part of a wide network of scholars, past and present. And this membership is for life, which means you can get jobs and other work opportunities through this network. Also, the program has a leadership summit that is open and greatly beneficial to every scholar.
Eligibility: Is Coca-Cola Scholarship Legit?
Firstly, any student planning to apply for the scholarship must be a US. high school senior or a homeschooled student about to graduate or one that would graduate within the current school year. Also, you must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA in your high school subjects, with proof showing it.
Students applying must be United State of America citizens, nationals, permanent residents, refugees, people granted asylum, entrants of Cuban-Haitian origin, or receivers of humanitarian parole benefits. Also, they must plan to continue their education in any US. higher institution.
Also, the following points automatically disqualify you from the scholarship.
- If you are a child or grandchild of an employee, official, or owner of Coca-Cola bottling companies, the main company itself, divisions, and subsidiaries.
- If you are a child or grandchild of a past employee who is a current recipient of retirement benefits from the company or its many affiliates.
- Being an international student, except if you study at select department of defense schools.
- Being a high school graduate
- Being a temporary resident
Selection Process And Timeline
The period of application for the scholarship usually starts in August and ends in October. You can check out their site to know the application time for a particular year. Usually, close to 100,000 people apply yearly. By the middle of November, around 2000 of them would be selected. These selected participants would then be required to submit some more documents before the end of December. The documents could include a letter of recommendation, some essays, and your high school transcript.
Around January, after the submissions have been reviewed, the number of applicants is further cut down to 250. These 250 are then invited to take online interviews, which would occur in February.
After the online interviews in February, 150 people who would be the scholarship winners are selected and then informed of the results. Finally, by late March or the beginning of April, the scholarship winners are invited to participate in a scholars’ weekend summit. This summit would take place in Atlanta, Georgia.
Application Requirements
There are several things you would need to complete the scholarship application. We’ll be mentioning them below.
Contact Information
This is a staple in any application process. Information like your name, residential address, email address, and other relevant personal information would be required. Other than personal information, you would need to submit relevant information about your school, its SAT/ACT information, and the contact information of your school director or counselor.
Information About Your Activities In School
Here, you will be asked to submit information about extracurricular activities you did during your time in high school. If you joined any club, volunteered for some school activity, or were a leader at some point, you would have to submit information about these activities.
Special Skills You Have
The Coca-Cola scholars’ program is interested in creating wholesome people. Apart from academics, you would be asked to write about skills you have developed in and out of school.
Awards Or Honors Received
In this part of the application, you would be asked about awards you have received over the long high school years from both schooling and non-schooling activities.
Information On Volunteer Activities
This includes information about unpaid community service, volunteer work, or internships you have done. You would have to submit the amount of time spent on volunteering, where you volunteered or interned, and the roles you functioned in.
Academic Transcript
Here, you would submit the courses you have done since the beginning of freshman year, and the grades earned in them. Also, you would have to include your yearly ranking and the number of advanced placement classes you did.
Paid Work Experiences
If you have worked in the past and received payment, you would note that down also. The time of employment, time spent working, and other relevant information.
Increasing Your Chances Of Selection
No matter how good you think you are, you must know that there’s always a bigger fish. Coca-Cola scholarships are insanely competitive, which means even smart students may not be selected. So, if you are a young high school student, we would be discussing some tips to help you increase your chances of selection. Read on.
Work On Getting Excellent Grades
Yes, grades are not the only requirements for selection, but they go some way in boosting your selection chances. So, be diligent in your study. Be serious with every test and examination. Also, take AP classes too, and be diligent with them. Your application would be more impressive when they see that you performed excellently even with tasking courses.
Join School Clubs And Organizations
The scholarship demands students with more than just superb academic skills. So, apart from your academic work, make sure to join school clubs and organizations, and be invested in them. This helps you develop leadership and communication skills, making you even more attractive to the scholarship program. Just don’t stretch yourself thin by joining too many clubs.
And in doing these club activities, you can receive awards and honors if you are outstanding. The application process requires that you provide information about past awards and honors. So, you having them helps to boost your chances of selection.
Do Volunteer Work Or Community Service
It has been said, and rightly so that a high GPA is not enough to be accepted for the scholarship program. So, you would also have to be outstanding outside of school. So, volunteer for some community service. This is also a requirement in the application. So, this helps to boost your chances of being selected.
Start Preparing For The Application Process Early
You don’t have to wait till the application period before you start collating the necessary requirements. We have discussed the application requirements earlier and you can also check the scholarship website for more information. Preparing early would help your application be more polished and put-together when it is time for it.
Conclusion
Now We’ve learnt about ‘Is Coca-Cola Scholarship Legit?’, The Coca-Cola Scholars Program has been around for over 30 years. This means it is very legitimate. The program helps to make the world better by investing in exceptional students, who through their leadership and academic skills bring gain to the world at large.
So, if you are a non-senior high school student hoping to be a recipient of the scholarship, start working on yourself now. Raise your grades, take advanced classes, join school clubs, do volunteer work, and just maybe, one day, you would a proud recipient of the Coca-Cola Scholarship award.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How Do We Use The Scholarship Funds?
Apart from paying for tuition, students can use the funds for other important things like getting school books, getting an apartment, and much more.
- Is The Scholarship Based On Need?
No, Coca-Cola Scholarships are based on individual merit and achievement, not on need or financial status of the applicant.
- How Competitive Is The Scholarship Program?
The Coca-Cola scholarship program is a very competitive one. Only 150 students are selected out of thousands of applicants.
