1. Find out if you’re eligible

If you’re interested in applying for the Morehead-Cain, your first step is to find out if you’re eligible. Your eligibility for the scholarship largely depends on where you’re from. It gets a little complicated, so we have a whole page on our website devoted to helping you sort it out.

The quick-hits version:

• Students from North Carolina, the United Kingdom, and Canada can apply without an official school nomination. Students from those places can also be nominated by their schools or by an affiliate program.
• If you’re not from North Carolina, the United Kingdom, or Canada, you must attend and be nominated by an official nominating school or by an affiliate program.
• Another way for you to be considered is to apply to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the Early Action deadline (Oct. 15) and be considered through the Morehead-Cain Admissions Referral Program.
• Regardless of where you’re from, you can ask your guidance counselor whether your school is a nominating school, and whether you’ve been nominated. Whether or not you’re from a nominating school, don’t forget to check our list of affiliate programs!

2. Do some soul-searching

If you’re eligible (and we hope you are!), we recommend that your next step is to . . . pause. Breathe deeply. Take some space. And reflect. Ask yourself some questions. Probing, personal questions. Like: What are my values? What motivates me? What are my goals and dreams? Why do I do what I do? Where do I want it to take me?

Then, read more about the Morehead-Cain. Poke around our website, learn about our values and selection criteria, and decide whether you’re a good fit for the Program. Do our values align with yours? In what ways?

This reflection process will help you immensely as you’re filling out your application. Every scholarship is different, and we want to know why you’re uniquely qualified for ours. Our application process is designed to help us get to know you, and that becomes a lot easier when you really know yourself.

Keep in mind that if you want to be considered for the Morehead-Cain, you can’t apply to any institutions under a binding Early Decision plan.* Put another way: if you decide that you’re going to give the Morehead-Cain a shot, you’re committing to our selection process.

Our scholars assure us that they are so glad they chose to apply for the Morehead-Cain!

3. Stay tuned for our next blog post, which will cover application logistics like:

• What should be my first step when starting the application?
• How do I decide who should be my recommender?
• How and why do I need to list my school counselor on my application?

And feel free to reach out to selections@moreheadcain.org if you have any questions about what we’ve shared here today!