The 2020-2021 Veterans Caucus Scholarship Program is designed to help support eligible Physician Assistant students in their quest to complete their initial PA training in one of the ARC-PA accredited programs across the 50 United States. Through the generous contributions of our many friends and sponsors, the Veteran Caucus is able to provide a portion of the funds needed in this intense educational process.
PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION BELOW CAREFULLY.
Eligibility Criteria:
The AAPA Veteran Caucus Scholarships are intended for those veterans or members of the Guard or Reserves of the Uniform Services who are enrolled in a accredited initial Physician Assistant program and are students in good standing in at least a semester/quarter physically. Some scholarships in the past have also been intended for sons, daughters, or spouses of a past or present veteran. These special scholarships are based on availability for that year. Please look under the Scholarships Available section. Please do not apply yet if you have been accepted but have not started the program. Previous winners are not eligible to apply.
1. Honorably discharged (served) veterans of a Uniformed Service of the United States (active, reserve, guard) or active member of the Guard or Reserve of a Uniformed Service of the United States that are enrolled in Physician Assistant Training at an accredited PA program in the 50 states may compete for scholarships that are offered for that year.
2. Sons, daughters, or spouses of any past or present honorably served veteran may apply to some scholarships if available that year – see Scholarship availability for that year. Applicants for these scholarship(s) must include an appropriate scanned DD-214 from the veteran who was their sponsor.
Selection Criteria:
The scholarships are awarded based on written objective criteria to include military honors and awards, academic and scholastic honors and awards, civic, community, and college activities, professional memberships and activities, student potential for future achievement provided by the student’s program director, and grade point average. The Program Director must provide the student’s GPA in their letter of recommendation. In case of a school not using GPA, then the program director must provide enough information and estimate the GPA. If this is not provided, the GPA consideration in the evaluation cannot used and therefore will lower the overall scoring of that application. The committee will not contact the applicant or program director for this information.
Military honors and awards – must coincide with the DD-214 that you send. For non-active Reserve or Guard members who have been discharge please read under Application/DD-214 section for further instructions.
Civic and Community Activities – examples include volunteer in pre-PA student period, volunteer in your PA student period, church lay leader, lead creator of new program or service. You must put down the specific semester/quarter and year for each activity.
College Activities – examples include Deans List, Undergraduate Valedictorian, PA Class Officer, School Class Officer, Cum Laude or better. You must put down the specific semester/quarter and year you participated in these activities.
Professional Memberships – examples include AAPA, AOR representative, HOD primary/alternate, state society member, state society student representative, uniform PA society member, and AMSUS member. Please state the years you have been a member and if you held an office. You could also put down any significant achievements or positions held within these professional memberships. Membership in the Veterans Caucus is not required.
Application Process:
1. Electronic applications will be accepted starting on 15 January 2021 and received until 0001(EST) on 1 March 2021. One submission is all that is required to be considered for all the scholarships you may be eligible for. An applicant will only be awarded one scholarship per cycle. This application program does not allow the applicant to SAVE their inputs and come back to finish. You MUST complete the application at one time.
2. The application process consists of the application along with a scanned most recent (latest) DD-214 (PDF format), personal statement, a separate photo (size of a passport photo) of the applicant (see formats allowed) and a recommendation letter from the student’s Program Director.
a. Application – the application provides personal information such as the student name and address, program director contact information, military awards and decorations, college, civic, community, and professional activities. It is imperative that the student provide as much detailed information to each section such as dates, time periods, and names.
b. DD-214 – the DD-214 is the official documentation of discharge and MUST be attached to the application. The DD-214 is used to verify the individual, their status of their discharge, and the awards and decorations that the individual received. If the student is still in the Guard or Reserves, they must send a certification letter from their current commander to verify their status and military awards. For those students who were mainly in the Reserves or Guard and discharged from the Reserves or Guard must submit a final DD-214 or Certificate of Discharge for the total time of your service. If you have any awards or decorations not documented on a DD-214 then you must submit certificates for those awards and decorations. Please note – if the DD-214 information does not match the application information, it may not be used in the evaluation process. Please block out the social security number before you place it into the application if you want to maintain privacy. Please ensure that a minimum of name, current phone number and email address are added to the scanned DD-214 that is submitted.
c. Personal statement – the personal statement gives the student a chance to describe and explain their special circumstance as a PA student. This is where the student can explain in detail their story that led them to going to PA school, their background, present, and future intentions so that their application can be more complete for the grader. This is where the student can tell the Veterans Caucus why they deserve to receive a scholarship. Please include name, address, phone and email address to this statement.
d. Program Director’s Recommendation – this is the responsibility of the student to contact their program director for a recommendation. This is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that the program director send a recommendation since this is one of the evaluation criteria. This document must have the school’s header identification, dated within the current scholarship cycle (15 January 2021 to 1 March 2021), and signed by the program director.
Instructions for completing the Scholarship Application:
1. Attach the DD-214 as a PDF (firstname.lastname.DD-214.pdf) to your online application.
2. Submit the rest of the online application with all attachments in the correct format. Suggestion – make a copy of your document before you hit the submit key.
3. Have your Program Director send a letter of recommendation to Rmunsee@veteranscaucus.org if they want it to be confidential. Make sure you tell your program director the requirements for this document i.e. school identification, current scholarship cycle date, GPA mentioned in the body, and signed by the program director. Only send the recommendation letter with the application if the Program Director is not concerned with the confidentiality of the letter.
4. You should get a confirmation thank you email that the Veterans Caucus received your submission. Please contact the Veterans Caucus online if you do not get this email. If any part of the application is missing i.e. DD-214, Program Director’s Letter the veterans caucus will make an attempt to contact you for submission of all outstanding requirements except for the GPA requirement.
Special Note:
AGAIN, it is important that the student provides detailed information to insure that their application gives the scholarship committee a complete picture of their military, civilian, and academic history so it can be graded fairly and competitively. If any part of the application is not complete then it will not be accepted for consideration.