The 2024 Veterans Caucus Scholarship Program is designed to help support eligible Clinical Phase 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 an accredited initial Physician Assistant program and are students in good standing and in their clinical education phase. Please do not apply yet if you have been accepted but have not started the program or are currently in the didactic phase of a program.
Previous winners are not eligible to apply.
- Honorably discharged (served) veterans of a Uniformed Service of the United States (active, reserve, guard) 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.
- Active members 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.
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 Academic Advisor, and one additional primary faculty member, and grade point average. The Academic Advisor 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 be 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 discharged please read under the Application/DD-214 section for further instructions.
Civic and Community Activities – examples include volunteering in the pre-PA student period, volunteering in your PA student period, church lay leader or leading creator of a 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, and 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:
- Electronic applications will be accepted starting on 1 November 2023 and received until 0001(EST) on 31 March 2024. 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.
- The application process consists of the application along with a scanned most recent (latest) DD-214 (PDF format), a personal statement, a separate photo (size of a passport photo) of the applicant (see formats allowed), an information release letter, a recommendation letter from the student’s Academic Advisor and an additional letter of recommendation from at least one another primary faculty member.
- Application – The application provides personal information such as the student’s name and address, the program director’s 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.
- DD-214 – DD-214 is the official documentation of discharge and MUST be attached to the application. The DD-214 is used to verify the individual, the 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. 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.
- 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 the story that led them to go 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 your name, address, phone, and email address in this statement.
- Academic Advisor’s Recommendation – this is the responsibility of the student to contact their Academic Advisor for a recommendation. This is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that the Academic Advisor 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 (1 November 2023 to 15 March 2024), and signed by the Academic Advisor.
- Additional Primary Faculty Member’s Recommendation – it is the responsibility of the student to contact an additional primary faculty member for a recommendation. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that the Primary Faculty Member 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 (1 November 2023 to 15 March 2024), and signed by the Academic Advisor.
- Student Authorization to Release Education Record Information – this form is REQUIRED to allow the Veterans Caucus Scholarship Committee to contact the student’s PA Program to ensure current academic standing within the program.
Instructions for completing the Scholarship Application:
- Attach the DD-214 as a PDF (firstname.lastname.DD-214.pdf) to your online application.
- 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.
- Have your Academic Advisor send a letter of recommendation to mmckinnon@veteranscaucus.org if they want it to be confidential. Make sure you tell your academic advisor the requirements for this document i.e., school identification, current scholarship cycle date, and GPA mentioned in the body and signed by the academic advisor. Only send the recommendation letter with the application if the academic advisor is not concerned with the confidentiality of the letter.
- Have a primary faculty member send a letter of recommendation to mmckinnon@veteranscaucus.org if they want it to be confidential. Make sure you tell the primary academic faculty member the requirements for this document i.e., school identification, current scholarship cycle date, and signed by the primary faculty member. Only send the recommendation letter with the application if the primary academic faculty member is not concerned with the confidentiality of the letter.
- Obtain an information release letter to ensure that all student information is authorized for release to the Veterans Caucus Scholarship Committee for review and verification.
- 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 ensure 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.