Paper version of the Morehead Cain Application

eadad
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:00:11 +0000

Going out on a limb here, but I’m going to take a wild guess and say that the students who end up winning the Morehead-Cain Scholarship are students who have had their parents/teachers/counselors help them put together the best application possible.



In truth, we never saw our S’s Morehead application until it had been submitted. He took his completed application to his college counselors for them to review and he had an English teacher and both college counselors read his essays prior to submission but in both cases it was merely to proof read to make sure they said what he intended them to say. In both cases no edits or changes were made. Several short answers and one essay gave me palpitations when I first read them (because they were unconventional answers/essay) but in reality they truly represented who he really was and is and as such they made him stand out.

The word limit is part of the challenge to be clear concise and consistent, while at the same time being a bit creative. By creative I don’t mean making things up but rather finding a way to make your 200 words stand out from the pack. The essays really need to be the voice of the candidate…a window into what makes them tick. Believe me when I tell you that the interviewers will know that application inside out and backwards if she is lucky enough to make it to semi-finalist/finalist status so it really needs to be about who she is and what makes her who she is.



You should also realize that once you are a Morehead-Cain Scholar, the staff of the Morehead-Cain Foundation is devoted to helping you navigate through your four years at UNC - they’e always going to be there to help you out when you get bogged down with homework/studying/planning your summers, etc. You’re never going to have to fend entirely for yourself. Take advantage of the help you can get!



Not quite true. The Foundation staff is there to advise and support but a very big part of being a Morehead is your own ability to think for yourself and (from the old literature) “chart your own path, create your own destiny.”

The M-C staff will do their best to keep you from putting yourself in danger when traveling abroad but only the student can decide whether or not to adhere to warnings and recommendations when in some far off, third world country. They will be there to offer support and encouragement in a sort of de facto parental role, but they are not going to tell you what or how to do something. In fact, quite the opposite; independence is a highly desirable trait for Morehead candidates.