Robinson Scholarship Programme at University of Kentucky, USA

How to Apply

The Robinson Leadership Pool

The Robinson Scholars Program has revised its application process. New applicants will first apply for acceptance into the Robinson Leadership Pool. The Leadership Pool will admit 110 current high school freshmen from our 29-county service region. At least three students from each eligible county will be selected, with some counties having more based on population number of high schools in the county.
The goal of the Robinson Leadership Pool is expand its service to first generation students who wish to attend the University of Kentucky and pursue bachelor’s degrees. The program defines “first generation” as students whose parents do not have four year degrees at the time of acceptance into the program. While this has always been the focus of the Robinson Scholars Program, the Leadership Pool will expand high school development opportunities for more first generation students in eastern Kentucky.

The Robinson Scholarship

To be eligible to receive a Robinson Scholarship, students must remain active in the pool through the junior year of high school. Selection into the leadership pool does not guarantee receipt of a Robinson Scholarship, which is a full, 4-year scholarship to the University of Kentucky. Currently, the program offers 29 scholarships, or one for each county in the service region. However, those who remain active in the leadership pool will greatly improve their chances to attend college. Students selected for scholarships will illustrate the core values of the Robinson Scholars Program which are pursuit of academic excellence, dedication to personal development, and commitment to community service.

Leadership Pool Selection

To be considered for inclusion into the leadership pool

• You must be a first-generation college bound student. Your parents or legal guardians cannot hold four-year college degrees at the time of acceptance into the pool.
• You must be a resident of one of our 29 service area counties in eastern Kentucky.
• Applicants will be selected based on factors such as enrollment in the pre-college curriculum, academic achievement, participation in community service, extracurricular activities, personal enrichment, and need for financial aid.

Those selected to Robinson Leadership Pool, will be eligible to apply for participation in enrichment activities provided by the Robinson Scholars Program. Selection into these enrichment activities will be competitive. The program will also seek to provide information about non-program sponsored enrichment activities. High school enrichment activities provided by the Robinson Scholars Program will especially emphasize preparation for college math and science courses, regardless of the student’s intended career path. The program will also seek to develop leadership skills and the need for personal responsibility in charting a successful academic course.
During their high school careers, Robinson Leaders will develop a scholarship application portfolio. Program activities offered to freshmen will focus on sparking academic curiosity through activities such as robotics, space and atmospheric science, natural resource management, entrepreneurship, and leadership development. Opportunities for sophomores and juniors will build upon experiences of the previous year.

Application information

This is an online application. You will need to complete the entire application at one time because the survey will not allow you to start and resume at a later time.  Paper applications will not be accepted. The program will offer several public workshops to assist those who would like to apply but have barriers to online access. Dates for these will be announced on our Web site, and we will also provide this information to high school guidance counselors. We will accept applications through April 22, 2011.
You will need the following information to complete the online application.

• A parent or legal guardian must verify that your information is correct
• Your estimated or actual household income for 2009 or 2010 (if available)
• Information about current and past curriculum
• Basic biographical information about applicant and parents/guardian
• Two essays of 100 words or less. Topic 1: How can you contribute to diversity? Topic 2: Discuss the value of community service.
• You will need at least one valid email address. The program will respond to you via email upon receipt of all application materials.
• We have endeavored to provide a complete list of high schools in the service region. If your high school is not listed in the menu selection, please select "Other."
• For this application, we advise that you do not use a Hotmail account as your primary source of email contact. The University of Kentucky email server has experienced difficulty in sending emails to "hotmail.com" accounts. We have not experienced this problem with other email accounts.

Upon completion of the application, you will need to submit the following information via U.S. Mail, courier, or in person at the Robinson Scholars Program office in Lexington by 4:30 p.m., Friday, April 22, 2011. This deadline may be extended further if the region experiences extended school closings. Your application will not be considered complete if you do not submit the required verification of information, which includes:

• Copy of current high school transcript
• Copies all standardized test scores, such as Plan, Achieve, ACT, PSAT, etc.
• Income verification, such as most recent tax return or other documents that verify household income.
• You may also submit letters of support with your application materials.

Submit to:
Neomia Hagans Flores
University of Kentucky
Robinson Scholars Program
211 Funkhouser Building
Lexington, KY 40506-0054

If you have technical difficulties, please contact:
Jeff Spradling, director. Phone: 859-257-5230, email: jspra2@uky.edu or
Charlene Powell, data management specialist: Phone: 859-257-5874, email: cbpowe2@uky.edu
for more details