ADS

Let's be honest, finances have a huge impact where we go to school. One of the activities that I took part in was the annual ADS (Alumni Distinguished Scholarship) Competition, which takes place during the first two weekends in February. Last weekend was the first weekend and this weekend is the last weekend for the competition this year. About 1,100 of MSU's top applicants are invited to partake in the competition each year. On the first day, students learn about MSU and the Honors College and the opportunities they have to offer, like research and study abroad. The next morning, the students take the scholarship test. Even though the two days revolved around taking a test, it actually ended up being really fun. If you are a prospective MSU student who is invited to ADS, I would definitely recommend going!

Now that I am a student here, I am on the other end of the ADS experience. For the past two years, I have spoken at the Women in Engineering Breakfast. We invite all the prospective women engineering students that are attending ADS and treat them to a breakfast with awesome breakfast burritos. Students and their parents get the chance to talk to female engineering faculty and students about engineering at MSU before registration for ADS opens. I really enjoy talking to prospective students and their families about what I love about engineering and MSU, especially because I know what it is like to be in their shoes.

Whether you are an ADS participant or not, there are still other scholarship opportunities for incoming freshmen. Engineering freshmen are automatically considered for scholarships from the College of Engineering, and will be notified if they receive any awards around April. Students invited to the Honors College also have some more scholarship opportunities:

http://honorscollege.msu.edu/scholarships-incoming-freshmen

Also, here is a link to the MSU Office of Admissions' page about scholarships:

http://admissions.msu.edu/finances/scholarships.asp

If you are interested in the Honors College at Michigan State University, here is the link to their website:

http://honorscollege.msu.edu/