Mensa US Scholarship

There are two requirements for applicants:

1) Applicants must be enrolled in a degree program in an accredited U.S. institution of higher learning during the academic year following the application date.

2) Applicants must submit an application and essay explaining his or her career, academic and/or vocational goals.

Applicants have until Jan. 15 to write an essay of not more than 550 words explaining their career, academic and/or vocational goals and how they plan to achieve those goals.

Local judging

American Mensa's local chapters assemble judging teams of at least three members to review the applications. The essays are judged on content and also grammar, organization and craftsmanship. The Local Scholarship Chair refers the best local essays to the Regional Scholarship Chair for review.

Regional judging

At the regional level, the process is repeated. The regional chair arranges for all of the essays referred from local chapters to be judged a second time. Regional judges rank the local winners and nominate the best essays for regional and national awards. These essays are then forwarded to the National Scholarship Chairs.

National judging

Finally, the National Scholarship Chairs conduct additional rounds of judging to select the regional and national winners. Each applicant can receive only one Mensa Foundation scholarship per year; therefore, the winners are chosen beginning at the highest dollar amounts. The next highest scores receive awards of the next lower amounts, and so on until all the winners are chosen based on the judges' scores.

The final list of scholarship winners is presented to the Mensa Foundation Board of Trustees, who certify the winners. Winners are notified by mail and given instructions for claiming their award. They are required to submit proof of registration in a degree program during the following academic year as well as proof of U.S. citizenship. After the verification is received, the checks are written and students receive the funds to help them pursue their education.

Mensa Foundation Scholarship Program application rules and guidelines

Emphasis in judging will be placed on a goal statement that includes specific information on experience or steps taken toward the goal, persuasiveness (e.g., how your past achievements/experiences and your future planning increase the probability of reaching your goal), why you think that you will succeed, and also grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

A) Only one application is allowed per student in this scholarship competition.

B) Applicants must intend to enroll in an accredited educational institution for the next academic year.

C) Applicants must complete all required information on the entry form.

D) Essays must be the applicants' original work and no more than 550 words in length.

E) Essays must be entered via cut/paste on our scholarship application form on this website. Essays will be truncated to the limit specified.

F) Essay submissions are stored and reviewed as "plain text" without additional markup. Please make note of this when crafting your essay.

G) Applicants' names, addresses, and other identifying information must not be included in their essays.

H) By submitting the form electronically via our website, applicants provide their digital signature certifying that their information and essays are their own work and that they have read these rules and guidelines.

I) Applications must be submitted online on or before 11:59 p.m., Central or 5:59, GMT, on Jan. 15.

J) Application judging is done anonymously. The judges do not know who has entered the competition. If, by chance, you know a scholarship judge, do not contact that individual regarding the competition or your application may be disqualified.