The Distinguished Scholars Award is Missouri S&T’s most prestigious scholarship for incoming freshman students from outside the state of Missouri. Students must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible to apply for the Distinguished Scholars Award:
  • Have a GPA of 3.75 or better after six semesters.
  • Take the ACT or SAT test before December 1, 2024, and receive an ACT superscore of 29 or higher, or an SAT superscore of 1330 EBRW or higher.
  • Be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. permanent resident, living outside the state of Missouri.
  • Be a spring 2025 high school graduate.
  • Apply for admission to Missouri S&T no later than November 14, 2024.
  • Complete the Distinguished Scholars Award application and submit the assigned essay by the deadline, December 1, 2024 11:59pm CST.

Essay Instructions:

Each year, students considered for the Distinguished Scholars Award must submit an essay on a designated topic. The 2024 Distinguished Scholars Scholarship essay topic is:

In April 2024 the World Economic Forum hosted a panel discussion titled “Innovating for Social Impact”* in which more than 700 attendees were comprised of leaders from all over the world representing all sectors and industries. 10 million social enterprises across the world generate $2 trillion in annual revenue, despite representing only 3% of global businesses*. Social entrepreneurship does not mean that you are giving up profitability or growth; it simply means that you are pursuing profits while trying to make the world a better place. If you had the opportunity to innovate in a way that alleviated some social or societal problem, which cause or social issue would you work to improve and why?  Additionally, how could S&T better prepare students to tackle the cause(s) that you are most passionate about?

*https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/05/how-to-create-more-social-entrepreneurs/


Essay Requirements:
  • Your essay should be 500 - 750 words, typed in 12 pt. Times New Roman font and double spaced.
  • You must use MLA style formatting (your institution should be Missouri University of Science and Technology).
  • An abstract page is not needed.
  • Your reference page should include a minimum of three references (various S&T website pages are acceptable).
  • Uploaded essays should be in PDF format.
The scholarship committee will judge essays based on the following:
  1. Purpose and theme
  2. Introduction and conclusion
  3. Organization and structure
  4. Research and documentation
  5. Language use and mechanics