Applicant Tip
Application Process & Submission Tips
Application Status
Once you begin an application, you can monitor your progress throughout the online process, including when your submitted application is certified by your advisors. If you have questions regarding your application status, please contact us.
Gilman Emails
Are you receiving them? You may not be receiving important emails from the Gilman Scholarship Program, because your email account is not allowing Gilman emails to enter your inbox. Often we see reset password and application status emails returned, because they are not allowed by the recipients email system. Please make sure that you are able to receive Gilman emails, because they are our main form of communication, and they include important information regarding your application. If you are using a university email account, you may have to contact the system administrator. If you are using a non-university email our emails may go to your junk folder. One way to prevent this is to add the Gilman emails accounts to your address book.
Contact your Advisors
The Gilman Scholarship Program highly encourages cooperation between advisors and applicants. Advisors are integral to your application. Your study abroad advisor may be able to assist you with the application process, proof-read your essays, and support what you outlined in your Community Impact Essay. Your financial aid advisor can inform you of your financial aid information, which is required on the application. Both advisors will be required to certify the information you provided in order for your application to be complete. Be courteous and start conversing with your advisors immediately, if you have not already done so. If your advisors have questions, please have them contact us.
Polishing Your Application
As you prepare to submit your application, here are a few important tips to remember:
- Are your name and contact information spelled correctly with proper punctuation and capitalization? All materials will be reviewed exactly as submitted. Please make sure your essays and all application questions are submitted using proper punctuation and grammar. Do not type in all caps or all lower case.
- Are your study abroad program dates correct? Double check to make sure you have entered the correct year. For example, if your program begins in January, be sure to list the new year in your program dates. If you still have not received your exact program dates, please enter the best estimated dates. Once you are informed of the exact dates, notify the Gilman Scholarship Program immediately.
- Has someone else, preferably your study abroad advisor, proofread your essay? Your advisors may have experience advising students for the Gilman Scholarship Program and will have good insight on what to include in your essay – or what not to include.
- Have you selected the correct Study Abroad Advisor and Financial Aid Advisor to certify your application? It is important to meet with your advisors to let them know you will be submitting an application and that they will need to certify the application online. The advisors that you select in your application must come from your home institution.
- Have you selected the correct year and estimated month that you intend to graduate?
- Have you requested your transcripts? Many institutions require several days to process your transcript before giving it to you. Please request your transcripts now to ensure you don’t miss the deadline.
Transcript Requirements
The Gilman Scholarship Program requires a transcript(s) to accompany your application before it can be reviewed by the selection committee and considered for an award.
All Gilman Scholarship Applicants Must Provide:
- Current University Transcript:
One copy of your undergraduate transcript (either official or unofficial) from your current college or university. Your current institution transcript must include the completed term before your Gilman application and/or your current “in progress” term. Transcripts may be unofficial at the time of application, but if you are selected as a Gilman Scholarship recipient you will be asked to provide an official copy. (Note: Unofficial transcripts may be issued from your institution or web-based from your student account, but copy and pasted versions are not acceptable). - Transfer University Transcript(s):
One copy of your undergraduate transcripts (either official or unofficial) from any previous institution you have attended listed in your application. If you were not a “degree seeking student” at an institution, it is not required for you to list this institution in your application or to upload this transcript(s). Unofficial transcripts may be issued from your institution or web-based from your student account, but copy and pasted versions are not acceptable.
You will need to request your transcripts from the appropriate institutions and have them mailed directly to you. Do not mail transcripts to the Gilman Scholarship Program. Official transcripts can be opened for the purpose of scanning and uploading into your online application, but an official copy is not required at this stage.
If this is your first academic term at your home institution, you can upload an “in progress” transcript or an official enrollment verification letter, including your academic courses, issued from your registrar’s office in place of your home institution transcript. In addition, if you are a freshman and this is your first term, you will be required to include your high school transcript in your application.
Transcript Tips & Guidelines
- Official transcript
- Official electronic transcripts (ensure that they are not password protected and can be viewed in your application)
- Student copy of an official transcript
- Photocopy of official transcript
- Student copy of unofficial transcript
- Web-based transcripts (this is a document that you personally print from your online student account).
- Degree progress Reports
- Copy and pasted documents
- Request your transcripts from the appropriate institutions and have them mailed directly to you. Do not mail any transcripts to the Gilman Scholarship Program.
- Official transcripts can be opened for the purpose of scanning and uploading into your online application.
- If this is your first academic term at your home institution, you can upload an “in progress” transcript or an official enrollment verification letter, including your academic courses, issued from your registrar’s office in place of your home institution transcript.
- If you are a freshman and this is your first term, you will be required to include your high school transcript in your application.
- Scan the all pages of your transcript, front and back and save the document as a .pdf, .png, or .jpg.
- The application system will accept only one document per institution and the file size must not exceed 12MB. You must save all pages for each transcript into one document and compress/resize the file if necessary. Front and back documentation saved and scanned is also acceptable.
- Ensure that the file is rotated correctly and is legible. Your transcripts will be viewed exactly as they are uploaded.
These instructions are provided to you so that not only do you properly upload your transcript(s), but also so your application can be successfully reviewed by the selection committee.
If you have any questions about uploading transcripts into your online application, please contact the Gilman Program. You can also view an instructional video to assist you with uploading your transcripts.
After you upload your transcripts, preview the file to make sure that you uploaded the correct transcript(s) and that the pages are legible. If not:
- Re-scan the pages
- Save them again
- Remove the file in the Transcript Upload Page
- Upload the re-scanned document.
It is in your best interest to upload your transcript as soon as possible and to ensure it does not exceed the 12MB file size capacity. Please be aware that if you upload a large file and have a slow internet connection, you could experience technical difficulties, especially closer to and on the deadline day. We encourage you to compress/resize large files, upload your transcript well in advance of the deadline day, and to contact the Gilman Program immediately for any questions.
If selected to receive a Gilman Scholarship, you will be required to upload the official transcript from your currently enrolled institution listed in your online application. Additional information will be provided to Gilman Scholarship recipients at the time awards are offered.
The system will only accept files that are no greater than 12MB. In order for it to upload properly, you may need to compress your file. You can compress a PDF file by opening it with the latest Adobe Software and following these instructions.
Using Adobe Acrobat:
- Once you have opened the PDF file, go to File.
- Click on Save As.
- Then, click Reduced Size PDF.
- A message will pop up that says “Make Compatible with”. Select Retain existing and click OK.
- Save the reduced PDF file either using the same file name or some other file name (i.e. with “compressed” in the name) and then click OK to start compressing. This is done to make certain that the original document is not modified.
Using CVISION Technologies:
- Go to CVISION Technologies. (We link you to the free online version)
- Select the Compress option.
- Then Select Documents that you would like to compress.
- Once your file has been processed a table consisting of the details will appear.
- To download your file, click on the image of your file in the “Get Your File” column.
- You will be prompted to provide your email and contact information. After you fill out the information, click submit.
- Your document will automatically open. Save the compressed .pdf file either using the same file name or some other file name (i.e. with “compressed” in the name).
If you need to merge files to create one PDF to upload, please follow these instructions. The Gilman Program offers you various methods depending on your software capability.
Using Adobe Acrobat:
- Start Adobe Acrobat.
- From the getting started window, choose Combine PDFs into PDF, then choose Add Files in the upper left corner.
- A new dialog box opens so that you can add the files you want to combine. Click the Browse button, navigate to each file, and click the Open button to select it.
- When you have listed all the files to be included, use the “Move Up” and “Move Down” buttons to rearrange the order of the files or the “Remove” button to delete a particular file.
- When you are done arranging your files, click Combine Files.
- Save the combined .pdf file to a designated folder. From the File menu, click Save As and then PDF.
Using PDFJoin:
- Go to PDFJoin.
- Please note there is a 15MB size limit for each .pdf file uploaded.
- Click Choose File and select the appropriate .pdf file from your computer. (Repeat step 2 as necessary.)
- After selecting the files, click Join. When your files have been combined together a dialogue box will appear. Click Open and save the combined .pdf file to a designated folder.
If you need to rotate your PDF so it is right-side up, please follow these instructions. The Gilman Program offers you different methods depending on your software capability.
Using Adobe Acrobat:
- Click on Tools, then Pages and select Rotate.
- A message will pop up that says “Rotate Pages”. Select your desired direction.
- Save your file with the correctly rotated documents.
Using Rotate PDF:
- Go to Rotate PDF.
- Click Browse in Step 1 and select the appropriate .pdf file from your computer.
- After selecting the file, choose the rotation angle using the examples indicated on the page.
- Click Rotate PDF.
- Click Download to see the rotated file and save the file to your chosen location
