Prepare a Winning Scholarship Application for Flight Training (Bonus Lesson)

Preparing a Winning Application:

The key to winning a flight training scholarship is to submit a professional pdf or typed application with meticulous document attachments and submitted on time with instructions followed to the letter. Start by reading all the requirements of the scholarship. Some scholarships require you to be a member of an aviation organization like Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Ninety-Nines (an international organization of women pilots) or Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA). These types of organizations are worthy of your membership and participation. They are good resources and networking opportunities, and membership is very inexpensive.

After reviewing the application requirements, make sure you qualify. Outline exactly what is needed such as essay and letter of recommendation. Also note submission deadline date. Submit your application early and never at the last day.  Keep a calendar of applications due dates to submit multiple scholarship applications on time.

Your application should never be handwritten. Use a software application that can take the application and turn it into a “writable pdf” format. In other words, the software takes the existing application and turns it into an application where you can fill in the form. Adobe Acrobat PDF Filler, pdfFiller or OpenPDF are software that can turn an ordinary pdf or word format application into a fillable pdf file.  


This will make your application look professional and eliminate sloppy handwriting.  Remember, the evaluators look at everything and especially the small things such as sloppy application, mis-spelled words, bad grammar and not following instructions. This alone eliminates 80% of application submission. If you submit a professional looking application without the errors previously mentioned you are ahead of the pack and only competing with the remaining 20% of applicants who also have submitted a professional looking application.


The Resume Process

Just like your application, your resume should look extremely professional and include aviation related experience. Your resume should include your experiences, volunteer work, awards, and extracurricular activities. Don’t forget to include volunteer work, especially aviation related experience. Evaluators are really looking for some type of involvement in the aviation community. That’s why becoming a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Explorer Scouts – Aviation Division or a local flying club is so important. It shows involvement in aviation.

Also, your resume should include some type of flying experience. If you took a few hours of flight instruction, include this in your resume. It shows you been involved in the industry and that becoming a pilot is a serious priority in your life. Previous pilot training ranks big in the evaluation and should be highlighted in your resume.  It can be just a few hours of flight training or involvement in a Private Pilot Ground School.  Ground school is inexpensive, and you can easily get involved in ground school training. Make sure that it is included in your resume.


Use a professional online resume builder like Resume-Now.com.  For a small monthly fee, you can develop a professional looking resume that helps you fill in work experience whether volunteer or paid experience. The resume builder checks for grammatical mistakes and spelling errors so you can rest assure yourself that you are submitting a top-notch professional looking resume that has been vetted by AI.  Speaking of AI, you can also go to Chat GBT to help you develop a professional resume that has been vetted of spelling and grammatical errors.

Writing a Winning Essay

Writing a good essay that describes you and your involvement with aviation, particularly as it relates to a flying career is what scholarship committees want to read. Avoid starting your resume with Dear Sir or To Whom it may concern ….  That’s very impersonal. Get their attention immediately by stating your accomplishments and why you need the scholarship money. Connect how the scholarship will help you with a flying career. Obviously, the scholarship will not pay for all training expenses but explain how the scholarship money will fit into your overall finances and plans. Evaluators want to know that their investment in you will pay off. This will only happen if you have a plan and briefly describe your plan and the rating the scholarship money will finance.

For instance, discuss your current efforts for obtaining your Private Pilot License. Discuss the cost spent so far and the hours completed. Briefly discuss skills acquired and the hours of training remaining to be funded. Scholarship committees want to know that you’re a good investment and you must assure them that their investment in you will not be wasted.  That’s why most scholarships will be given to people already paying for their training vs people who never started flight training. If you never stepped into a plane for training, how will the funders know that you will complete training and therefore not waste their scholarship money.

 Also, be clear on how you will finance your training and pilot licenses without the scholarship. The scholarship committee needs to know you have a way to complete your training even without their help.  

Also discuss where you will be in 3 to 5 years. For instance, you will get your Private Pilot License within one year and by two years, obtain your Instrument Commercial License.  Basically, follow our career pilot roadmap plan to the airlines and include brief plans to become a professional pilot. 

Review the essay requirement word count and don’t exceed the word count and more than meet the minimum word count. If no word count is mentioned in the requirement, then aim for 500 to 1000 word count and don’t exceed 1000 words.

Also discussed who inspired you into flying and how you would like to inspire other people to take the same path. Make sure your essay doesn’t come off …… “What Can You Do for Me” ……. But how you will be an advocate for the aviation community and how you intend to help others as you achieve your goals. For instance, how you would eventually obtain your Flight Instructor rating and train a certain number of teenagers interested in becoming a pilot with free flight instruction for their first 10 hours of instruction to inspire them to continue their flying journey.

Let the evaluators know that you already have a student pilot license with a minimum of a third-class medical certificate. A first-class medical certificate looks more impressive, though not needed for a Private Pilot. This lets the scholarship committee know that you will not be disqualified for advanced ratings as you work on becoming a professional pilot which requires a minimum of a second-class medical certificate.

I strongly advise being a member of Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)  or your local flying club and show involvement with these organizations. Not only will this increase your chances of obtaining scholarship money, but the networking opportunities, resources and encouragement are invaluable.


Who Should Be Your Personal Reference

Most scholarships applications request a personal reference. Review specifically the requirements for personal reference and follow it to a tee. If the instructions say to include no more than one personal reference, then include only ONE reference. Personal references from flight instructors, owners of flight schools or college / high school teachers tend to carry the most weight. After that, personal references from other professionals are acceptable, especially if they are connected to the aviation community.


Who Should Be Your Personal Reference

Most scholarships applications request a personal reference. Review specifically the requirements for personal reference and follow it to a tee. If the instructions say to include no more than one personal reference, then include only ONE reference. Personal references from flight instructors, professional pilot, owners of flight schools or college / high school teachers tend to carry the most weight. After that, personal references from other professionals are acceptable, especially if they are connected to the aviation community.

Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

Don’ts

  • Don’t limit yourself to one or two scholarship submissions
  • Don’t start your essay with Dear Sir or To Whom it May Concern
  • Avoid starting too many sentences with “I”  …..  Reading an essay where most of the sentences that start with "I" is redundant and not engaging to read.
  • Don’t use long paragraphs in your essay. Break paragraphs up for easy reading.
  • Do not include extra documents. Only include the requested documents
  • Do not submit more than one letter of recommendation unless requested in the instructions
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