The BC Excellence scholarship is awarded to 55 well-rounded high school graduates who have demonstrated service and leadership, both at school and in their communities, and who show aptitude for and commitment to their chosen career paths.

Recipients receive a $5,000 scholarship voucher that they can redeem with the Ministry of Education after they are attending a designated post-secondary institution or B.C. authorized trades training provider.

Key dates

• February 15, 2021: applications due by 11:59pm PST
• Early June 2021: conditional recipients and their schools notified by email
• September 2021: conditional recipients checked against eligibility requirements
• Fall 2021: paper scholarship vouchers mailed to confirmed recipients

Eligibility requirements

Students selected as conditional recipients of the BC Excellence scholarship must meet the following requirements by August 31 of their graduating year to be confirmed as a recipient and receive their scholarship voucher:

• meet basic eligibility requirements;
• be eligible for a B.C. Certificate of Graduation (Dogwood Diploma);
• fulfill the requirements of the B.C. Graduation Program;
• be graduating in the same year the scholarship is awarded; and
• have the following final marks.
  • Minimum “B” average in grades 11 and 12 courses required for graduation.
  • Minimum “B” (73% or above) in Language Arts 12.
  • Minimum “B” average, no more than one “C+” (67% or above), and no marks lower than “C+” in courses that fulfill graduation requirements for Science 11 or 12, Math 11, and Social Studies 11 or 12.

Note: students may apply for both the BC Excellence scholarship and the Pathway to Teacher Education scholarship but they can only be awarded one.

How applications are evaluated

1. Written statements are assessed by teams of B.C. teachers using the marking guidelines
2. A subset of candidates is shortlisted.
3. The resume packages for these students are assessed by the scholarship committee, which includes B.C. teachers, using the marking guidelines.
4. Fifty-five candidates are named as conditional recipients.

Preparation

Students are encouraged to get organized well before the application deadline of 11:59pm PST on February 15, 2021.

• Record the key dates noted above
• Plan to meet all eligibility requirements
• Understand students must be nominated by their secondary school to qualify for this scholarship and each school may nominate one student only
• Understand that the online application must be completed in one session because it cannot be saved and completed later; preview the online application and follow the instructions to prepare information offline

Apply

• BC Excellence scholarship application
• Students are encouraged to inform their high schools of any address changes. In the fall, the Ministry mails paper scholarship vouchers to recipients using the home addresses reported by schools.