Select one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In a 700-word personal statement, explain how your Laurier education will enable you to contribute to global efforts to achieve the goal you have chosen. In your statement, demonstrate your potential to become a globally engaged leader. Strong personal statements draw on your experience by including specific examples with vivid details. The personal statement must be your own original work.

You will be asked to share some of your activities and/or accomplishments that demonstrate your leadership potential. Leadership qualities are shown in many forms and in different life experiences. Some examples of what you might tell us about in your application include academics, entrepreneurship, technology, clubs, extracurriculars, athletics, lived experiences, family or community responsibilities, creative and performing arts, employment, volunteerism, service to others, etc.

As part of your application, you will be asked to submit a letter of recommendation written on your behalf. Your letter of recommendation should be from a community leader who can speak about their personal observations and experiences of your leadership qualities and contributions to your school and/or wider community, as well as your academic achievements.  

Some examples of who you might ask to submit a reference for you include a secondary school official, community leader, Elder, coach, teacher, instructor, member of your faith community, or someone who knows you well and can speak about you. You may choose someone not represented on this list. 

You must select your top faculty based on the undergraduate program(s) you have applied to so the selection committee can review your Laurier Scholars Award application.

There is one scholarship awarded in each of the following seven faculties at Laurier:

1. Faculty of Arts
2. Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
3. Faculty of Liberal Arts
4. Faculty of Music
5. Faculty of Science
6. Faculty of Social Work
7. Lazaridis School of Business and Economics

Each faculty has its own selection committee and each applicant can only be considered by one faculty.

Not sure which faculty your program falls under? Review your program page:

1. Navigate to Academic Programs.
2. Select your undergraduate program.
3. Look for the faculty under the program name.

1. Go to the LORIS website.
2. Log in using your Laurier Network Login username and temporary password. Your username is your Laurier email address. You will find your login and password in the confirmation of application email we sent you; please check your email. 
3. Your temporary password is preset to your date of birth in the format MMDDYYYY. You'll need to change your password and add secret questions the first time you log in.
   • If you experience issues logging into LORIS using your Laurier Network username, complete the password change request form to change your Laurier username account password. 

Hint: Your LORIS username and password is the same as your applicant portal login. 

The online scholarship application is facilitated through LORIS (Laurier’s Online Registration and Information System). 

1. Log in to LORIS.
2. Select the “Student Awards and Financial Aid” tab.
3. Select “Student Awards Applications.”
4. Select your aid year (2023-2024) and then select “Continue.”
5. Complete and submit the Laurier Scholars Award application. 

Watch our video tutorial, to learn how to access scholarship, bursary and award applications on LORIS.

Watch our video tutorial, to learn how to upload required supplementary documents for scholarship, bursary and award applications on LORIS.

Refer to our list of frequently asked questions for completing the application.

If you need to stop partway through and come back to your application, follow these instructions:

1. Log in to LORIS.
2. Select the “Student Awards and Financial Aid” tab.
3. Select “View My Applications” Find the Laurier Scholars Award and select “View/Modify.”
4. Select “View/Modify Sections.”
5. Complete and submit the Laurier Scholars Award application.

The Laurier Scholars Award is worth a maximum of $40,000 over four years, broken down as follows:

• $7,500 per year for up to four years = $30,000
• $10,000 experiential award = $10,000
• Total over 4 years: $40,000

There is one scholarship for each of the following faculties. A total of seven scholarships will be awarded in 2023.

• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
• Faculty of Liberal Arts
• Faculty of Music
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Social Work
• Lazaridis School of Business and Economics

Laurier will email the successful award recipients only in mid-May. If you are selected, we will notify you using the email address you submitted on your OUAC application.

This award requires you to have a 90% final admission average as of the beginning of July (current Ontario high school applicants) or mid July (all other applicants) of the same year you will begin your studies at Laurier (i.e., July 2023 average considered for a September 2023 start date). Therefore, you will not be eligible for this award if your average is lower than 90% on this date. However, you will be reassessed to see if you are eligible for an entrance scholarship.

It is strongly recommended that you monitor your grades in your OUAC account (current Ontario high school applicant) or in LORIS (if you are a non-Ontario high school applicant). Summer school courses cannot be used to increase your average. It is your responsibility to make sure your updated grades are also updated in your OUAC account by the deadlines listed above.

Recipients of the Laurier Scholars Award must maintain a final admission average of 90% as of the beginning of July (for current Ontario high school applicants) or mid July (for all other applicants) of the same year you will begin your studies at Laurier. Grades from summer school courses completed in the same year you plan to begin your studies are not included in your eligibility assessment (i.e., summer school grades from August 2023 courses will not be considered for a September 2023 Laurier start-date).

As a Laurier Scholars Award recipient, you should do everything in your power to ensure your grades are received by Laurier by the above deadline. If you are unable to meet the deadline due to circumstances outside your control, please contact servicelaurier@wlu.ca before the deadline listed above and explain your situation in detail. Deadline extensions are not guaranteed and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Please note that we will not consider summer school courses, even if you are granted an extension.

This scholarship is available for students who are attending postsecondary for the first time. See what other scholarships and funding opportunities are available for transfer students.

You may only hold one entrance scholarship award. If you receive the Laurier Scholars Award, you will not be eligible for another entrance scholarship or the President’s Gold Scholarship.

As this award is valued at up to $40,000 over four years, you will not be eligible to receive in-course scholarships. If you do not meet the eligibility requirements in your upper years and no longer qualify as a Laurier Scholar, you will be eligible to receive in-course scholarships.

Applicants who have received an offer of admission for fall 2023 and have a current admission average of 90% or higher (Laurier does not round admission averages) will receive access to the Laurier Scholars Award application.

If you think you may be eligible to apply, but do not have access to the scholarship application in LORIS, please email servicelaurier@wlu.ca.

Laurier is thrilled that younger students are using their passion, creativity and leadership to inspire the lives of others. While award criteria may change from year to year, a good way to prepare is to consider this year’s award criteria and the scholarship application components.

Please email the Student Awards team at servicelaurier@wlu.ca for additional assistance.

The experiential award is available in your final year of studies and will be applied towards an education-enhancing experience, which may include studying abroad or a research assistantship. 

The Laurier Scholars Program offers high-achieving students the opportunity to participate in a dynamic learning environment that will foster innovative thinking and ethical, visionary leadership.  

The Laurier Scholars Program is inclusive of leadership development, career development and other unique programming opportunities. Laurier Scholars will be supported through the Scholars' Colloquium, faculty mentorship and peer mentorship. Scholars may also engage in leadership development projects, and an annual Scholars’ Conference. 

No, you do not. You can apply to the Laurier Scholars Award before you accept your offer of admission.

If you are selected as a Laurier Scholar, you must confirm your offer of admission to receive the award. You must accept your offer of admission by June 1, 2023, at 11:59 p.m., unless a different date is noted on your official offer of admission letter.

1. Open the Laurier Scholar’s Award Application on LORIS.
2. Select the Supplementary Document section.
3. Click the “Laurier Scholars Award” link.
4. Read the entire section and complete the questions.
5. Select the link “upload your document here” and a new window will open.
6. Find the document file, “drag and drop” your PDF document file into the window.
7. You do not need to fill in any of the text fields on the window (i.e. Activity Date).
8. Click on “Save” and close the window.
9. Select “View your document here” to view your document.

Your personal statement and letter of recommendation are referred to as supplementary documents in LORIS.

One of the common error messages you may receive when trying to upload your supplementary documents on LORIS is: “Unable to Save Document Index. A Unique Key Violation Has Occurred”

If you receive this error message or any other error messages, please follow the steps below:

1. Click on the link “View your document here”—you may have already uploaded the document. If you do not see a document, log out of LORIS and then log back in.
2. If you see a document under “View your document here” but would like to delete and re-upload a new file, click on “Document” in the top left corner and select “Delete Document”
3. After you delete the document, close the window
4. To re-upload a new PDF document, select the “Upload your document here” link.
5. Open your file explorer, select the PDF document, and drag and drop the file into the window
6. Click on “Save” and close the window.

If you are still unable to upload your document, email chooselaurier@wlu.ca with screenshot(s) for further assistance.

Uploading Documents on LORIS for Award Applications - YouTube video

1. Open the Laurier Scholar’s Award Application on LORIS.
2. Select the Supplementary Document section.
3. Click the “Laurier Scholars Award” link.
4. Select the link "View your document here."
5. Select "Document" in the top left corner.
6. Click on "Delete Document" and close the window.
7. Select the link "upload your document here" to re-upload.

We recognize that the pandemic may have affected your involvement in your extracurricular activities. Fill out the activities section of application accurately. For example, if you were involved in your activity within the last year, indicate this in the question “When were you last involved in the activity?” If you weren’t involved in the last year, please choose the appropriate dropdown option.

You are not limited to sharing extracurricular activities. Some examples of what you might tell us about in your application include academics, entrepreneurship, technology, clubs, extracurriculars, athletics, lived experiences, family or community responsibilities, creative and performing arts, employment, volunteerism, service to others, etc.

Your letter of recommendation should be from a community leader who can speak about their personal observations and experiences of your leadership qualities and contributions to your school and/or wider community, as well as your academic achievements.  

Some examples of who you might ask to submit a reference for you include a secondary school official, community leader, Elder, coach, teacher, instructor, member of your faith community, or someone who knows you well and can speak about you. You may choose someone not represented on this list.

To better understand your activity, it’s helpful for us to know where you are completing the activity. We provide three options for applicants to select: School affiliated, outside of school and other.

• School affiliated could be an extra-curricular that you participate in that is linked to your high school, IB program or potentially an activity that is taking place at another school, such as volunteering at an elementary school.
• Outside of school is intended to broadly include any activity that may take place outside of your school. This can include in your community, at home, at the workplace or any place that is not linked to your school.
• If you feel that your activity does not fit in either of the above categories, you have the option to select other and provide us with the location.

Where the activity takes place is up to you to decide. The location helps us better understand the activity itself. Whatever option that you feel best describes your activity is best to select. There is no preference or advantage to select any specific option of where it takes place.

We discourage the use of images, graphics and/or pictures on your personal statement. It is recommended that you use text only. Please note that there is 700-word limit for the personal statement.

If you exceed the word limit, the remainder of your personal statement may not be reviewed. You should remain within the 700-word limit.

There is no page limit for the letter of recommendation. However, we recommend submitting one to two pages for your letter of recommendation.

No. Each faculty has its own selection committee, and each applicant can only be considered by one faculty. You should select the faculty that offers the program you consider your first choice for admission.

Review your program page:

1. Navigate to Academic Programs.
2. Select your undergraduate program.
3. Look for the faculty under the program name.