A Guide to Reviewing Applications
Thank you for serving on the Foundation’s scholarship review committee. These guidelines are meant to serve as general information to support specific elements of the review process and reflect our unique approach to facilitating scholarship grants. The primary goal is for each application to receive an equitable, objective review based on the merit of the individual’s scholastic achievements, community involvement and financial need for support.
Your role is critical – and meant to be based on your personal style – so these guidelines are, by design, high level and not overly prescriptive. We ask that you let your heart and your head lead your review process, and that you be consistent in your approach to all applications you review.
We are the largest Jewish provider of scholarships in the state of Texas, with more than 75 unique scholarship opportunities available to applicants today. Each scholarship was established with donor inspired mission and purpose, and therefore will have different eligibility. These guidelines are not meant to replace individual scholarship purposes.
Decision Meeting April 3rd at 12PM.
Thank you for your time and effort on this committee
Important Dates
- Scores Due – Monday, March 31, 2025
- Decision Meeting – Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 12pm on Zoom
- Decision Meeting – Monday, April 7, 2025 at 5pm on Zoom
- Reception/Award Ceremony – Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 7pm at JCC
GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:
The review process is meant to be individual, but it is a team sport. Your scores for each candidate will be combined and averaged with the broader team’s review. The most important element is to be consistent. You may find it helpful to keep notes on paper or to review all the applications assigned to you before beginning to rate candidates. Your approach should be unique, but consistent across all candidates assigned to you for consideration.
THANK YOU! The donors who establish these scholarships are trusting you, our volunteers, with the critical job of evaluating the best candidates for receipt of financial aid – representing more than $225,000 in annual awards.
Typically, an essay should:
1. Answer the question posed in the prompt.
2. Make a connection between the mission of the scholarship and the applicant’s academic, career, personal interests and/or goals.
3. Successfully articulate how the applicant plans to achieve those interests/goals and how the scholarship will fit into that plan.
4. Demonstrate how the applicant thinks and why they’ve made the decisions made clarifying and reflecting on relevant past experiences.
5. The essay should be easy to read, reveal interesting things about the applicant and help the reader gain an understanding of the applicant.
General qualities to look for:
Engagement: Does the applicant discuss extracurricular, research, volunteer, internship, work or other experiences that add to his or her academic pursuits?
Leadership: Does the applicant discuss his or her role in contribution to any experiences discussed?
Sense of Purpose: Does the applicant provide evidence of having a sense of direction and understanding of how that has developed through past experiences?
Issues to give special consideration:
AI Use – While it’s best to approach each essay as a heartfelt piece by the applicant, we do know that artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used for essay-writing. If you suspect an essay is the product of AI, you may run it through an AI detector, such as https://undetectable.ai/. Please bear in mind that these detectors themselves are a form of artificial intelligence, however, and they are not infallible. They can be used as a tool in your assessment, but their verdict should not be taken as determinative.
English language learners – many scholarship applicants are not native English speakers or writers. Because an essay-based application naturally puts these applicants at a disadvantage, selection committee members should look beyond spelling and grammar errors when there is evidence that the applicant is a non-native speaker and focus more on the content provided.
Eloquent vagueness – some applicants are fantastic writers who have great things to say on the surface, but no experience to back up their statements. Exceptional applicants will show, rather than tell, about themselves and their ideas.
Resume recap – Does the applicant simply restate or even copy information from his or her resume? Exceptional applicants will use the essays to provide context for the most pivotal experiences listed on the resume, reflect on them and not just recreate the list in narrative form.
There is no limit to the number of scores you can give to a student, and you may distribute scores from 1 – 10, 10 being the highest score, at your judgment. We ask that you be thoughtful in your approach and spread the scores out among the applicants, giving scores across the full spectrum of possibility.
IN DEPTH INFORMATION ABOUT REVIEW AREAS
We will be sharing the following values statement with all scholarship recipients. If you wish, you may also use it to help guide your own decision-making.
We are proud of our 2025 DJCF/SWCF scholarship recipients. We celebrate their embodiment of our core values, which include: the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world; Jewish traditions; confidentiality; education; trust; collaboration; compassion; and inclusive philanthropy. Your commitment to these values not only reflects your integrity, but also aligns with our goal of fostering a community where every individual feels valued, supported, and empowered. We have confidence that through your continued academic and extracurricular pursuits, you will contribute positively to your community and uphold these values for generations to come.
We truly believe you will enjoy this experience. The first rule is there are no rules. You decide what’s important to you and base your assessment on those criteria. To help you evaluate applications, we have compiled a few methods that some of our volunteers have used. Feel free to adopt all or none of them. Again, it’s up to you. Just be consistent!
— Look at the dates of the activities. A candidate may list a lot of activities, but only a few of them may be within the last year or two. Candidates who are currently and actively involved in activities could be candidates that you would want to rank higher than those who are not currently involved – but that is up to you to prioritize.
— If a candidate does not list a lot of community activities, check to see if there are extenuating circumstances, such as a full-time job, or other family commitments that hinder involvement. While we still hope for involved candidates, it may be a factor in your ranking.
— Do you place an equal value on all religious endeavors? Again, consistency is the key. We would ask that you rank according to YOUR values and judgment but hope that a Christian, Muslim, or Jewish charitable activity would carry equal weight.
— Are the activities one-time occurrences or does the candidate participate in deeper ways with an organization? Volunteering only one time for two hours carries a different weight than volunteering once a month for one hour. Rank accordingly.
— Note the number of hours along with the number of activities. In other words, you should not necessarily have a negative reaction if there are only one or two activities, because there may be a deeper commitment to those one or two activities.
Some of our volunteers mix and match Community Involvement (CI) and writing skills. They might rank CI from top to bottom and then separately rank writing skills. You can then assign values to each side, be it 50/50, 60/40, or any ratio you choose.
EXTRACURRICULAR, COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT & LEADERSHIP
A strong candidate: demonstrates interest and active involvement with extracurricular and community efforts; has the ability to collaborate and work in team relationships; leads by example; works toward shared values and common goals; and actively attempts to influence events to achieve goals and follows through.
Limited Evidence Scores of 1, 2, 3
- Little or no involvement in volunteer and community efforts
- Has difficulty citing leadership examples
- Some involvement in extra-curricular activities, but no leadership roles
- Some difficulty with effective time management
Moderate Evidence Scores of 4, 5, 6
- Demonstrates some current and/or recent involvement with volunteer and community efforts
- Cites some leadership examples from academic, work, or community
- Demonstrates productive use of spare time
- Cites involvement in some extra-curricular activities
Strong Evidence Scores of 7, 8, 9
- Demonstrates extensive ongoing involvement with volunteer and community efforts
- Holds one or more significant and active leadership positions within school and/or outside organizations; cites leadership examples
- Has initiated and organized a volunteer/community effort
- Doesn’t give up on things; follows through from beginning to end
We truly believe you will enjoy this experience, even though it may be unlike anything you have done before. The first rule is there are no rules. You decide what’s important to you to review (grades, grammar, undergrad vs post-grad) and which students are the most qualified. To help you evaluate applications, we have compiled a few methods that some of our committee members have used.
Some members try to compare students who are in the same category: high school, college, and graduate school. In other words, compare high school to high school, college to college, and graduate school to graduate school. This makes it easier for the committee to compare similarly situated applicants. Within each component, there may be specific considerations to keep in mind. Again, consistency is the key.
GRADES:
High School Students: Consider whether the student took AP or community colleges courses, giving regard to those who took more challenging coursework. This can be determined by comparing weighted and non-weighted GPAs. Weighted GPAs are measured on a scale that goes above a 4.0 to account for more difficult classes. Apply any standards you use across all applicants.
College students: Generally speaking, if two applicants have similar GPAs, a good strategy might be to look at the school that they are attending and the course load they are taking, and pay special attention to both the number of hours and the types of courses. It would be appropriate to give additional weight to those who attend certain schools (e.g. Ivy League schools) or take a more rigorous course load, either in hours or in difficulty of classes. The most important factor of your rating is consistency.
Graduate students: Most graduate students typically have very good grades in graduate school. Differentiating graduate students on their grades is often a difficult task, so one thought would be to look at other prior grades/test scores if you have them.
ESSAY:
Most committee members judge on three criteria: 1) Readability 2) Whether the questions were appropriately answered, and 3) Whether their story is compelling. To the extent that there are any typos or grammatical errors, most generally rank those submissions lower unless the stories are overly compelling.
Again, these are suggestions, use some all or none of them. Remember, it’s up to you. Just be consistent!
Of all the areas, financial need is actually the easiest. Most of the applicants will have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form to receive a Student Aid Index (SAI). This is what the government has deemed as the amount the student (or student’s family) is expected to pay. It determines if the student can receive a government grant or loan. Colleges also use this number to help them determine if they will be offering scholarships to a student.
You will see many applicants with a low amount, and even many zeros. You will also see that some students have a large SAI, and that is all right as well, since many of our scholarships are awarded a heavier emphasis on Academic or Community Involvement. Be objective about this amount, as it is the only way to determine the financial score. There may be reference to financial need in the essay.
There are three scholarships that do not have a financial component. An application who chooses to not complete the FAFSA will show N/A as their SAI. This does not need a financial score.