Tips for parents

How to help your student prepare

As a parent or guardian, you’ve already played a powerful role in your student’s journey by encouraging their curiosity, supporting their growth, and helping them become a strong candidate for the Flinn Scholarship. 

While completing the various elements of the application must be their own work, there are meaningful ways you can provide support—by helping them stay organized, reflect deeply, and approach the process with confidence and perspective. But perhaps most important, remind your student that neither this scholarship application, nor any other application for a scholarship or college, is the most important thing in the world. Extraordinary opportunities await, whether or not your student is selected for the Flinn Scholarship. 

Below are a few suggestions to help your student navigate the process. 

Tips for parents of Flinn Scholarship applicants

  • Start early and stay organized. The Flinn Scholarship application opens early in senior year, with a deadline in October. Encourage your student to plan ahead so they have time to reflect, revise, and request recommendations. 
  • Review the application. Once the application opens, read through it with your student and talk through any uncertainties. Explore the FAQs together, and if questions remain, encourage your student to reach out to [email protected] themselves. This is a great opportunity for them to practice self-advocacy. 
  • Encourage independence and self-reflection. The Flinn Scholarship seeks students who demonstrate initiative, curiosity, and maturity. Support your student by prompting thoughtful conversations about their goals and values—but let them take the lead in shaping their story. 
  • Be a sounding board. It’s okay to read drafts or brainstorm ideas together, but the application should reflect your student’s authentic voice. Help them talk through their experiences and insights without rewriting their responses. 
  • Help manage logistics. Offer reminders about deadlines, help gather transcripts or other materials if asked, and create a quiet space to work. Let your student drive the timeline and make the final decisions. 
  • Lead with perspective. The process of applying for scholarships and college can feel high-stakes, but your reassurance and perspective matter. Celebrate the opportunity and growth it brings, no matter the outcome. 
  • Trust in their readiness. Applying for the Flinn Scholarship is one step on a larger journey. Your confidence in their ability to navigate it with integrity and self-direction is one of the best supports you can provide. 

FAQs

If your student is still a freshman, sophomore, or junior in high school, you can help your student become a stronger candidate for the Flinn Scholarship. With the caveat that there is no blueprint for a Flinn Scholar, here are a few considerations: We look for students who have challenged themselves and maximized the resources available to them.  

The strongest candidates for the Flinn Scholarship tend to have deep, sustained involvement and leadership in several activities, rather than superficial involvement in a greater number of activities. 

Students should take the PSAT (the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) in October of their junior year. This is the score that determines a student’s eligibility for National Merit Scholarship funding, the largest pool of merit scholarship money for undergraduate study. 

Flinn Scholarship applicants will self-report their ACT or SAT scores. There is a minimum test score of 26 on the ACT or 1230 on the SAT. Only students who advance in the process will be asked to submit official test scores.

You and your student are encouraged to view the 2026  online information session about the Flinn Scholarship to learn more about the program. 

Competition is much more rigorous for the Flinn Scholarship than for admission to even the most selective colleges and universities; we typically receive more than 1,100 applications each year. Flinn Scholars come from every corner of Arizona, and upon arrival at their university, choose concentrations in virtually every discipline. There is no blueprint for a Flinn Scholar. Merit, demonstrated by academic and personal achievement, is the only factor in selection. Financial need is not a consideration. Our reviewers, a large panel of distinguished community members and Flinn Scholar alumni, examine applicants’ academic achievement, leadership and involvement, service to the community, ability to communicate, and personal qualities. Each of these factors is an important part of the holistic picture that an applicant presents to us. From all applicants, reviewers select a group of about 75 Semifinalists for a preliminary virtual interview. Following this interview, about 35 applicants are named Finalists and invited for an in-person interview with the Selection Committee. All finalists are notified of their status by late March, and a public announcement is made in April.

Total value of the Flinn Scholarship—including the cash value of tuition offered by each university—exceeds $135,000. But the award’s monetary value is only the beginning. There are many benefits.

Flinn Scholars have a competitive edge. Over the course of four years, they routinely compile extraordinary records of graduate-level coursework and published research. By graduation day, they have become globally-traveled leaders wielding influence in the state, nation, and world. And they convey a serious sense of purpose and goals. Scholars win prestigious fellowships such as the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Gates Cambridge, Churchill, Goldwater, Truman, and Udall, and alumni regularly attend the nation’s top graduate schools, often with full scholarships. Many Scholars say the most important aspect of the program is joining a community of similarly motivated students of diverse interests. They form long-lasting friendships within an unparalleled network of talented future leaders in every field you can imagine.

Arizona’s universities are among the best public universities in the country. The honors colleges at ASU, NAU, and U of A offer undergraduates an Ivy League-caliber education at a public-university price. Flinn Scholars and their honors peers enjoy unparalleled access to distinguished faculty, with whom they are often matched for personal mentorship. One of the important strengths of Arizona’s universities is actually their size: they offer thousands of courses in hundreds of degree-granting programs, world-class facilities for research and creative activity, and an array of extracurricular opportunities to satisfy the most curious student. As students in the universities’ honors colleges, Flinn Scholars receive all the benefits of the large university in an intimate and intellectually rich setting. By every measurable dimension—undergraduate achievement, graduate-school acceptance, future employment competitiveness, and professional honors—graduates of Arizona universities realize high levels of success and distinction.

Scholars submit an annual narrative about their coursework, on- and off-campus activities, career plans, and overall college experience. They must maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average and participate in at least two Foundation-related activities each academic year. Additional details are available on our Benefits and Expectations page.

Yes. We care greatly about the success and happiness of our Scholars and will immediately help a Scholar initiate contact with the university if the student is having difficulty. In addition to the conventional support services found on every university campus, Flinn Scholars often rely on their faculty mentors, honors staff, and each other for academic support. All Scholars also receive free, 24/7 access to a counseling service for mental health, stress, and life challenges.

Yes. The counselor report is typically provided by the parent who took primary responsibility for the student’s education. That report must provide information about the curriculum and home-schooling approach. The academic recommendation may be from someone who taught the student at an accredited institution: high school, community college, or university, or from the parent who took primary responsibility for the student’s education. The leadership/service recommendation may come from a teacher, professor, or community member, but may not come from a relative or family member. Receiving independent assessment of the student’s academic and social performance in a group context can be valuable to our reviewers.

We do not provide information regarding an individual’s performance to applicants, their families, or their teachers and counselors, during or after our selection process. All materials applicants submit, and all material generated during the review process (i.e., readers’ and interviewers’ notes) remain confidential, as do students’ recommendations.