Help

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The following Self Help topics are available:

Student Tips
Known Bugs
Student Tutorial 
Provider Tutorial

For other questions or comments please contact us using the form below:

Student Tips

1. Apply only to scholarships for which you meet the criteria. Award providers may look negatively on students who blindly apply to all scholarships without reviewing the scholarship requirements.

2. Questions related to specific scholarships should be directed to the scholarship provider.

3. Make your official transcript requests to schools/universities ASAP.

4. Do not include dollar signs and commas when specifying dollar amounts in fields.

Known Bugs

We are currently working on a number of bugs including the following:

1. The bermudascholarships.com website uses the latest in web browser technology and it is not backward compatible with all web browsers. If you are experiencing a problem make sure that you are using the latest version of your web browser.

2. For scholarship providers - when viewing applicant details no easy way to return to the applicant list. Only way to do this at the moment is to click the browsers back button and click on the scholarship name again.

Student Tutorial

The following instructions walk the student through the entire process from site registration to applying for scholarships.

1. From the bermudascholarships.com home page you can register with the site by clicking on the "register" link next to the student in the green sweater. In the top section of the dialog box specify a Username, password and email address, check the "I agree to the Terms & Conditions" if you do agree and click the register button.

2. Complete the Student Registration form. As a minimum complete the required fields indicated by the *. For security purposes the jumbled letters at the bottom of the form need to be retyped. Most of these fields can be changed later. Click the Register button at the bottom when complete. If there are any errors on the registration form the system will require you to correct before proceeding and unfortunately you will need to enter a new set of jumbled letters.

3. At this stage you have registered with the site. For the purposes of this tutorial let's logout now by clicking on the Logout link in the top right of the window. This should bring you back to the Home page. Log back into the site by clicking on the "login" link next to the student in the green sweater. In the bottom section of the login window specify your Username and Password and click Login.

4. Now back in your Student Profile. The Student Profile represents all the content that will make up your application to the various scholarships. Across the top there are four tabs including My Profile, Files, My Alerts and Scholarships.

5. The My Profile tab contains your detailed information. My Profile contains a number of sections including Basic Info, Educational Background, Grades and Honours, Interests and Work Experience, Scholarship Applications and Financial Information. To move between these sections simply click on these headings in the bottom left portion of the screen.

6. As part of My Profile your picture can be uploaded. Click on Change Picture, click on Upload file button, select a JPG picture file and click Open. The process may take some time to complete.

7. Underneath your picture is an indication of  the percentage of the profile that has been completed. This percentage should only be regarded as a guideline during the application process. Most students are unable to complete 100% of the profile. It is possible to apply for scholarships without completing 100% of the profile. When a section is complete the heading background for the section will change from pink to green.

8. Work through the Basic Info and Educational Background sections under My Profile. To edit a field click on a field, make the necessary changes and then click on the Ok button. 

9. Under the Grades and Honours section specify your GPA and Scholastics Honours Earned. If you have a GPA based on the 4.0 system specify your GPA. If your current average is based on another scoring system click here for information on how to convert to a GPA based on the 4.0 system. In the Grade Conversion Explanation field indicate briefly how the GPA was calculated. Under Scholastic Honours Earned specify a year and a VERY brief description. Click "Add additional scholastic honour" to add a new line. Maximum five honours.

10. Under the Interests and Work Experience section specify "Extracurricular Interests, Hobbies and Personal Activities", "Work Experience" and "Community Service". Add up to five entries for each of the Extracurricular Interests and Work Experience areas making sure that each field is kept as SHORT AS POSSIBLE particularily the Description field. In the "Community Service" box type in free form text related to your Community Service experience. Type text directly into the Community Service box DO NOT COPY AND PASTE . When complete click the Update button on the bottom right.

11. In the Scholarship Applications section specify any scholarships not applied for on bermudascholarships.com. Keep the Scholarship Name field SHORT.

12. Under the Financial Information section indicate your expected annual expenses. Check the box if completing a Financial Need Form. The form will be made available latter on.

13. Moving on from My Profile to the Files tab. The first section of the Files tab provides space to attach "Proof of Bermudian Status", "Proof of Tuition Fees", "Academic Letter of Recommendation", "Personal Letter of Recommendation", "Acceptance Letter", "Financial Need Form" and "Essay". Depending on the scholarship some of these documents may not be required. To attach a document click on Attach File, click the Upload button, select the file to attach (preferred format is PDF) and click Open. The process may take several seconds before the file is attached. To open an attached document click on the link in the Attach file column. Once a file is attached you can control which award providers will have access to the attachment. By default all award providers can view all attachments but you can limit access by clicking Set Privacy, check mark the award providers who should have access and click the Save Changes button. Scrolling through the list is a little clunky but by using the mouse scroll wheel while moving the mouse should work. Only scholarships which you have applied for can be given access in this way. A link to the financial need form is provided in this section. To submit a fiancial need form print out the form, fill it in, scan it and attach the scanned document.

14. The next section under the Files tab is the area for Official Transcripts. Students should not post anything in this section unless it is absolutely impossible to get an official transcript sent into bermudascholarships.com. The normal transcript process is for the student have the school/university send an official hard copy transcript(s) directly to the address below and bermudascholarships.com will attach a digitally certified version of the document(s) to your profile. We will send an email to the student when a transcript is attached. Bermuda Scholarships Transcripts, The Centre on Philanthropy P.O. Box HM 3217, Hamilton, HM NX, Bermuda

15. The final section under the Files tab allows for additional documentation which may not fit into a category above. Use this section to include additional essays and letters of recommendation. To add a document click on "Attach another file", specify a brief but meaningful description, click the Add button and then click on Attach File and Set Privacy as with the other documents above.

16. The My Alerts tab controls what email alerts are sent to the student. You can choose to be alerted when scholarships are granted or when the site is updated. You can also choose to no longer receive any email from bermudascholarships.com. Once your choices have been made click Save Changes button.

17. At this stage all your information should be in the system. You may be waiting for your transcript or other documentation but in the mean time you may begin adding scholarships to your shortlist. Under the Scholarships tab two lists are presented - scholarships on your shortlist and scholarships for which you have applied. To begin with both of these lists will be empty. To add scholarships to your shortlist from the Scholarships tab click on Return to Scholarship Search.

18. Scholarships are added to your shortlist from the Scholarship Search page. Initially all awards are listed. To narrow the search indicate the level of study, type of assistance and area of study. Click the + sign to the far right to open up each of the three sections and specify the criteria. Depending on the number of results the awards may span across several pages. You can control the number of scholarships displayed on one page from 10, 25, 50 or 100 by selecting the drop down directly above the scholarship list. To jump between pages use the controls at the bottom of the page. Each of the columns in the scholarship list can be sorted by clicking on the heading. To add a scholarship to your shortlist click on the empty box to the left which will add a green check mark to the box. To remove a scholarship from your shortlist click on the red X. To view the scholarship details click on the scholarship name.

19. When reviewing the details of a specific scholarship make sure that you meet all the requirements and pay special attention to the Other Requirements section. You can also add the scholarship to your short list by clicking on the button at the bottom of the Scholarship Details page. To continue searching click on Return to Scholarship Search under the Quick Links on the left.

20. The Scholarship search page contains two tabs one displaying all available scholarships as described above and a second tab displaying your shortlist. From the Shortlist tab you can return to your profile by clicking on the Proceed to Apply button.

21. Once back in your Profile under the Scholarships tab you can submit an application by clicking the Submit Application button. In most cases you will receive a warning that your scholarship application is incomplete. If you are ready to submit click Ignore Warning. When you receive the "Application send" message your application has been sent. Close the "Application send" message box by clicking the X. You will notice that the scholarship has been moved down to the Submitted Applications section. Applications for scholarships can be cancelled by clicking on the red X.

Provider Tutorial

The scholarship provider process begins with the provider entering into the system information related to all their scholarships. This information includes the start date for receiving applicatons and the application deadline date. These dates will need to be updated annually by the provider. Students will complete their profiles and apply for scholarships between these dates. After the application deadline the provider will be able to review all the applicants and complete the selection process.

The steps below provide an introduction to the site by walking through all the functionality available to the scholarship providers

1. Scholarship providers should have received a username and password via email. If not please use the form above to place a request for a username and password. For new scholarship providers please use the form above to have an account setup. From the bermudascholarships.com Home page click on the login link next to the picture of trophies. Specify your Username and Password and click the Login button. Once successfully logged in you can optionally change your password by clicking on the link under the Donor Profile logo "Change password". Specify the current password, new password and confirm new password. Click Save Changes button.

2. Under the My Profile tab the donor logo, name, email address and description can be provided. To upload the Donor logo click on the Change Picture link, click the "Change picture..." button, select a JPG file under 500 K in size and click Open. The process may take a few seconds to complete. For the Name and E-mail click on each field make the necessary changes and click the Ok button to save your changes. In the Address field type in your contact information including address, telephone numbers, fax number and web site. In the Desrciption field type in a brief description of the donor in paragraph form. To avoid data corruption do not copy and paste content into any fields on the site especially the Address and Description fields. Click the Update button when complete.

3. Under the My Scholarships tab is the list of scholarships provided by the donor. From the My Scholarships list page the provider can create a new scholarship, view existing scholarship details, set the status on a scholarship and delete a scholarship.

4. To create a new scholarship click on the New Scholarship link at the top. Attempt to complete every field on the New Scholarship form. You will be able to make changes later. Remember no copying and pasting into this form - everything must be typed. At the bottom is a field entitled Response email which represents the body of the email automatically sent to students who apply to the scholarship. When the form is complete click the Submit Scholarship button at the bottom.

4. To view the details of a particular scholarship click on the scholarship name in the list of My Scholarships. This is where things get a little confusing. Under the My Scholarships tab the list of scholarships for the provider will become hidden and the individual scholarship details will appear under two subtabs - one subtab labelled APPLICANTS listing the applicants who have applied to the scholarship and a second subtab labelled EDIT containing all the information related to the scholarship. To return to the list of scholarships click on the My Scholarships link on the left directly above the scholarship name in big letters.

5. Under the APPLICANTS subtab the list of applicants is displayed. To view the details of a particular applicant click on the applicant name. To navigate through the student profile refer to the Student Tutorial above. Unfortunately, due to a minor bug, two clicks are required to return to the list of students - click the back button on the browser which will take you back to the scholarship list and then click on the scholarship name again to return to the list of applicants. From the applicant list the status for each individual applicant can be changed using the drop down in the Status column. The standard options available in the drop down are Application Recieved and Application Declined. The provider can specify additional options available in the drop down which will be described later. To grant an award checkmark those student(s) receiving the award and click the GRANT AWARD button at the bottom. To send an email checkmark those student(s) to receive the email and click the SEND EMAIL button at the bottom, type in a message and optionally specify a file to attach. To download an Excel spreadsheet with information related to all the applicants click on the Download Applicants link directly above the APPLICANTS and EDIT subtabs.

6. Under the EDIT subtab the information related to the scholarship can be modified. Click on a field to make changes and click the Ok button to save. Remember to only type in information into the fields do not copy and paste from elsewhere. Remember to click the Save button at the bottom of each section.

7. Under the Preferences tab the provider can specify what columns appear in the applicant list and what options are available under the applicant status options.