General directions
THE ENTIRE APPLICATION PROCESS IS ONLINE, NOTHING IS TO BE MAILED
DUE TO THE EXTRAORDINARY TIMES, THE TIMEFRAME FOR THE APPLICATION PORTAL IS CHANGED
Applications are accepted on a first come first served basis starting February 1st, 2021
The portal closes upon receipt of 200 applications or on March 1st, 2021
Maximum scholarship is $7,000 (USD)
Timeline
Feb 1 | Application portal opens – ESF begins accepting applications
Candidate receives emailed auto confirmation of submission
March 1 | Portal closes if application limit has not already been reached
Deadline for recommendation letter to be received by ESF
May 15 | Candidates begin receiving email notification of ESF’s decision
July 30 | Deadline for notifying ESF of changes to academic plans
Sept 1 | ESF begins accepting emailed proof of registration/matriculation (R/M) for the fall semester from scholarship recipients
Upon ESF receipt of R/M, stipend is remitted to student's bank account
Oct 1 | Deadline for ESF receipt of proof of R/M for fall semester
Scholarship is revoked if proof of R/M is not received
Correspondence - ESF’s NEW EMAIL - toetusfond@esfusa.org
- Add ESF to your contact list to avoid spam filters or being blocked
- All correspondence with ESF is via email: toetusfond@esfusa.org
- The email entered into the application must be valid through the upcoming academic year
- All ESF emails must be replied to within one week
Application
- Ensure all MANDATORY ATTACHMENTS are available and formatted for uploading prior to filling out the online application (refer to Technical Tips)
- Only one application is accepted per candidate each academic year
- ASAP - send RECOMMENDATION LETTER instructions to the provider
- Prepare all answers prior to starting the online application
- The application must be completed and submitted in the same session
- The application cannot be saved to be resumed later
- Once submitted, changes or additional information CANNOT be sent
- Answers are 40, 200 or 1,000 characters (including spaces)
- All financial information must be converted to USD
Language
- The application must be filled out in Estonian
- Candidates born/schooled outside of Estonia may use English and Estonian
- All documents originating in Estonia must be in Estonian
- Documents originating elsewhere must be in English or Estonian
- Documents not in English or Estonian must be accompanied by English or Estonian translations
Mandatory documents
Attachments to upload with the application
- Transcript(s)
- Personal Essay
- Photo
- Other Documents (GPA calculations, translations, grading systems, explanations, etc.)
Emailed directly to toetusfond@esfusa.org by the recommendation provider
- Confidential Letter of Recommendation
1. TRANSCRIPT(S) PDF (less than 5 MB)
- Official transcript must be in Estonian or English
- If the school is not in Estonia or the USA, include the school’s official explanation of the grading system
- Master’s students must include prior transcript(s)
- All high school seniors and college freshmen must include grade 9-12 transcript(s). If in Estonia, they must include the Estonian national exam results
- Transcript must include recent fall semester’s grades
- If not available, a letter written by an academic advisor detailing the candidate’s achievements and class ranking during the fall semester, must be uploaded with OTHER DOCUMENTS. It must be on official letterhead, signed and dated
- Transcript must show the cumulative GPA
- If not available, or not on a 4 or 5 point scale, cumulative GPA must be calculated on a 4 or 5 point scale and uploaded with OTHER DOCUMENTS
If the school’s grading system has been changed/adapted due to Covid-19 (e.g. classes are pass/fail) upload the official explanation of how cumulative GPA is determined
2. PERSONAL ESSAY PDF (less than 1 MB)
- Must be no longer than one page
- Topic is to be selected by the candidate
- Essays from previous years addressed topics such as:
- What inspires you about your field of study
- A life changing event, person, or challenge
- Previous ESF recipients could write about the previous year’s impact on them and their outlook
Do not reuse essays written for previous ESF applications
3. PHOTO JPG, JPEG, PNG (less than 1 MB)
4. OTHER DOCUMENTS PDF (less than 5 MB)
- GPA calculations, translations, grading systems, explanations, etc.
- Merge all document into one PDF for uploading
Technical instructions
- Download the latest version of the browser
- Remove the pop-up blocker
- MANDATORY ATTACHMENTS
- All Transcripts must be merged into a single PDF (less than 5 MB)
- Personal Essay must be in PDF format (less than 1 MB)
- Photo must be in JPG, JPEG or PNG format (less than 1 MB)
- Other Documents must be merged into a single PDF (less than 5 MB)
- Merging Documents
- Free online software is available
- Apple Preview can be used
- Use black and white settings to minimize file size