Donald R. Shepherd Undergraduate Scholarship

San Diego County residents who also attended high school there and are US citizens or permanent residents receive prefrence for the Donald R. Shepherd Scholarship, established in 2010 to provide entering freshmen with scholarship support. Students must demonstrate financial need via the FAFSA, carry a minimum cumulative high school GPA of 3.75 (weighted or unweighted) and enroll in a major in the UCLA College of Letters and Science and/or the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

The scholarship is renewable through the recipient’s fourth year at UCLA, assuming compliance with the following additional scholarship requirements:

(1) signing and submitting the Statement of Intent to Register at UCLA,
(2) maintaining a cumulative UCLA GPA of 2.7 or higher,
(3) scheduling and attending all required quarterly scholarship appointments with the Executive Director of the Center for Scholarships & Scholar Enrichment, and
(4) completing and uploading annually an updated letter of thanks for the donor.

If you have questions, please contact the UCLA Center for Scholarships & Scholar Enrichment via the following page:

http://www.scholarshipcenter.ucla.edu/about/contact/

Award
$10,000; renewable through the recipient's fourth year at UCLA; notification by April 10
Deadline
04/02/2026
Supplemental Questions
  1. Relationship to San Diego County
    • Are you a permanent resident of San Diego County?
    • Did you attend high school in San Diego County?
    • What has been, and is, the nature of your permanent residence in San Diego County and what was the nature of your high school attendance there? Please explain chiefly in length of time, not the physical address or type of your residence(s).
  2. Write an essay that discusses your dreams, goals and passions, as well as any challenge that you have overcome. How do you plan to continue to be a scholar in college? Highlight any extracurricular activity and community and/or volunteer service in which you've been involved.
  3. CV/RESUME: Please provide a CV or Resume.
  4. Please upload an official or unofficial copy of your high school transcript.
  5. Please write a 100-150 word bio in third person that focuses on your leadership and extracurricular experiences and includes a brief statement of current career goals.
  6. Please provide the name and email of an individual who will provide a letter of reference. The recommendation cannot be from a peer or family member. Your recommender will automatically receive a link prompting them to upload the recommendation via the UCLA Scholarship Application system. Inform your recommender there should be no punctuation in the file name other than that automatically added for file extensions such as .pdf, .doc and the like. The system will not accept any upload where the file name has punctuation. It is best to use letters only.
  7. Please provide the best cell phone number (nine digits with no dashes, spaces or parentheses) for the UCLA Center for Scholarships & Scholar Enrichment to contact you regarding your scholarship if necessary.
  8. Show 2 more