The Alumni Scholarship Leadership Award is one of the most prestigious awards on the Berkeley campus and the largest nonacademic merit scholarship in the country. Awarded based on student leadership, Alumni Leadership Scholars represent the excellence of Cal students when they step outside the classroom--either on campus or in the community. From more than ten thousand initial applicants, only a few hundred Alumni Scholarship Leadership Finalists will be invited to interview with an alumni representative either on the Berkeley campus or in their hometown. Each of those Finalists will compete to earn a share of the more than $1.3 million in renewable scholarships handed out by Berkeley alumni each year. Prospective First-Year students are selected through a nationwide search conducted between February and April each year. More than a thousand loyal Berkeley alumni convene Scholarship District Committees to interview Finalists face-to-face, as a part of a tradition dating nearly a century. Prospective Advance Standing Transfer students also apply during the spring and are interviewed each September at the Alumni House on the Berkeley campus or over the summer around California. You will not know the final results of your application until September.