It's WCI Medical School Scholarship season, and applications for 2023 are now being accepted. More than $70,000 in scholarship money and prizes will be available to medical, dental, and other professional degree students who earn one of the 10 scholarships we're awarding. Here's what you need to know.
Purpose of the WCI Medical School Scholarship
We're very grateful for the financial success The White Coat Investor has seen. Although it has always been a for-profit business, its primary purpose is to “help those who wear the white coat get a fair shake.” The White Coat Investor Medical School Scholarship is a way for the entire WCI community to “pay it forward.” This community includes blog readers, podcast listeners, Facebook Group and WCI Forum members, WCI redditors, sponsors, staff, and owners.
The Scholarship has no endowment fund so the scholarship money is raised anew every year. The purpose of the scholarship is to directly reduce the indebtedness of a few students and to promote financial literacy in professional schools.
***Submit Your Application Here***
Applications will be accepted from June 1 through August 31, 2023.
Important Application Information
Who Can Apply?
Only professional students enrolled full-time in a professional school located in the United States for the 2023-2024 year and who are verified to be in good academic standing are eligible. That means medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, dentistry, law, pharmacy, optometry, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, CRNA, anesthesiologist assistant, or veterinarian. We will also consider physical therapy and occupational therapy students if the program leads to a doctorate degree.
- No online schools (brick and mortar only).
- No undergraduates.
- You can't already have a full scholarship and be eligible.
- No residents. Even if you’re a dental resident paying tuition. Students only.
What Does an Application Consist of?
You will need to fill out the application which will ask for your name, school, email address, and similar information. You will then be required to submit an 800-1,200 word essay written in English. The word count is STRICTLY enforced. If you are over or under the word count, your essay will be disqualified. You may not attach a Word document. It must be pasted directly into the application. Emailed submissions will not be accepted. If you win, your essay will be published on The White Coat Investor blog. Submitting an application is considered your agreement to having your essay published along with your name and picture. No anonymous entries.
Essay Topics
You may submit an essay to the “Inspiring Stories” category or the “Financial” category. Five winners will come from each category. You can only apply in one category.
Inspiring Stories are true stories about you, your family, and your background; why it has led you into your profession; and how it will affect your career. Perhaps the essay details an experience that happened to you in school that others would find humorous, interesting, or inspiring. Most of the winners from the earlier years would fall into this category. You can find links to those essays below.
The Financial category essays will describe what you have done in the past or will do in the future to become financially literate or to help others do so. They may explain a financial principle or experience, or they may give advice to your peers. They may be humorous or serious. But they have to be about a financial topic.
For all of the Rules/FAQ, click here
2023 Prize Money
Once again, we're going to keep the prize money simple. There will be 10 winners, and we're going to split the prize money between all of them equally. Each winner will also receive a WCI T-shirt, a WCI insulated water bottle, the WCI Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention for Medical Professionals Course, a WCI Guide for Students Book, and a Personal Finance Bundle from Making your Money Matter . Since we'll be covering all the expenses of the scholarship, any money that the audience donates will go entirely to the winners.
WCI will cover all of the expenses of running the scholarship and the cost of the WCI gear and book. The prize money comes from three places:
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- $25,000 from The White Coat Investor
- Donations from corporate sponsors
- Donations from WCI readers, listeners, and community members
Donate today!
Thank you to the scholarship sponsors!
Platinum Level Contributors ($8,000 or more)
The White Coat Investor, LLC
Larry Keller (Physician Financial Services) – Disability and Life Insurance
Michael Relvas (MR Insurance) – Disability and Life Insurance
SoFi – Student Loan Refinancing
Gold Level Contributors ($1,500 or more)
Jon Appino (Contract Diagnostics) – Contract Review/Negotiation
Chad Chubb (WealthKeel LLC) – Financial Advising
Johanna Turner (Fox and Company Wealth Management) – Financial Advising
Rick Warren (Insuring Income) – Disability and Life Insurance
Dennis Hursh (Physician Agreements Health Law) – Contract Review/Negotiation
DK Unger (DI4MDs) – Disability and Life Insurance
Silver Level Contributors
Mike Caligiuri (Caligiuri Financial) – Financial Advising
Thomas Hackett (NW Legacy Law) – Estate Planning
Bronze Level Contributors
Tiffany Tu
Rules/FAQ
When Can I Submit My Application?
The application period opened on June 1. The final date for submission is August 31, 2023. Don't procrastinate.
In 2022, we ended up receiving 701 applications (and we had nearly 800 in 2021), so this won't be an easy competition.
What Should I Write About?
For the third-straight year, you will need to apply in one of two categories: either the Inspiring Stories category or the Financial category. Five winners will come from each category. You can only apply in one category.
For what it's worth, 80% of the 2021 scholarship entries were written for the Inspiring Stories category. Last year, 73% of entries were for Inspiring Stories, while only 27% were tagged for Financial. In both categories, judges will also be instructed to give some credit for the quality of the writing. The better the writing, the better your chance to win. Remember, your essay must be between 800-1,200 words. Too many or too few, and we'll just throw it out.
Can I Submit Anonymously?
No. Your name and photo will be published along with your essay if you are selected as one of the 10 winners. If you do not feel comfortable with that, don't apply for the scholarship. No exceptions.
How Can I Help Spread the Word?
Please download and post our flyer and email it to everyone you can think of!
When Will the Winners Be Announced?
We anticipate announcing all 10 winners in October on The White Coat Investor blog, although the winners will likely find out the week before when they are asked to send us a headshot picture. We'll also send out an email to all applicants to let them know the winners. We'll also use your email to sign you up to get the monthly WCI Newsletter. Don't worry: it's free and you can unsubscribe at any time. But if you unsubscribe from everything we send you (the nuclear unsubscribe button), you won't get that email announcing the winners.
How Does the Selection Process Work?
You can be assured that if you did not follow the directions contained on this page, you will not be selected as a finalist. English. Proofread. 800-1,200 words. If you are chosen as a winner, we will verify your attendance and good standing.
There will be three rounds of judging. All judging will be done by regular WCI readers/listeners who are neither students nor residents. Judges will be randomly assigned into one of the two categories to maintain consistency.
In the first round, we will provide a number of essays (10-20) to each judge and ask them to recommend 2-3 to pass on to the next round. The second round will consist of fewer judges and a lot fewer essays, but it will follow a similar format. The final round will consist of 10 judges who rank the 10 finalist essays with the top essay getting 10 points, then nine points, then eight points, etc. The five essays with the highest scores in each category will win. If there is a tie for fifth, only the tied essays will be provided to an additional judge to make a selection. The round a judge serves in will be determined randomly to minimize bias. Judges will remain anonymous to each other and to applicants.
How Much Cash Has Been Raised So Far?
We will update this page as the contest goes on to let you know the current size of the grand prize pot. The more readers and listeners who donate, the larger the scholarship will be. Currently, the total raised is $59,450 in cash, plus prizes.
Is the Prize Money Taxable?
It depends on what the winners use the money for.
Generally speaking, a scholarship or fellowship is tax-free if you are a degree candidate and if the award is used to pay for tuition and required fees, books, supplies, and equipment. However, there are some scholarship and fellowship opportunities that are not tax-exempt. Any amounts used to pay for room and board and a stipend for living expenses are taxable.
If you received a taxable scholarship or fellowship which was not reported to the IRS on a W-2 or 1099 form, you are required to include it on line 7 and write “SCH” to the left. If you report taxable scholarship or fellowship income in this fashion, it is wise to attach an explanatory letter to your return, especially if you exclude any required educational expenses.
How Can I Volunteer to Be a Judge?
We expect hundreds of submissions, and since the WCI staff won’t be doing any screening to eliminate bias, we’re going to need a lot of judges. If you are a working or retired professional (no students or residents) and would be willing to read and rank 10-20 (hopefully 10) 1,000-word essays in a timely manner at some point in September, please send an email to [email protected] with the words “Volunteer Judge” in the subject line. You’ll have a few days for the task but not a few weeks. If you discover you cannot fulfill this duty at any point, please advise us ASAP so we can find someone else.
Are My Donations Tax-Deductible?
Neither The White Coat Investor nor the scholarship are registered charities, and donations are not deductible as a charitable contribution. Donations may be deductible to you as a business expense, however.
How Can I Contribute?
We can take contributions most easily via Paypal to [email protected] (use the “send money to friends and family” option to maximize your contribution). If you would like to use a credit card, let us know, and we'll send you a PayPal invoice so that you can use a credit card to pay. You can also send checks to:
Scholarship Fund
The White Coat Investor, LLC
P.O. Box 520421
Salt Lake City, Utah
84152-0421
or just use this handy button to contribute.
The entire amount donated will be given to the winning applicants. We cover all the expenses of administering the scholarship.
What Do Corporate Sponsors Get for Sponsoring the Scholarship?
Aside from knowing you are helping The White Coat Investor, LLC to fulfill its important mission, each successive level of sponsorship comes with more perks (primarily advertising benefits). If you are interested in becoming a Gold or Silver level sponsor, contact [email protected] for details. You will notice five sponsored posts on the blog this summer as part of the Platinum sponsorship package.
Past Scholarships
2023 will be the ninth year we do the WCI Medical School Scholarship. Previous winners (and prizes) include:
2015 was the first year we awarded a scholarship. The winner, selected by a volunteer committee of readers, was Landon Woolf, whose winning essay can be found here. Excerpts from other exceptionally good essays can be found here. Landon received a cash award of $12,625.
In 2016, our winner was Joshua Fullmer who received a prize of $15,600. Our second-prize winner won $7,600, and Katherine Bakke won a third prize of $2,500. Brian Warden won a $100 Amazon gift certificate and a copy of The White Coat Investor: A Doctor's Guide to Personal Finance and Investing for each member of his class for fourth place. Conor Smith won a $100 Amazon gift certificate for fifth place.
In 2017, our grand prize winner was Andrew Goates who received a prize of $21,400. Second place went to Natalie Moreno with a $10,700 prize. Third place went to Adam Goode, for $3,570 in cash. Fourth place, a $100 gift certificate, and a copy of the WCI book for each member of his class went to Joshua Weinberg. Fifth place, a $100 gift certificate, went to Samuel McMillen.
In 2018, the top five winners received access to a WCI online course of their choice. In addition, our grand prize winner Jaclyn Mauch received a prize of $28,887. Second place, Yidan Xu, received a prize of $14,444. Third place and $4,815 went to Carlos Garcia. Fourth place, $2,000, and a WCI book for every member of the class went to Nate Alder. Fifth place, $1,000, and a WCI book for every member of the class went to Brent Wright.
In 2019, the top 10 winners received access to a WCI online course of their choice. The top five also received a copy of the WCI Financial Boot Camp book for every member of their class and some cash. The grand prize winner, Allison Neeson, took home $42,660. Second place went to Momina Mazhar, with a check for $21,330. Third place and a check for $7,110 went to Evan Mercer. Fourth place and $2,000 went to Oluwatomisin Bello. Fifth place and $1,000 went to Iman Khan.
In 2020, we had 10 winners, five grand prize ($12,000 and a WCI online course) winners and five second prize ($2,000 and a WCI online course) winners. You can read their essays here.
In 2021, we split the essays into two categories: Inspiring Stories and Financial. Each category had five winners for a total of 10 grand prize winners, all of whom received $7,671. You can read all the essays from the five Inspiring Stories winners and from the five Financial winners.
In 2022, we again awarded 10 scholarships (five for Inspiring Stories and five for Financial), and the winners received $7,841 a piece. You can read all the essays from the five Inspiring Stories winners and from the five Financial winners.
Hi! I am a big fan of WCI and excited to find out about this scholarship opportunity. My husband is the medical student and as his spouse I strive to support him by paying for his medical school as we go. My career is tough and I work hard to support us in our goal to be debt free. This might be unconventional but I am wondering if entering this contest can be done by me (medical student wife) or if it needs to come from the medical student? I would love to write about our experiences and financial goals since we are a partnership in this journey.
Thanks!
Submission must come from med student only. Sorry. But you can certainly help. I’m sure that’s happened before.
Hi I am trying to submit the essay but keep getting an error for the word count which I am entering as 925 words in the google doc but it is not accepting it. Please advise.
Thanks
Our tech guys says:
there are a lot of reasons why a form submission can fail. without a screen shot of the actual error, it’s hard to know what’s really happening. I checked the form and it looks like it’s configured correctly for a minimum of 800 and a maximum of 1200 words.
So if you get it again, take a screenshot and email it to jtalbot (at) whitecoatinvestor.com.
I am currently in a Masters Neonatal Nurse Practitioner program through Ohio State University. I read the statement “brick and mortar” only. My program is a combination. Can I still apply?
Thank you!
This is what I read on the website:
The College of Nursing is proud to provide a distance enhanced learning option for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner specialty. Students in the Traditional MS, Post-Master’s and BSN to DNP options will complete coursework online and complete their clinicals near their own community. Graduate Entry students will complete their pre-licensure coursework on campus and then complete their neonatal specific coursework online and specialty clinicals near their own community. All students enrolled in the NNP specialty coursework will be required to attend orientation and three on-campus seminars in Columbus in order to meet program requirements. These campus visits will occur over a two-to-four-day period (during the last four semesters) and enable students to participate in simulations, skills activities and gain valuable experiences essential to starting their career as an NNP.
Based on that, I would say that no, this doesn’t qualify as a brick and mortar institution.
Will citations count towards our overall word count and is there a preferred format for citations?
It’s pretty rare to get a submission with citations. If you feel you must have them, include a link to them as that is what blogs do most of the time. I guess they don’t count toward your word count, but you’d better send a special email to [email protected] explaining that you have citations so your essay isn’t automatically thrown out for being over the word limit (yes, we’re strict on it, people have lost thousands of dollars due to their inability to use “word count”)
I am in an accredited Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine program. This is considered a primary care doctor in many states. Would I qualify for this scholarship? I don’t want to write the essay and then find out that I don’t qualify anyway. Thanks.
From the post:
Sorry. Only the fields listed above are eligible.
Good Afternoon
Have the winners of the scholarship been announced ?
No. Selection isn’t even final yet. Mid October.
Hello, I wanted to know if the dates for the WCI scholarship for individuals entering medical school in August of 2023 has already passed. Please let me know. Thank you!
Man you’re early. We just finished last year’s in October.
If we do it again, it’ll probably be the same time as previous years-i.e. we’ll take applications between June 1 and Aug 1.
Hello. Will there be any scholarship opportunities for 2023? Thanks!
Stil undecided, but if we do it, the application period will be June to August like usual.
Thanks! Will incoming OMS-1 students be eligible to apply?
If it happens, yes, we’ve always taken applications from MD and DO schools among others.
Will the 2022 winners and their essays ever be shared on the website?
They were published on October 17th and 18th 2022.
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/2022-wci-scholarship-winners-financial/
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/2022-wci-scholarship-winners-inspirational/
This is such a great opportunity! I was wondering if this scholarship will also be available in 2023?
Yup, watch for an announcement in about a month. Sign up for the newsletter here: https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/free-monthly-newsletter/
Hi! Is the application still open for this year? I noted the deadline as August 31st, but the form says it’s no longer accepting submissions. Thanks 🙂
“Still”? No. It hasn’t even opened yet! Sometime this week though, but you have all summer to get it in.
I would assume that it is fine to use stories and experiences from our AMCAS application, right? I want to avoid self-plagiarism.
You can send in whatever you want. If I were a judge seeing an AMCAS style essay would keep you from getting my vote, but I’m not a judge so I can’t tell you how the real judges will react to that.
Hello!
In reviewing the “who can apply”section, I had a quick follow up question. I have a scholarship that covers my tuition (minus about $1000). It doesn’t cover living expenses. Would this designate me as someone who already has a full scholarship?
Well, you don’t have a full scholarship so I guess you can apply. Yours isn’t even full tuition.
Hi, looking forward to applying for this scholarship. I had a question regarding the address on the application. I live in an apartment in Texas. Our mail is regularly lost and/or placed in neighbor’s mailboxes. Would it be okay if I input a relative’s address (in another state) who lives in a home and not an apartment? This way, in case anything is mailed, it would be received in a much more secure location than my apartment complex. Thanks again for all you do!
I think that’s fine. The only thing we use your mailing address for is to send you a check. Not sure how you’re going to get it in another state but that will become your problem.
Okay, great. At that point, I would just have to drive to my relative’s house, which is not too far away, albeit across state lines. Thanks for the information and I appreciate the help.
It would certainly be worth the drive if you win.
Hello! I am a third year Medical Student at a Canadian Medical School. Is there any chance the scholarship will be opened to Canadians at any point this year or next?
Probably not. Gotta draw the line somewhere and the easiest place is the national borders.
Can graduate students in the Allied Health field also apply?
I’m a Medical Laboratory Science Masters Student with Rush University Medical Center.
I’d love to know if we’re also eligible to apply for the White Coat Investor Scholarship.
Medical laboratory science. Not exactly what springs to mind when I think about high income professions. I think we’re going to go with “no” on this one. I’d put it in the same category as OT/PT. If you’re getting a doctorate in it, you can apply. But you’re not.
I wouldn’t sweat it too much though. We have yet to have a non-medical student win. Maybe the judges, mostly physicians, are biased.
Hi! I’m pretty sure I successfully submitted an application for the 2023 scholarship, but I never received an email confirmation as was indicated would be sent at the end of the google form. I don’t want to submit again and accidentally send in two. Is there a way someone could confirm that my application and essay were received? Thanks!
Just email [email protected] and it’ll get to the right person that can do that.
Hi, I just submitted and wanted to thank you regardless of the outcome for having this scholarship opportunity. It brings me a sense of hope 🙂
Thanks!
Good luck!
If you’d like some more hope, pick up a copy of The White Coat Investor’s Guide for Students.
Hey WCI, I had a quick clarifying question. In the Google Form, the last question says the following: “I certify that I have not already received scholarships equal to or greater than the cost of tuition at my school.” The estimated cost of attendance at my school is $99,220, and I have successfully procured scholarships to cover my tuition, but not my cost of attendance (which happens to be a little higher being married and providing for a 1 year old and one on the way). Does the WCI Scholarship cover only tuition or can it be applied to the other costs of attending school?
Sorry, you’re not eligible to win this year’s scholarship. Congrats on your other scholarships though!
The WCI money can be used for anything you want, but you aren’t eligible to get it if you’ve already got a bunch of scholarships. We’re trying to spread it out a little.
Fair enough. Thank you anyway.
Hi, I’m currently a medical student who is taking a gap year for research. Am I eligible to apply during my gap year? Thanks!
No, sorry! Apply next year.
If I am a Canadian student attending the University of Colorado medical school, am I eligible to apply? I do not have US permanent residency or citizenship.
If you have a US SSN then you are eligible.
Hello, I hope you are doing great. I wanted to ask when the winners for the essay contest are going to be contacted (just so I can know and have peace of mind when I’ll know if I didn’t win and can move on haha)
Thank you!
The judges are still working their way through the applications. We had almost 1000 apply!
I think we said we’d make the announcement on the blog in October. Today is the first, but we’re not done judging yet!
Hello! Have the winners of the scholarship already been notified? Thanks in advance!
They haven’t even been selected yet. As noted above, the announcement will be made in October.
Hello! Any update on when winners will be notified? Thank you!
We plan to make an announcement this month. Given there were over 1,000 applicants this year, it’s taking a little longer than usual.
Hi! Any update on when the winners will be notified?
Yes. They’ll be notified in October. 🙂
If we told you exactly when, you wouldn’t check back on the site every day all month and learn some good finance stuff!