BC Excellence Scholarship

On this page

• Key dates
• Eligibility requirements
• How applications are evaluated
• How to prepare
• Apply
• Questions?

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The BC Excellence scholarship is awarded to 55 high school graduates who have demonstrated service and leadership, both at school and in their communities, and who show aptitude for and commitment to their chosen career or area of post-secondary study.

Students selected for this award receive a $5,000 scholarship voucher from the Ministry of Education and Child Care that they can use to be reimbursed for tuition paid after they are attending a post-secondary institution that is designated by the Province of B.C. (i.e., approved for Canada Student Loans) or a program provider that is approved by SkilledTradesBC.

Students have five years to redeem their BC Excellence scholarship vouchers; an expiry date is printed on each voucher and extensions are not possible.

Key dates

• Early June 2025: Conditional recipients and their schools notified by email
• September 2025: Conditional recipients checked against eligibility requirements
• October 2025: Paper scholarship vouchers mailed to confirmed recipients
• Late fall 2025: Online applications for awards year 2026 open
• February 2026: Online applications for awards year 2026 due

Eligibility requirements

Students selected as conditional recipients of the BC Excellence scholarship must meet the following requirements by August 31 of their graduating year to be confirmed as a recipient and receive their scholarship voucher:

• meet core eligibility requirements;
• be eligible for a B.C. Certificate of Graduation (Dogwood Diploma);
• fulfill the requirements of the B.C. Graduation Program; and,
• have the following final marks.
  • Minimum “B” average in grades 11 and 12 courses required for graduation
  • Minimum "B" (73% or above) in Language Arts 12
  • Minimum “B” average, no more than one "C+" (67% or above), and no marks lower than “C+” in courses that fulfill graduation requirements for Science 11 or 12, Math 11, and Social Studies 11 or 12

Note: Students may apply for both the BC Excellence scholarship and the Pathway to Teacher Education scholarship but they can only be awarded one.   

How applications are evaluated

1. Written statements are assessed by a team of B.C. teachers using the marking guidelines (PDF); written statements determine which applications are selected for the shortlist
2. Approximately 80 candidates are shortlisted
3. The resumes for those shortlisted candidates are assessed by a different team of B.C. teachers, using the same marking guidelines; resumes determine which students are selected for scholarships
4. Fifty-five students are selected by consensus as conditional recipients

How to prepare

Students interested in applying for the 2026 BC Excellence scholarship are encouraged to get organized well before applications are due in February 2026.

• Make a checklist of the following required information that you will need to submit through the online application form by February 2026
  1. Nomination form completed by your school
  2. Written statement
  3. Resume (in mandatory online format)
  4. Reference letters (2)
• Check out the details from the 2025 application (PDF, 1.1MB)
  • Note that this is an example only; the 2026 version is subject to change
• Look for the online application to open in late fall 2025
• Plan to meet all eligibility requirements

Apply

Look for the online application to open in late fall 2025.

Questions?

Please contact the Provincial Scholarships Program team: scholarships@gov.bc.ca