Your Odds At Winning

While listening to a news program just the other day, I heard an announcement that said literally millions of scholarship dollars go unawarded each year simply because students haven't applied for it. I hope you are not one of these students.

For the seventh year, TMS is proud to offer the student awards program. The program has grown to include six scholarships (many awarding prize money to more than one student), one design contest, a paper contest for both undergraduate and graduate students, and the chapters of excellence contest. If you haven't applied for one of our contests in the past, I encourage you to do so this year. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how good your chances really are. Let's take a look at the odds.

To be awarded a TMS scholarship or win a contest, you must be a TMS student member (either joint TMS/ASM, joint TMS/MetSoc-CIM, or just TMS). Currently, there are 2,919 eligible student members. But out of that 2,919, less than 200 entries were submitted for 1995-1996 TMS student contests or scholarships. Here are the exact figures:

• 1996 TMS Presidential Scholarship--38 entries for one scholarship

• 1996 EPD Scholarships--20 entries for two scholarships

• 1995 International Symposium on Superalloys Scholarships--33 entries for four scholarships

• 1996 LMD Scholarships--25 entries for three scholarships

• 1996 SMD Scholarship--28 entries for one scholarship

• Outstanding Student Paper contest, graduate division--21 entries

• Outstanding Student Paper contest, undergraduate division--6 entries

This issue of Professional Preface includes a summary of the awards TMS is sponsoring this year. Please remember that the deadline for entering all contests is June 30, 1996. If you have questions regarding the contest application process, see your faculty advisor, student chapter president, or contact me over the Internet at koebnick@tms.org.

So what are the odds of winning this year? Well, that's a little difficult to predict; I'd say somewhere between 1:1 and 1:2,919!

Vicki Koebnick
TMS Manager, Education & Professional Affairs