WISE 2023

To be eligible to compete in WISE, you must:

1. Be a 2024 high school graduate
2. Submit Wichita State admission application materials by Oct. 15, 2023
3. Have declared a College of Engineering major on your admissions application
4. Meet one of the following criteria:
   
   • Have a minimum unweighted 3.5 GPA, or
   • Have a minimum ACT composite score of 27, or
   • Have a minimum SAT composite of 1280, or
   • Rank in the top 10 percent of your class at the end of your junior year

If you meet the eligibility criteria to compete in WISE, follow these steps to apply for the competition:

1. Apply for admission to Wichita State and declare a College of Engineering major in the "Academic Interest" section of your admissions application.
   1. The College of Engineering majors listed on the admissions application include the following: Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering Technology, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Electrical Engineering, Engineering - Undecided, Engineering Technology Management, Facilities Management, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Technology, and Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering.
   2. If you aren't sure which College of Engineering major you want to declare, select "Engineering - Undecided." Do not select the generic "Undecided" option or that will make you ineligible for WISE.
2. Once you have been admitted, you will receive an 8-digit myWSU ID from the Office of Admissions. You must be admitted to WSU and have received your myWSU ID from the Office of Admissions before you will be able to access the WISE registration system.
3. Set up your myWSU student account.
   1. Go to wichita.edu/mywsu and click on the "Manage your password" link under the login button on the right side of the page.
   2. Click on "Forgot/Set up Password" button and follow the steps to create your password.
4. Once you have set up a password associated with your myWSU ID, go to the WSU ScholarshipUniverse website. Log in using your myWSU ID and password. Your username is your myWSU ID followed by @wichita.edu (example: A123B456@wichita.edu).
5. Answer the questions that appear on the screen to set up your ScholarshipUniverse profile.
6. Click on the "Applications" button on the menu along the left side of the page.
   
   

1. As long as you meet at least one of the WISE eligibility criteria listed in the section above, you should see the "W.I.S.E. Competition Application." Click on that application link to start your WISE application*. (If you do not see this application listed, you unfortunately do not meet the eligbility criteria for WISE. If that is the case, don't worry - there are still a lot of other engineering scholarships you can apply for! See the Are there other engineering scholarships I should be applying for? section at the bottom of this page for more information.)

*As part of your WISE application, you will be asked to write three short essay responses. Each essay response will be approximately 130-140 words. Please be prepared to spend a little bit of time writing essay responses in order to complete your WISE application. Your essay responses will be scored and included in over WISE scoring process that is used to select Wallace Scholarship recipients. For more information about the WISE scoring and selection process, see the How are the winners selected? section under the "After the Competition" heading below. 

You may bring up to two guests with you to WISE. Due to space limitations, we cannot accommodate more than two guests per competitor.

No. We will provide you with all of the information, materials, and instructions you need on the competition day. The best advice we can give you is to relax and have fun! A lot of students are nervous when they arrive to WISE because they do not know what to expect, which is completely understandable. Although you are competing for our Wallace Scholarships, we want to you to have fun and enjoy learning more about Wichita State University and the College of Engineering.

If you need lodging for Thursday and/or Friday night, you are welcome to stay at the hotel/motel of your choosing. We recommend staying at the Hyatt Place hotel located right here on the Wichita State campus.

For a listing of other lodging options, visit www.visitwichita.com/hotels. Most of the hotels listed in the Downtown and Northeast options in the Regions section will be a short drive to campus.

No. We will provide you with all of the materials you need for the competition. In fact, we encourage you to bring as few items with you as possible. You will be moving around the Rhatigan Student Center and the Wichita State campus quite a bit, so the less you bring, the less you have to worry about keeping track of throughout the day.

Students often ask if they should bring copies of their resumes. This is not necessary.

Business casual is recommended for students participating in the competition. Business casual or casual attire is recommended for parents and guests. However, we discourage students from purchasing new clothes just for WISE. Wear the nicest outfit you have, but don't feel like you have to spend money on clothes to impress us. We want you to look presentable, but we're not scoring you on your attire. 

Park in Lot 16S on the southwest side of campus near Hillside Avenue and 17th Street. This lot has been reserved for WISE participants, so please park in Lot 16S to avoid receiving a parking ticket.

Click here to see a campus map of Lot 16S.

Click here on your smart phone for a Google Maps pin for easy navigation directly to Lot 16S on your mobile device.

Below is the tentative schedule for WISE on Friday, November 17. This schedule is subject to change.

Winners are selected, in part, based on two scored competition activities: a written essay and a group design challenge. Students will submit their essay as part of the WISE application prior to competition day. On competition day, students will complete the group design challenge. The group design challenge will take place during the competition portion of the day indicated in the WISE schedule in the section above.

Group Design Challenge

Participants will be placed into small groups of 4-5. Groups will be issued an engineering problem to solve, and will have a specified amount of time to work together as a team to come up with a solution. Groups will pitch their solutions to a two-person judging team. Participants will be scored based on their leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Written Essay

Participants will individually compose a written essay in response to three essay prompts included in the WISE application. This part of the competition takes place prior to November 18. You will write and submit your essay with your WISE application, which is due by November 1.

The winners of the WISE competition earn the prestigious distinction of Wallace Scholar and are each offered a scholarship package worth $28,500 to study engineering or computing at Wichita State. Wallace Scholars are selected from WISE through a scoring process using five sub scores. The five sub scores are derived from participants' unweighted high school cumulative GPA, ACT composite score, ACT math score, Group Design Challenge score, and Written Essay score. If you took the ACT more than once, and have multiple sets of scores on file with Wichita State, we will use your highest composite score and high math score from any test scores submitted to Wichita State. If you took the SAT instead of the ACT, we will convert your SAT scores to the equivalent ACT scores.

WISE Scoring Formula
Unweighted High School GPA +
ACT Composite Score +
ACT Math Score +
Group Design Challenge Score +
Written Essay Score =
Overall WISE Score

All participants will be notified of the outcome of the competition in early January 2024. The winners, who will be named Wallace Scholars, will be publically announced at the Wallace Scholar Announcement and Reception held in February on the Wichita State campus. Winners and their families will be invited to this event to be formally recognized and introduced to the campus community.

Note: WISE is a competition specifically for the purpose of selecting recipients of the Wallace Scholarship. In addition to the Wallace Scholarship, the College of Engineering has over 90 other scholarship funds. To be considered for all other College of Engineering scholarships, please complete the New/Continuing Students application within ScholarshipUniverse. You can find the application in ScholarshipUniverse in the same place where you went to apply for WISE. The New/Continuing Students application will be available from November 1, 2023 through February 1, 2024. Click here for instructions on how to apply for other engineering and general university scholarships.

Yes! WISE is a competition specifically for the purpose of selecting recipients of the Wallace Scholarship. In addition to the Wallace Scholarship, the College of Engineering has over 90 other scholarship funds. To be considered for all other College of Engineering scholarships, please complete the New/Continuing Students application within ScholarshipUniverse. You can find the application in ScholarshipUniverse in the same place where you went to apply for WISE. The New/Continuing Students application will be available from November 1, 2023 through February 1, 2024. Click here for instructions on how to apply for other engineering and general university scholarships.