Quercus Application Instructions

Step One: Go to www.ucc.ie/en/quercus. Click on the page of the Quercus scholarship strand that you would like to apply for. There are four strands that you can apply for; Active Citizenship, Creative & Performing Arts, Innovation/Entrepreneurship & Sports. You can apply for as many strands as you like but each strand will require a separate application form.

If you are applying for a Quercus Sports scholarship and you have talent in more than one sport, you can address all your sports in the one application form.

If you are applying for a Quercus Creative & Performing Arts scholarship and you have talent in more than one creative area, you can address all your creative talents in the one application form. 

Keep in mind that the closing date is 4:30pm on Tuesday, February 4th 2025. Late applications will NOT be accepted. 

If you are having trouble at any stage with the application process, contact quercus@ucc.ie. 

Step Two: Scroll to the end of each strand page and click on the APPLY now button to start your Quercus application. This will bring you to the application portal, click create account to set up an account. 

1. Fill in your first name, last name, email address, mobile number and country of residence.
2. Under the Academic Level Drop-Down choose Quercus Programme.
3. Under Course Type choose Quercus Programme.
4. Under Academic Programme choose which strand you would like to apply for, i.e Active Citizenship, Creative & Performing Arts, Innovation/Entrepreneurship or Sports.
5. Under Entry Term choose Academic Year 2025 -26.
6. Then choose a password that you will remember and click the blue Create Account button. 

You will then be brought straight to your new account portal where you can click Create a New Application. 

1. Select Option 7 Quercus Application, Start a New Quercus Application. 
2. The portal will bring you to a page that says Academic year 2025 -26 and the name of the strand that you choose when you were setting up an account. Click Next. 
3. The portal will bring you to a page titled Personal where you fill in your personal information. Fill in all of your details and then press Save and Continue. 
4. The portal will bring you to a page titled Programme. Some of this may be auto-filled.
5. Under Application Type choose Quercus Programme. 
6. Under Strand choose the strand you want to apply for, i.e Active Citizenship, Creative & Performing Arts, Innovation/Entrepreneurship or Sports. 
7. Under Entry Term choose Academic Year 2025-26.
8. If you have chosen Active Citizenship or Innovation/Entrepreneurship you can go straight to Save and Continue now. If you have chosen Creative & Performing Arts you can select up to three talent areas in the drop-downs, and then go to Save and Continue. If you have chosen Sports you can select up to 5 talent areas in the drop-downs, and then go to Save and Continue. Note: In Creative & Performing Arts and Sports only chose talents from the drop-down that you have high-level experience in. If you have experience in one sport or one creative talent then just select that sport or talent from the drop-down. Save and Continue. 
9. The Portal will bring you to a page titled Education. Click on Add Details of Post-Primary/Further Education to add your education information. 
10. Type the first few letters of your school into the first box and your school should pop up below, then click on your school. If the system cannot find your school put it in manually. Complete all the other information and then press Save and Continue.
11. The Portal will then bring you to a Confirmation page where you should read all the questions and click Yes for each, type in your name, the date and press Preview Before Submission.
12. Once you have read over all of your biographical details to make sure you are happy, press Submit.
13. You will see a message that says Your Application is now Submitted. Please note, and this is very important. At this stage only your biographical details are submitted. The next section will include downloading, filling in and uploading your actual application form. To get to the next phase, where you will find the application form, press Click to check your application status.

The Portal will bring you back to the main portal page where your status will be set as Action Required until you have uploaded your supplemental items, i.e. your application form and two written/typed references from your referees. 

Click on the Application. It will say Academic Year 2025-26 Active Citizenship, Academic Year 2025026 Creative & Performing Arts, Academic Year 2025-26 Innovation/Entrepreneurship or Academic Year 2025-26 Sports, depending on which strand you have chosen to apply for. 

Click on Upload Supporting Documentation to be brought to the page where you can find the Application Form. 

The Application form will be in blue writing. Click on the blue writing and it will bring you to the Quercus Application Form. You will have to download it in order to fill it in. Once it is downloaded you will be able to take your time filling it in. It is suggested that you spend a little bit of time every week filling it in rather than filling it in all in one sitting. 

Once the application form is filled in, you must save it as a PDF and upload it into your Application Portal. 

Click on choose file, find the file on your computer, select it. Then you will notice that your file will be next to the Chose File button and the word upload will be below the Choose File in blue. Click on the blue Upload and this will then upload your file into the system. The file will not be properly uploaded until you press that blue upload word. When your document is correctly uploaded it will say REMOVE next to the successfully uploaded form, this is how you will know that you have uploaded the documents successfully. The application form must be uploaded by 4:30pm on Tuesday, February 4th 2025. If you try and upload the application form after this time you will not be able to and your application will be void. 

You will need to upload your written/typed references similarly. Though you have to have the application form uploaded by 4:30pm on Tuesday, February 4th 2025, you will have an extra ten days to upload your references only. 

While you will receive an email to say that you successfully uploaded your biographical details, the system does not generate an email to say that you have uploaded your application form. By following the instructions above and by seeing the REMOVE next to your docs you will know that you have uploaded your necessary docs. You will receive reminder emails and they will let you know if you have any outstanding uploads to complete. You will continue to get reminder emails with a list of uploads that you have to complete. Once you have uploaded your application form it will be knocked off your next reminder email. 

If you are applying for more than one scholarship strand, you can use the same portal account. In this case you will sign-in to your account, choose Create a New Application, Choose Option 7 Quercus Application, and then choose 2025 as the entry year. The rest will be the same as above.