Scarlet Seals of Excellence - University of Houston
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Your Involvement. Your Experience. Your Future.
Earn a Scarlet Seal Today.

The Scarlet Seals of Excellence program is structured to demonstrate valuable competencies that students have gained through University of Houston experiences.

Benefits

  • Learning

    Participate in a university-recognized achievement program to demonstrate learning outside the classroom.

  • Preparation

    Learn skills that will prepare you for life after UH, whether that's graduate school or embarking on your career.

  • Exclusivity

    Upon earning all four seals, receive your Scarlet Seals of Excellence graduation stole and attend an exclusive ceremony.

1. Submit your résumé and cover letter/personal statement.

Submit a Seal

Using Get Involved, submit your resume, cover letter/personal statement for the competency you would like to achieve. In your cover letter/personal statement, remember to include examples of how your experiences have helped you learn this competency.

Use these rubrics to understand the standards that will be used to review your submission.

Sample Cover Letters

2. Submissions will be reviewed by a panel.

You will receive feedback on your submission. Students who are successful in meeting rubric criteria will be awarded their Scarlet Seal of Excellence for that competency. All others will be encouraged to resubmit considering shared feedback.

3. Receive your Scarlet Seal of Excellence.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 to receive all four seals.

4. After you have received all four Scarlet Seals of Excellence, apply for your graduation stole.

Congratulations on earning all four Scarlet Seals of Excellence! Now that you have mastery in leadership, diversity, personal development, and thinking and communication, you are ready to present in front of a panel of experts to earn your graduation stole!

Graduation Stole Application (not currently accepting applications)

Your panel interview will last approximately 30 minutes. Please prepare a 10-minute presentation that covers the integration of your learning in all four Seal areas. We encourage you to be creative and express your unique personality and style! This could be a PowerPoint, video, or a portfolio of work – choose the best format to demonstrate your expertise!

Tips:

  • Contact the University Career Services and/or the Center for Student Involvement to coach you through your presentation.
  • Use a variety of examples and how those contributed to your learning for each area.
  • Proofread your documents and/or presentation before your scheduled panel interview.

5. Receive your Scarlet Seals of Excellence graduation stole!

Congratulations!

After you have received all four seals and successfully participated in the panel interview, you will be notified to receive a Scarlet Seals of Excellence graduation stole. The annual pinning and stoling ceremony will be held at the end of the spring semester.