PSA: Apple Accepting WWDC Scholarship Applications Starting Today

Every year, Apple offers free WWDC scholarships to students and STEM organization members who don't have the $1,599 necessary to purchase a ticket to the company's developer conference.

Apple began accepting WWDC scholarship applications for 2018 today, as was first announced on March 13 when Apple shared WWDC 2018 event dates. Apple plans to award up to 350 scholarships, which will include a free WWDC ticket, free lodging, and a free one year Apple Developer membership.


Scholarship applicants, who must be at least 13 years old, can use Apple's WWDC scholarship website to submit an application. Apple is asking scholarship applicants to create an interactive scene in Swift playground that's able to be experienced within three minutes.

Apple recommends that applicants "be creative" and use templates in Swift Playgrounds for inspiration. Apple will judge requirements based on technical accomplishment, creativity of ideas, and content of written responses on the accompanying application.

All submissions must be individually created, as Apple will not consider group work. Open source software is permitted, but its use must be explained on the submission form. Swift playground must be built using Swift Playgrounds on iPad or Xcode on macOS. A full list of rules are available on Apple's WWDC18 Scholarship website.

Each applicant must be registered for free with Apple as an Apple developer or a member of the paid Apple Developer Program. Applicants will need to be enrolled part-time or full-time in an accredited course of study or be a member of a STEM organization.

Apple will be accepting scholarship applications through Sunday, April 1 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, and winners will be notified on Friday, April 20.

This year's Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off on Monday, June 4 and it will last through Friday, June 8. Apple is expected to hold a keynote on June 4 where new software and perhaps new hardware products will be unveiled. Scholarship students who aren't picked to attend will be able to follow along with the conference using the WWDC app.