A step-by-step guide to applying for the Microsoft Student Partner program

What is MSP?

The MSP program is an educational and promotional program to sponsor undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in disciplines related to technology and computer science. As a whole, the program aims to increase awareness of Microsoft products, programs and initiatives. Consequently, the program helps to expand the user base of Microsoft products and results in better availability of properly educated workforce in those technologies.

How to Apply?

Step 1

Go to studentpartners.microsoft.com

Step 2

After logging in with your Microsoft account, read the Privacy Policy.

Step 3

Fill in the Personal Info section

Step 4

Fill in the School Info section

Step 5

Fill in the Written Sample section

If you are not an existing MSP and applying for the first time then click No. There are three topics teach, inspire, and promote in this section. You can answer to these questions either in the form of a video presentation or written sample. But, it is mandatory to answer one question in the form of a video presentation. For this purpose, you have to record a video of yourself under 2 minutes answering any one question out of 3. Now, upload this video to YouTube and then copy the link and paste it in the answer field. If you don’t want your video to get public, upload it to any storage service like DropBox, OneDrive, and then copy the link.

These questions are very crucial in the evaluation process. So, spend some time and answer these questions accordingly. In the inspire section, you can show your interest in Microsoft technologies and products. You can share your stories like how you get started with different technologies. Don’t forget to mention that what keeps you inspire to use these technologies. You can talk about your passion to solve local business and community problems using the latest technologies.

In the teaching section, don’t limit your answer to one specific domain. Keep your answer generic. For example, for programming, you can use scratch to deliver technical programming concepts like loops, conditions, and functions. Scratch is a software which is independent of any programming language. There is no programming prerequisite required. Students can learn these concepts without any prior programming knowledge. They can even create programs without actually coding, to understand how logics work. After learning the basics of programming, later on, they can easily learn any programming language they want.

In the promote section, you have to show your approach to promote events in your university. If you have organized any event before you can mention that in this section and also how you managed to attract students to attend that event.

Step 6

Fill in the Additional Info section. It will be a very good gesture if you put more than 2 of your social media handlers. The addition of a Github repository, LinkedIn and Stackoverflow profile would be a plus point. If you don't have any of it, a social media handler would be enough.

Step 7

Check the technologies that you are interested in or you are currently working on.

Closing Remarks

Once the application is finished, you can edit it until the time it goes under review. Applications for Microsoft Student Partner program remains open throughout the year. If you have any questions, I’ll be more than happy to answer. Good luck!