How to apply for Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador (MLSA) Program in 2024?

RUDHRESH S

7 min readJan 23, 2024

Introduction :

What is Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors Program ?

Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors Program is a program to bring together all the students from all over the world who have the passion for Technology, have the desire and craze to learn more about technology and help the community.
The Ambassadors get an opportunity to interact with their peers, mentors, Professionals, learn various Microsoft technologies, and implement it in real world.
It is important to note that Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors are not employees of Microsoft. While they work closely with Microsoft and have access to certain resources, training, and support from the company, they do not receive regular employee compensation.
Instead, student ambassadors often receive benefits such as networking opportunities, skill development, and recognition within the tech community.

Eligibility to apply for the MLSA Program :-

Be at least 16 years old at the time of submission.
Be enrolled full-time in an accredited academic institution (e.g. College, University).
Be an individual person (not a corporate entity)
Not be a Microsoft employee or current contractor

Responsibilities :-

At a high level, the responsibilities of student ambassadors include encouraging their peers to use Microsoft Learn, Microsoft’s educational platform, which offers free resources, tutorials, and courses on various Microsoft technologies to help students build skills that open doors.
Student Ambassadors also serve as representatives for Microsoft technologies on their campuses. In this role, Ambassadors engage with faculty and students to showcase the benefits of these tools for education and innovation.
To advance through the well-defined program milestones, Student Ambassadors are required to complete various pre-determined activities. As they achieve these milestones, additional program benefits become accessible.
The progression through the milestones follows a specific order: from “new to alpha,” then “alpha to beta,” and finally “beta to gold.” With each milestone achievement, program certificates are updated.

Benefits :-

New Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors:

Microsoft 365: This is a product family of productivity software, collaboration, and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. As a student ambassador in the new milestone, you receive Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
The Microsoft 365 subscriptions include full Office desktop apps such as Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Publisher for Windows PCs, along with access to additional OneNote features.

Alpha Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors:

In addition to the benefits that come with the new milestone, student ambassadors gain access to Visual Studio Enterprise. This annual subscription provides Student Ambassadors with $150 in monthly Azure credit, license keys to various Microsoft products, and many other benefits.
Furthermore, aligning with the program’s commitment to the growth of student ambassadors, those in the Alpha milestone and beyond receive free access to LinkedIn Learning.

Beta Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors:

In addition to the existing benefits, upon reaching this milestone, student ambassadors get a Beta swag kit.

Gold Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors:

On top of the previous benefits, student ambassadors who achieve this milestone receive a Gold swag box, more program leadership opportunities, consideration for special events and activities, and eligibility for MVP mentorship and nomination. This milestone represents the highest level of achievement in the program.
Upon graduation from the Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador program at the Gold milestone, individuals become eligible for nomination to the Windows Insider Most Valuable Professional (MVP) program.
This prestigious status entails exclusive interaction opportunities with the Windows engineering team, invitations to special events, and complimentary subscriptions to tools such as Visual Studio Enterprise, Office 365, and LinkedIn Premium. Recipients will also receive a personalized award kit to commemorate this significant achievement.

Interested to Apply ?

Here is the whole process of applying to MLSA in detail.

Step 1-

Create an account and login on their official website.

Website — https://mvp.microsoft.com/studentambassadors

NOTE: It can be “any account” as if you get selected into the MLSA Program you will get a new Microsoft Account.

Step 2-

Head over to https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/studentambassadors/apply to start your application!

Read the part of “Application Notifications” carefully as it contains the month of results according to the time of the year you are applying in.

Step 3-

Accept Privacy and Terms

Step 4-

Add your personal details and your preferred programming language (Options mentioned below).

NOTE: You do not need to know the programming language. Its a way of asking you about your interests. When I applied to MLSA, I didnt know any programming languages but I chose Python as my preferred programming language as it was the language I was going to learn.

Options in Preferred Programming Language:

Step 5-

In this section you are required to add your Social Networks(Options below).

I would suggest adding LinkedIn, Twitter and GitHub ‘at least’. Of course you could add more if you want to!

NOTE: I didn’t have anything on GitHub when I uploaded my ID over in the form.

Options in Social Networks:

Correct Format- Just remember that you don’t have to paste the complete profile link but just complete it as shown below.

Step 6-

Fill your academic institution information (Its a pre-requisite to be currently studying in an Academic Institution.

Step 7-

The most important part.

Here is the main crux of the form, the part which makes the difference. Here you need to answer 3 questions-

1. Welcome: We are looking for students who can provide an inclusive, accessible, and authentic environment to learn. Tell us about a specific time you welcomed a new person into one of your communities. How would you use that experience to be a better Student Ambassador?

2. Guide: We are looking for students who are driven to guide their peers in learning technical skills. Tell us about one specific technical skill you have learned, and how you were guided to learning it. How would you use that experience to be a better Student Ambassador?

3. Connect: We are looking for students who have strong community ties and want to connect their communities to their peers. Tell us about a specific event you have planned that connected diverse audiences together. How would you use that experience to be a better Student Ambassador?

NOTE: You need to answer all the questions. 2 of these questions should be in a textual format while 1 should be in a video format.

You could upload the video answer in your google drive (make sure to keep it public) or you could upload it as a private YouTube Video (with the option of view with link only ; thats what I did).

Tips to answer these questions:

Make sure your answers are honest and genuine, try to explain why you are passionate about technology, and what made you inspire in your best way, that is very important.
Mention all your achievements including the projects you are working on/completed, what are the programming languages you’ve learnt, competitions/Workshops you have organized/participated/won.
Take an example and explain how you would teach that topic to your peers.
4)If you are hosting an event, explain how would you plan on organizing it from the start, how would you promote it to gather as many students possible to attend the event.

Step 8-

This is the last part where you could enter the technologies that you would like to learn about (Options below).

Secondly they ask you for a Microsoft Learn Profile if you have one (Don’t worry if you don’t, I didn’t have one either). Also answer the final question.