Is it appropriate to apply for a scholarship that you don't know if you can take on?

Question

I am a mathematics undergraduate and this year I was thinking about applying for multiple scholarships from other universities for summer courses and collaborations. In this sense, one of them deals with topics that I will discuss later, in the period between after the application and the time of financing, so I do not know if my application will be the most appropriate.

My intention would be to expand what I initially learned in that period and also spend my summer working on the problems I may be given if awarded. The problem is that given these circumstances I do not think of myself now as the most proper candidate, but it would be interesting for me to ask for it again in the future. Could having been rejected in previous calls be a problem when applying for a scholarship (in the selection process, for example)? In this sense, would it be better for me to wait until another time in the future to ask for it or am I exaggerating?

I mean, I would like to ask for as many as I can to increase the chances of being accepted into one. In this same sense, could it be problematic to reject some in the future if they are incompatible and I prefer a specific one?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Answer 1

I think it's inappropriate to apply to something that you definitely will not accept. I don't see any suggestion in your post that you intend to do this.

You can feel free to apply to scholarships that potentially conflict with each other just as it's appropriate to apply to jobs that potentially conflict with each other: whenever you apply to two or more jobs there's an understanding that you will have to turn down some offers if you have multiple. You have to apply before finding out if there are going to be any conflicts, because you can't know what those conflicts will actually be until you've applied.

Don't reduce your odds by painting yourself in anything but the most flattering light: let the personnel given the responsibility to judge applications take on the task of deciding whether someone else is a better fit than you.

If certain scholarships want to avoid repeat applicants, they'll have a specific policy about it. I would not expect them to have any system for remembering past applications, they'll act on the one in front of them for each call. The people evaluating them may not even be the same.