Applying for Scholarships
from A to Z
So you have found a great scholarship and now it is time to apply. Applying for scholarships is the time to brag! Become self-centered and play up your strengths. Everyone else you are competing against for the money is already doing that. You are after all fighting to prove that you deserve that $100 or $5000 scholarship.
First, check what all the qualifications are for the scholarship you are looking at. If you don’t fit their mold, don’t waste your time. The Irish Women in Nursing scholarship will not be given to a black male, no matter how great his community service and GPA are. Don’t waste time on the impossible! You have enough to do already!
In the same thought process LOOK for those selective scholarships. If you are the first in your family to go to college, and you are from Georgia, and your dad is a civil war re-enactment soldier, then there is probably a scholarship out there for you. You can bet that there is not a ton of competition for that type of scholarship. Therefore if you fit the profile APPLY APPLY APPLY! I won at least one scholarship because I was the ONLY one who applied. If you need to brush up on how to find scholarships, then do that!
Lets just say your GPA is 3.9, and you volunteer every weekend at the local hospital, and you have had a perfect list of references since you were six years old. Um, what exactly are you waiting for? Here is your permission, start applying for scholarships!
So you struggle for your 2.7 GPA, you have to work every Saturday and Sunday just to make ends meet and you can only think of two people who would really be able to vouch for you on a reference. Welcome to the place where most people decide that maxing out all of their credit cards is easier than applying for scholarships. That is NOT what you are going to do though.
Remember, you need to play up your strengths and BRAG. Essay sections are perfect places for this. If your GPA is a 3.9, mention it specifically in your essay, and explain how you have worked so hard to keep up that GPA. If your GPA is 2.7, then this is simple. DON’T put it in your essay. Instead talk about how you have overcome obstacles to even be in school. Always tell your own story and focus on the best parts of it.Make sure and add any volunteer work you have done somewhere on the application!
Maybe you are looking for more references. Do you know people—any people? If you do, then you have references. You can use your relationship with these people to help you while applying for scholarships. While in college I got to know the Dean of Students, personally, while I helped with freshman orientation for a summer. I never thought of her as a reference. She was just a friend who I went to when I needed any advice in college. She turned out to be my best reference when I started applying for scholarships. You just have to have the courage to ask the people you know to vouch for you. Maybe that single mother you babysit for is a Vice President of a marketing company. Well, isn’t that nice that a V.P. of a company can attest to your reliability, compassion, and hard working spirit.
Once you have finished the fill in the blank portion of your scholarship application, it is time to write the essay. Here is where you need to get personal. Make sure the person reading your essay can get to know you. Don’t be too formal (that does NOT mean use bad grammar) or your essay will come across very boring and you may not get an interviewGood luck in applying for scholarships. Remember, after one time it gets much easier. You will become a pro at this and be able to knock out a full application in one afternoon!
Click here for more tips on applying for scholarships.
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