Scholarship Funding
There are countless scholarship opportunities out there, so how do you take advantage of all of the options and reap the rewards? Proper research in finding these scholarship awards takes time. It’s almost like the commitment of going to the gym. You do have to carve out a regular timeframe to find and organize these scholarship announcements, as well as find the ones with the best fit for you. A good practice is to spend 1-2 hours a week and keep a running list with requirements and deadlines based on a monthly timeline. Most will require an essay, and maybe your transcript and a letter of recommendation. It’s important to be organized and keep all of this information in one place, so when you find a scholarship that suits your background and interests, the application process becomes easier and streamlined with each added attempt. Many will ask for similar information, so do recycle and adapt previously written essays. One of my advisees spent two hours writing a scholarship application for a $10,000 award! Not bad for two hours of work.
Overall, your largest scholarship awards will come from the school you decide to attend, so putting together a well-crafted list of schools that are generous with their scholarship opportunities should be a part of your application process. Do be realistic on what you can handle with the timing of scholarship submissions to avoid application fatigue. There may be peak times when your other commitments will take precedence, so pace yourself to avoid feeling overwhelmed and burned out. Even after you are enrolled in college, there will still be ample scholarship opportunities you can apply for, so again keep yourself exercising and engaged and you may be pleasantly surprised on what comes your way with scholarship support.
There may be some scholarships that really hit the mark and get you excited about completing the application. In this case, it’s a win-win! One of my favorites for the spring season is the “Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest”. The award ranges from $1,000-$15,000 for applicants who create and wear their original promwear using Duck® Brand Duct Tape and/or Duck® Brand Crafting Tape. Again, not a bad reason to get stuck on this application!