How to Apply for (and Get!) ALL the Scholarships
Hello! I’m back! I have some news: I can now officially pay for my fancy private school debt free!!! How? By applying for scholarships! And I’m going to tell you why and how to do it.
Most people seem to get it in their head that if they don’t have a 4.0 and a laundry list of extracurricular and volunteer experience, they won’t win anything. That’s not true!!! Many scholarships just want you to write an essay, and a lot have too few applicants to turn anyone down.
People also tend to only apply for the big scholarships. Use this to your advantage, even if you only get $500, that’s still one semester’s worth of books you paid for!
Here are some things to do to get started!
Create a resume
Google docs has some great professional looking templates. Make sure your resume is organized in a way that makes sense but also has your most important roles at the top!! Whoever reads it might not read the whole thing, make sure to give them something to keep reading!
Make sure to include any job or volunteer experience, and any extracurricular activities. All of these should have a one-sentence summary of your main role and where it was. Have a short bullet point list of any responsibilities you had. If you had a leadership position, talk about that in your summary and have that as the focus.
If you won any awards or have any special skills, make sure you put that somewhere. For example, I have used a few different CAD programs and am CPR certified. These are the types of things you want them to know. Any awards you or your team has won should have a summary stating what it was for and who gave it to you.
Write a little on common topics
Most scholarships want you to write an essay about your experiences or on a topic pertaining to the scholarship. A lot of these essay prompts are very similar, and your essays can be reused quite easily the more scholarships you apply for. If you have some down time during the summer or fall, try to use it to write on these common topics:
What you’ve learned in: high school, volunteer or job experience, your favorite class, a trip
Why you want a specific job
Why you want a scholarship
Why you deserve a scholarship
Talk about any extracurriculars, specifically leadership experience or awards/achievements, why you do it
Talk about any volunteer experience, specifically leadership experience, why you do it
These shouldn’t be very long, anywhere from 100-300 words is perfect! You will have to piece a lot of these together for most essays, and you can always expand on it later.
Essay tips:
be honest it’s easier to write about what you’re truly passionate about than whatever you think they want to hear
know your audience If you’re writing an essay for a scholarship in memory of someone who died due to drunk driving, don’t write about how you’re greatest memory with your friends was when you went drinking. On the other side, if the scholarship is in memory of a parent that died, talk about family
be concise If you don’t have a word minimum, only submit what you like; don’t reach the word maximum if half of your essay if just saying the same things over again
Get a copy of your transcript
If you are going into your senior year, it is very important for college apps and some scholarships to submit your transcript. If you can do this yourself, you don’t run the risk of someone else sending it too late. If you haven’t finished your sophomore year yet I wouldn’t worry about it.
Get letters of recommendation
You never know how long someone will want to spend on a letter, so ask ASAP. You’ll want these right away so you can see who’s is best and which ones play to the strengths scholarships are looking for.
Who to ask:
Coaches
Favorite teachers
Supervisors
If you had a class that directly involves your field of study, make sure to ask that teacher! Since I am going into engineering, I applied for a lot of engineering scholarships. Most wanted letters from STEM teachers. Since I had taken engineering, I asked that teacher, and he talked about my problem solving skills and things that directly relate to my skills as an engineer. You will want letters that say these kinds of things about you!
When you ask, make sure you also send them an email about it. Include a copy of your resume so they know what you have done and what to talk about. Many will ask for this anyway, so you might as well get ahead! If it applies, ask them to talk about your skills in the field you are going into.
Start researching!
Where to look:
Talk to school counselors
Check your school’s website
Ask teachers
Ask your parents to see if their workplace offers a scholarship
Check at your bank
Or start creating accounts at other banks in the area if you’re an underclassman. A lot of banks only offer scholarships to their members!
Check at the colleges you’ve applied to
Ask admissions counselors at local schools and your colleges
Talk to coaches or advisers
Check at local foundations
Google “your major/field + scholarships”
Scholarships in your area are your best bet, national or regional scholarships get so many applicants it can be hard to stand out. Make sure any national or regional scholarships you apply for are narrowed to the field you are going into or an activity you participated in!
Apply for local scholarships you don’t think you’ll get if you have the essay for it! Like I said, many local scholarships don’t get enough applicants, and you might be one of three! This is where you could get some surprise money.
Stay organized!
I created a handy little organizer to keep track of everything I was applying for. It has spots to put a link for more information, the essay prompt, information on the letters of rec required, and any more tasks needed to complete the application. See it here!
Good luck! If you need any more tips feel free to ask!
