Have you ever wondered if you have to be an academic genius to win a scholarship? Have excellent grades, and be top of your class? Well, that is not always the case as you will learn shortly.
There are so many scholarships out there from corporations, associations, foundations and community groups that have nothing to do with grades and test scores. The reason is that all these scholarships look for different things, the reason there are so many out there. This means that there’s a scholarship out there for everyone – and there’s one for you too if you take care to follow these steps.
1. Apply For Everything
Apply for as many of the scholarships as you can, if there are three dozens of them out there, apply for them all! You know the worst that would happen? You may win at least two dozens of them!! What is more, ensure to follow them up.
2. Don’t Go For Only the Big Ones
The mistake most people make is that they go for only the big-money ones, while they neglect the smaller ones. And there-in lies the secret – when you apply for the smaller ones too, you increase your odds of winning because hardly anyone applies for them! There’s also a snow-ball effect, because the smaller ones help you win the bigger ones. Smart, right?
3. How Do You Apply?
A great way to start is to tap into internet scholarship databases. These are websites on the internet where you can start filling out what you are interested in, and what you are good at. What they do is to match you with suitable scholarships.
4. Is the Process Hard?
Well, scholarships are not lottery tickets, and the money wont just fall out of the sky. But if you are smart about how you approach it, it wouldn’t be difficult. These are some things you can do to make it much easier:
- Look at past winning essays and applications, and people who have won. A lot of scholarships post these online to help you get a feel of what works.
- Recycle and reuse what you’ve done before: if you have written essays – perhaps as a class project, or an assignment – you can recycle them. Doing this makes your work half done since you can recycle what you have used before.
- Because there are lots of scholarships with varying interests ranging from community, science, to history and others; you can have your pick of them. These are fun things to do, which may even earn you extra credits in class, and also earn you that scholarship!
5. What Should You Consider When Applying?
To increase your odds of winning, individuals and teams should know that scholarship judges give money to people, and not impressive resumes.
- You want to include personal details, experiences, anecdotes, anything that’s really unique to your life in your application.
- You do not want your application to be a lottery list of “I did this, I did that activity, I was in this club.” Instead, show the character and qualities you demonstrated – such things like enthusiasm and leadership. Bring these things out, not just the raw information.
6. When Should You Start?
You shouldn’t wait until you are about to go to the university. It would be better to start in secondary school. It is true that you can do this anytime, but the earlier you start, the better. So start now!
One final thing is that this process teaches you to believe in yourself, and also how to persuade others to believe in you. This is a useful skill to possess when the time comes to get a job, an internship, or whatever it is you want to do in life. Learn the skill now and earn the scholarship along the way.
Make all of your educational dreams come true. Go for it!