Scholarships

When most students think of scholarships, their minds quickly avert to the fierce competition involved and how it often seems nearly impossible to be chosen as a winner.  I’m here to tell you that this does not have to be the case, if you know how to go about finding scholarships in the right manner.  While Harvard material students usually have their names written on many scholarships available, the rest of us can rest assured that there are many ways that we can attain scholarships as well.  Finding the right scholarships all lies in how you search for them, which I will describe in this article.

The most important resource that you can use to find good scholarships is your school.  In fact, the first step anyone should take in beginning their search for scholarships is to visit their school’s scholarship office and see what awards are available for students.  Why?  Applying for scholarships through your school greatly reduces the competition and thus increases your chances of winning; instead of competing against thousands of students across the nation, you will only be pitted against other students at your school, probably less than one hundred.  If your grades are high and you write an eye-catching essay, you have a good shot at receiving some of these scholarships.  So, get a list of available scholarships from your school and apply to everyone that you are eligible for.  Especially go for the one’s relating to your major or activities, as the number of applicants for these will be reduced even further.

Your next step is to search for scholarships offered by specific companies, as these usually tend to be less competitive.  Corporations such as McDonalds, Best Buy, and Walmart offer thousands of scholarships each, and the often guarantee that a certain number of winners will be selected from each city where they have a store.  You are more likely to win these scholarships than others, as here your competition has been reduced to only the students in your town that choose to apply.  Start looking up scholarships offered by every major company that you know of!

Look into government programs, such as the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship.  These scholarships are often awarded to one or two nominees from each school.  For example, the Robert C. Byrd Scholarship is available to high school seniors, and awards $1,500 per year in college for two nominees from each high school.  The key to winning it is merely a high class rank and high SAT scores (the top two will be nominated by each high school first).

Lastly, here is what you should not do (or wait until last to do) when applying for scholarships.  Avoid applying for scholarships where you submit an essay to some website, as these are very competitive (competing against students nationally).  The same applies for national scholarships that are worth $10,000 or more.  Yes, that money would be very nice to have, but imagine the tens of thousands of students like you that are thinking the same exact thing.  But, if you have finished with all of the other types of scholarships that I mentioned earlier then it won’t hurt to apply.

In conclusion, the key to having a successful year with scholarships is focusing on ones that are localized, that is, scholarships where the competition is limited to students in your school or area.  You are much more likely to win these, and if you put sincere effort into the applications, you definitely have a good chance of winning a few.  Make sure to apply to as many as possible, as even winning one or two will be worth it!  Good luck and happy scholarship hunting!  If you are interested in reading more tips on scholarships and other financial aid programs, visit http://affording-college.blogspot.com and make paying for college easy!