Written by JIF Fellow Abril Rangel-Pacheco
Now that I’ve had the chance to encounter my
fair share of scholarship applications, here are a few tips of mine for those
of you who will soon be embarking on the same treacherous journey! (Just
kidding, it’s not so bad)
SEEKING SCHOLARSHIPS
a. If you haven’t become a familiar face in your
guidance counselors’ office, NOW is the time! It’s important you become
familiar with your counselor(s) as you begin applying for scholarships because
they will be much more likely to contact you for a scholarship application if
they know you. If you’re fortunate like I am to have a guidance office where
there’s literally a file cabinet full of scholarship applications then don’t
hesitate to walk into your guidance counselors office and ask for them!
However, if you’re not as fortunate, some
helpful resources are listed at the bottom of this post!
b. If you’re a rising senior, try previewing
scholarship essay prompts before the application window opens. Some
scholarships keep the same prompts so getting a head start on these are never a
bad idea! (The Gates Millennium Scholarship for example)
c. Try searching for scholarships specific to your
area or school. The smaller the pool of applicants is, the greater your chances
are at getting it.
ORGANIZATION IS KEY
a. Sometimes it feels like you’re living your senior year by application deadlines, so it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed out. The best way I know how to combat that is ORGANIZATION. Try filing online/printable applications into file folders on a computer/flash drive by due dates. It’s also helpful to add the deadline dates onto the file names when you save applications into their respective folders. For example, I’d file “ScholarshipApplication ( Feb. 23rd)” into the “February” folder. I would also recommend getting into the habit of previewing what scholarships are due for the next month so that you can be prepared and have time to brainstorm. If you prefer having the paper applications on hand instead of on a hard drive/ flash drive, you could also organize all of your applications by date in an organizer or folder.
KEEP EVERYTHING
a. Keep every essay you write!!! I can’t tell you how important this is. Scholarship applications tend to ask similar questions so keeping every scholarship essay you write is EXTREMELY beneficial because you can pretty much copy and paste parts of your essays to fit the prompts of different scholarship essays and then squeeze in some transitions to better fit the prompt and help your essay flow better.
b. If you’re applying for the Gates Millennium Scholarship, it’s even more crucial that you keep copies of these eight essays because I can guarantee that you will use parts of these essays in different scholarship essays.
ASKING FOR TRANSCRIPTS/LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
a. Be sure to ask for recommendations from people who can speak well of your academic performance, leadership skills, or community service projects. Be sure to ask 2-4 weeks ahead of time.
b. If you think you might ask the same teacher for more than one recommendation, kindly ask them to keep a copy of their recommendation in case you need another one for a different scholarship or ask them for a number of copies so that you can keep and send along with applications.
c. Same thing with transcripts: if you can, ask your counselor to print off multiple copies to mail off with your applications.
PAY ATTENTION TO "POSTMARKED BY" and "RECEIVED BY" DATES
a. If the application must be mailed, be sure to allow ample mailing time for the application to get there so that it meets the “received by” date.
b. Try mailing your application prior to the “postmarked by” date to avoid a last minute frenzy!
Some helpful scholarship sites:
Zinch.com
Fastweb.com
Educationquest.org
Horatioalger.org
Gmsp.org
Very helpful! Thank you
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