College Scholarship Guide

College Scholarship Guide

 There are thousands of scholarships available to undergrad and graduate students throughout the country. The scholarship does not need to be repaid. Scholarships are granted by a variety of entities, like schools, private endowments, businesses, religious organizations, nonprofits, the government, and professional associations. 

The scholarship application process can be broken down into the main steps.

Prepare

Prepare well before the scholarship application deadline. A documented history of your experiences, lessons learned, and accomplishments will come in handy when writing essays. Also, prepare yourself for interviews. Find out what makes the difference with scholarship reviewers and plan ahead. Since most scholarships are merit-based, past performance matters. 

Collect and organize all your relevant information

Here is where you document your grades, activities, accomplishments, and other important information for use later in the application process. Don’t limit your documentation to only statistics. You can organize this into a running collection of your accomplishments, similar to how professionals use resumes.

Search early and often

Free scholarship search tools are updated often. A regular scan helps you respond to a new scholarship quickly. The scholarship application process is time-consuming, so it pays to start your search early to give yourself enough time to find, assess, and apply before the deadlines. 

Apply

A scholarship application usually consists of more than just filling out a form. Each application is different, but the mistake people make is not reading the directions. Many times, scholarships reviewers use essays, letters of recommendation, and even interviews to make their decisions.