HOW TO APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS | pathwaytouniversity

Marie T · 2017-08-02T06:56:02.793Z

1. Start during your JUNIOR YEAR. 2. Get to know your counselor. You’ll probably need them to fill out some scholarships for you. 3. Double check your own application (including essays) and have someone look over (max of two people) 4. Contact teachers for recs ahead of time with your resume ready and thank them after they submitted your rec. 5. Use pen to fill out applications but try to type if possible, typing looks more professional/neater. 6. Save or copy all of your applications/essays before you send them or have digital backups. Scholarships often times use the same topics and you can always reuse essays to save labor. 7. Don’t be afraid to reuse recommenders, chances are they have your rec. saved already. 8. If you are a senior, use teacher from your junior year as recommendations, they are the most recent teachers to have known you the longest so they are prepared to give you a more thoughtful and detailed rec. 9. Start working on scholarship applications early. 10. When writing essays/reusing essays, try to tailor the essays to the organization itself - think of the audience reading your essay. 11. APPLY TO LOCAL SCHOLARSHIPS! Often times, the competition is much lower. 12. Look for scholarships that may apply to you personally, plenty of scholarships exist that look for low-income students, queer students, multiracial/people of color, bilingual students, etc. 13. Make sure you answer all questions on an application and answer the prompt thoroughly. 14. Have items saved already/on hand that many scholarships will constantly ask for (have electron copies/scans of your transcript, test score reports, FAFSA, recommendations, etc.) 15. Don’t Miss Deadlines 16. Make folders either on your computer, flash drive or online storage system (google drive) to organize the different applications/essays/etc. that you are applying for. (ex. One folder for science essays, one folder for community upbringing essays, etc.) 17. Do not go over the word limit. 18. Do not send extra material that the scholarship organization didn’t ask for. 19. Contact scholarship if you are unsure how to answer a question. 20. If mailing a scholarship, consider paying a little bit extra to track the application to make sure it arrives at its destination. 21. Use these scholarship engines to find scholarships: Zinch.com, Fastweb.com, ScholarshipPoints.com, Niche.com, Cappex.com, Scholarships.com, Discover.com, Unigo.com, Petersons.com, Collegenet.com, Scholarshipmonkey.com, Collegerank.net, Collegeboard.org, Scholarships.com, Collegedata.com, Studentscholarshipsearch.com, Scholly.com, Startclass.com, Brokescholar.com, Careeronestop.org, Scholarshipportal.com, or Moolahspot.com

Start during your JUNIOR YEAR.
Get to know your counselor. You’ll probably need them to fill out some scholarships for you.
Double check your own application (including essays) and have someone look over (max of two people)
Contact teachers for recs ahead of time with your resume ready and thank them after they submitted your rec.
Use pen to fill out applications but try to type if possible, typing looks more professional/neater.
Save or copy all of your applications/essays before you send them or have digital backups. Scholarships often times use the same topics and you can always reuse essays to save labor.
Don’t be afraid to reuse recommenders, chances are they have your rec. saved already.
If you are a senior, use teacher from your junior year as recommendations, they are the most recent teachers to have known you the longest so they are prepared to give you a more thoughtful and detailed rec.
Start working on scholarship applications early.
When writing essays/reusing essays, try to tailor the essays to the organization itself - think of the audience reading your essay.
APPLY TO LOCAL SCHOLARSHIPS! Often times, the competition is much lower.
Look for scholarships that may apply to you personally, plenty of scholarships exist that look for low-income students, queer students, multiracial/people of color, bilingual students, etc.
Make sure you answer all questions on an application and answer the prompt thoroughly.
Have items saved already/on hand that many scholarships will constantly ask for (have electron copies/scans of your transcript, test score reports, FAFSA, recommendations, etc.)
Don’t Miss Deadlines
Make folders either on your computer, flash drive or online storage system (google drive) to organize the different applications/essays/etc. that you are applying for. (ex. One folder for science essays, one folder for community upbringing essays, etc.)
Do not go over the word limit.
Do not send extra material that the scholarship organization didn’t ask for.
Contact scholarship if you are unsure how to answer a question.
If mailing a scholarship, consider paying a little bit extra to track the application to make sure it arrives at its destination.
Use these scholarship engines to find scholarships: Zinch.com, Fastweb.com, ScholarshipPoints.com, Niche.com, Cappex.com, Scholarships.com, Discover.com, Unigo.com, Petersons.com, Collegenet.com, Scholarshipmonkey.com, Collegerank.net, Collegeboard.org, Scholarships.com, Collegedata.com, Studentscholarshipsearch.com, Scholly.com, Startclass.com, Brokescholar.com, Careeronestop.org, Scholarshipportal.com, or Moolahspot.com