College | Scholarship

Scholarship Tips

Written By: Kevil Tice

When applying for college scholarships, there are several resources available to steer you in the right direction. In addition to your parents or guardians, school counselors are readily available to assist you with where and how to begin. And of course, the internet is your best friend.

There are several things to consider when applying for scholarships. Here, I have listed my personal top 5 tips you should use when actively searching and applying:

Incorporate scholarship application completion into your schedule! You must set aside time in which you will focus only on searching for and applying for scholarships. NO DISTRACTIONS! This is serious business. And, in this case, time is LITERALLY money! Figure out if you want to spend an hour or two during the week or wake up with a fresh mind on the weekend and block out several hours for this. My suggestion would be Saturday mornings at the local library. If a library isn’t accessible, create a space at home where you can be alone and focused.
Don’t let the amount of requirements listed intimidate you! Sure, sometimes you just don’t feel like doing “all of that,” so you may tend to search for application processes with fewer steps. But, look at it this way….how many other people have thought the same thing and skipped right over what could be an amazing scholarship award? That means, less applicants. And, the less applicants, then what? Get it? So, don’t be scared! Apply!
Proofread! Proofread! Proofread! I cannot stress this enough. Make it your business to utilize the spell check feature on your computer. It also helps if you have someone else to take a look at what you have written. A few tricks that I use faithfully is, for one, I save my document and revisit it with fresh eyes the next day. I also read my entire document out loud and extremely slow. That allows my eyes to be on the same pace as my brain. Try it! It always works for me. Oh…did I say PROOFREAD? Got it? Good!
Apply for everything you are eligible for in a timely manner! Do not let any stone go unturned! If you have what is required, APPLY! Before you begin each application, find the deadline information FIRST. Look at your schedule and only apply if you will be able to meet the deadline. Early is always better than being right on time!
Satisfy ALL of the requirements! More often than not, applicants are overlooked because they have left off one tiny thing. My advice to you is to comb over the application very carefully, make a check list of every single thing required for submission, and mark them off once you complete them. Then, after you have finished, go back to the original instructions and double check. Have a family member or close friend to check it with you. There is no such thing as checking too much.