Applying For Scholarships

Here are some tips that worked for me when I started applying for scholarships!

1. START EARLY

   1. Start as early as your junior year to research scholarships. This gives you time to see what you qualify for, to build your qualifications, or to refine your essays.

2. Stay organised

   1. Make a document organizing scholarships. Include the requirements of the scholarships and their dead lines.

3. Build connections

   1. You will need letters of recommendations at some point. Start early and build genuine connections with your current instructors. When you put effort in their class and are respectful to them, they are more willing to write recommendations.

   2. When you find someone to write a recommendation, notify them well ahead of time and tell them the deadlines. Provide them with the information to fill out, if any.

4. Go to your school counselor

   1. Meeting with your school counselor is a great place to look for scholarships. They can provide you a list of scholarships that you can apply for and point you in the direction of the next steps you can take.

   2. Meet with your counselor your junior high year. A great counselor will guide you on your journey and help you with obstacles. Especially for students who are classified as independent, have financial problems at home, undocumented, or any other issues that may prevent them from applying to schools and or scholarships.

5. Utilize your Resources!

   1. Your school and/or public library may have resources to help you search and apply for scholarships! You will never know unless you ask!

      1. These resources include writing labs, access to writing tools, a list of scholarships, e.t.c

6. Apply for Multiple Scholarships

   1. Ask your high school fine art teacher about fine art scholarships.

   2. Research your higher institution and apply to their scholarships. Look into their foundation scholarships or their privately funded scholarships.

   3. Your High school may supply you with a list of scholarships. Apply to…

      1. Big scholarships

      2. Small and less competitive scholarships.

      3. Apply to scholarships that you think you won’t get.

         1. I applied to a small scholarship that I did not think I would get, but I got it! This may be because everyone else did not apply because they thought they would not get it either. Just try it.

7. State Specific Scholarships

   1. Research scholarships that are for state residents. An example will be the Arkansas Division of Higher Education website. Their scholarship page offers different scholarships for Arkansas Residents (Qualifications may very.)

8. Tailor Each Application

   1. Be sure to tailer each application and essay to its scholarship. Copy/pasting your work will not make it stand out to that unique scholarship.

9. Don’t take advantage of AI

   1. AI is not applying to a college. You are. So don’t make AI do the work for you.

   2. You can use AI as a tool to help you apply to scholarships, but don’t take advantage of it. You are only cheating yourself out of growing.

   3. Colleges are also investing in programs that detect AI use….

10. Proof-read everything

    1. Proof-read your essay and the application requirements before submitting.

    2. For your essays, use the free online grammar checker or use any resources provided by your school/ public library.

    3. If you are tight on money and resources, but are serious about writing essays-

       1. Check with your writing teacher, school, or local library if they offer services to help with your essay.

       2. I used the free version of grammarly. For the paid suggestions, I simply researched the kind of suggestion they claimed I had in my essay and learned how to fix it. This will take more time, but I was able to get 100% error free result by doing this.

11. Build your resume

    1. If there are opportunities for to build your resume, take it.

       1. Leadership positions, community services, awards, project involvement that benefited a group, e.t.c

12. Save for last (My personal advice that you do not have to follow…)

    1. Personally, I would apply to nationwide scholarships websites last. I made accounts on big scholarship websites and applied to numerous scholarships. The only thing I got from it was spam email. Because of that, dedicate your time to applying for scholarships within your state and school that you have a higher chance of receiving.

    2. However, writing essays for those websites did help me refine essays that I wrote for scholarships that I received by my school.

    3. Go ahead and apply! Because I did not get a scholarship from these resources does not mean that you won’t!

I hope these tips help you on your scholarship journey!