Helpful Hints
- Play the numbers. Apply for as many scholarships as possible. Do not neglect smaller, local scholarships -- they are often less competitive. A few hundred dollars here and there quickly adds up, and gives you sterling credentials for other scholarship applications!
- Organize your work. This will save you time and effort. Start a separate folder for each scholarship, and keep all rough drafts, outlines, and notes you accumulate. This intermediate work material can be reused as when working on future scholarship applications.
- Create inventories. Regularly update a personal inventory of your extracurricular activities, awards and honors, jobs, and hobbies. Record every activity plus the projects you have undertaken and the qualities you have demonstrated in that activity.
- Recycle common essay themes. Create a file of reusable materials on perennial scholarship themes. Whenever possible, bridge multiple applications with common themes in your essays. Recycle and rephrase old passages to improve them for future scholarship submissions.
- Leverage your school work. Work with your teachers to use school writing assignments as the basis for scholarship essays. And scour past schoolwork for good essay ideas.
- Learn from the experiences of past scholarship winners. Ask them for advice. If possible, review winning scholarship entries from the past.
- Other Tips