How to Get a College Scholarship Part 2
Last week we covered some tips on how to get a college scholarship. Here’s part two for you. Read these tips over to see how you can boost your chances of getting free money for college:
1. Take care with your application. Make sure you complete all the application blanks. Don’t skip anything. If you find that a particular question isn’t applicable to your situation, be sure to write “not applicable,” or something similar to that, in the blank.
2. Follow directions carefully. If you’re applying for numerous scholarships, you may be tempted to create a general package of application materials and send them to all of the scholarship programs that interest you. Don’t do this. If you do not follow directions, send too little information, or send things the scholarship guidelines didn’t request, you may hurt your chances. Who wants to give scholarship money to someone who can’t even follow directions?
3. Make sure all your application materials are neat and legible. You won’t get points for a sloppy submission. If those reviewing your application cannot read or understand it, they may just toss it out. If you can complete an application on your computer and print it, do so. If not, take your time to make your answers as neat as possible.
4. Proofread your application materials–all of them–as well as any required essays. It’s easy to make a mistake with something as simple as the spelling of your own name. Really! People do it all the time. Check all of your application materials over carefully–at least twice–and have someone proofread them for you a third time. A second pair of eyes is priceless.
5. Add your personal touch to your essays. You can write an essay that is just to the point and really sort of dry. However, you are unlikely to impress anyone this way. Try to find ways to show something of yourself in your essays. Show scholarship reviewers how you are unique through your essay writing. This will help them to get to know you and see why they should offer you scholarship money for college instead of another applicant. If you have trouble writing essays, seek some help from a tutor or a family member. Don’t ask anyone else to write your essay for you, but do ask for pointers and help creating an outline or revising your writing. You might benefit from taking a composition course if you’ll be writing a lot of scholarship essays. You can even find some essay writing courses online.
Check back in about a week to read part 3 of How to Get a College Scholarship. By following the tips you find on this site and applying for as many as possible, you can pay for college without going broke.
