How to Write Winning Scholarship Applications

Scholarship money is the easiest free money you may get for your education the rest of your life! These are some simple tricks to impress the scholarship committees and make your application the one they choose.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• access to a computer/printer
• creativity
• organization
• time

1. Begin your scholarship search midway through your Junior year of high school.
   
   *****There is much less competition for scholarships for Juniors, but also less scholarships.
   
   *****If you don't start Junior year, DEFINITELY start the summer before Senior year. It was a lot easier to win the local scholarships in the first part of the year than the second because less people were applying!
2. Go to your high school career center!! Talk with the advisor there and pick up EVERY single "Local" scholarship there is that you qualify for.
   
   ****Also consider "State" scholarships if they reward 25+ scholarships (or depending on the size of your state-I'm from CA)
3. Use a word document to organize your achievements and stats. Dig deep and display your achievements in the most flattering form.
   
   Use tips on the below site to impress Scholarship Committees.
   
   HOW TO ORGANIZE A SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
   http://www.ehow.com/how_2203091_organize-scholarship-application.html
4. Make your Scholarship Application look outstanding in appearance! Remember that committees will be looking through possibly hundreds of applications. A neat, creative and professional looking application will make you stand out from the others! Use tips on the below site to impress Scholarship Committees:
   
   HOW TO MAKE YOUR SCHOLARSHIP LOOK OUTSTANDING IN APPEARANCE
   http://www.ehow.com/how_2203115_scholarship-look-outstanding-appearance.html
5. Get AMAZING recommendation letters. Don't be shy, this is part of a teacher's job. Ask a teacher preferably who has known you in different school-related/community-related elements. It is also helpful if you ask a community member who is well known by the organizations you are applying for (example: member of city council)
6. APPLY, APPLY, APPLY! Apply to every local scholarship you qualify for. It is worth the extra work you put in. If you need to write a paragraph or 3 to apply - DO IT (less people will), if it is for only $250 - DO IT! (once again, less applicants will apply) I won several scholarships because either I was the only one who applied or because there were 2 scholarships rewarded and 2 applications were turned in.
7. Keep track of every scholarship you turn in or are working on. I did this in excel and had 4 headings: NAME, STATUS, DEADLINE, WINNER CONTACTED
   
   * Have pride in the fact that you are making this effort for your future and enjoy your winnings which will sometimes be applied directly towards your college,sometimes directly towards you!

Tips & Warnings

• Do the previous steps with a happy heart and pride! Scholarships are not for the people who are the BEST of everything, they are for the people willing to take the time and effort and who really truly want them!
• Once you have one scholarship saved on your computer, it is relatively easy to make many many more.
• I don't recommend applying to "National" scholarships because they are more difficult to get and not as worthy of your time or disappointment. However, this is up to you!
• It may be disappointing if you do not receive the scholarships that you worked so hard to apply for. But, if you win 3 out of 30, you will be doing yourself a humungous service that will pay off for you in college and through the rest of your life (less loans, less debt, etc.