How to Organize a Scholarship Application

The organization of your scholarship achievements and awards can make/break your recipient status. These tips will make it a little easier to wow the members of the scholarship committee.

Things You'll Need

• Access to a computer/printer
• Time to think
• Creativity

Instructions

1. 

   Make a cover page for your scholarship application. Use colored Word Art. On your coverpage all you need to do is put the name of the scholarship and the applicant name. Just make it look nice!

2. 

   Fill out the application as follows (if not on computer, it is HIGHLY recommended that you type it up!)

   SEE: HOW TO MAKE YOUR SCHOLARSHIP LOOK OUTSTANDING IN APPEARANCE

3. 

   Use a word processer to organize your achievements and stats into four categories: School Activities, Community Service Activities, Honors and Awards, Jobs.

4. 

   For School Activities include sports, clubs, offices held, one time events (stage crew of high school musical), ANYTHING related to school. Dig deep! Be sure to include ANY leadership roles you held separately. Next to the school activity, make sure to include what years you participated in it. EX: Field Hockey (9,10,11,12) List years with the most extensive experience first. If there is a one time activity, list the year it happened in. EX: On the committee to plant trees on campus (9)

5. 

   For Community Service Activities, once again, dig deep!!! Include on your application, anything you did for the community. Writing the number of hours next to the event can be very helpful. For example if you volunteered 2 times a week for a year at the neighboring Senior Home that is approx. 112 hours. In addition you were an usher at a play 20 hours, etc. etc. It looks good! :) If you have done a variety of events for a single organization, list them together. ie. City of San Marcos: working at Street Fairs, appraisals, talent shows, etc. 24 hours

6. 

   Honors and Awards is where you can really excel. I organized this into three categories fitting my award history. 1) academic 2) field hockey related 3)track and field related. I recommend organizing it into categories that apply to you. Always list Academic awards first. ****In School Activities, length of time involved makes a difference, in Honors and Awards mass makes a difference. This is the one where you want to list EVERY single detail. Try to see how much space you can fill up the page with. If you are an athlete add every 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place victory, same with any musical or speech competitions. Include every award/honor placed upon you from Freshman to Senior year. Include the years you received these awards as well. List the awards you received the most years first in every category, then include one-time awards received most recently to least recently. ie. Varsity Track and Field (9,10,11)

7. 

   The Jobs section is pretty straightforward. List your jobs and the dates you have worked there for from most recent to furthest past. This is used to take a better look at the big picture for this applicant. If an applicant has no community service experience, a lot of job experience may compensate for this absense. If an applicant has no job experience, but is rich in other areas, it will not hurt him/her.

   SAMPLE
   City of San Marcos: KKC 2/05-present

8. 

   At the end of the application be sure to attach a "Thank you" page. Address it to the scholarship committee and sign it personally. This is a nice touch that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Tips & Warnings

• Always fill in every question it makes your form look more complete. If it doesn't apply write in N/A