Winning the Scholarship Award

Searching for and finding scholarships is only the first half of the process. You still need to apply for each scholarship you are trying to win. Applying for scholarships can be time consuming and takes dedication and motivation. But the thousands of dollars you could receive makes the effort worthwhile. Below are some hints to help you apply for and win scholarships.

Be proactive.No one is going to track you down to give you a scholarship; you need to do the legwork yourself. So when you find awards with eligibility criteria that you can meet, contact the provider and request a scholarship application packet. Whether you have to request the application via email, phone or by sending in a self-addressed stamped envelope, do it. There’s just no other way to get the ball rolling than to be proactive and assertive in requesting information for yourself.

Be timely.Almost all scholarship providers set deadlines, and you MUST adhere to them. Make sure you have all materials submitted before the deadline. If the scholarship deadline is approaching and you have not yet even received the application packet that you requested four weeks earlier, follow-up with the provider and request the application packet again. You do not want to miss a deadline, as most scholarship providers do not consider late applicants.

Be organized.Good organizational skills can really pay off - literally! Keep your applications ordered by deadline date and give yourself plenty of time to complete them and send them in well before the due date. Keep letters of recommendation and transcripts on hand so you don’t have to obtain new ones every time they are required for an application. Make copies of your completed applications before sending them in, and file them in folders labeled with the deadline date and the mailing address and phone number of the scholarship provider. Call before the deadline to see if your scholarship application was received. If it got lost in the mail, (the postal service is not perfect!) you still have an extra copy you can send in.

Be persistent.The scholarship search process doesn’t just happen overnight. You must be diligent about looking for new scholarships to apply for. Plan to spend several hours each month reviewing the scholarship programs with deadlines approaching, preparing application packets, and getting the applications in the mail on time. And then the cycle should begin again - finding scholarships, sending away for application information, and applying in an organized, timely manner.

Be positive.Finally, believe in yourself and in your chances of winning a scholarship. Hard work and time spent on the scholarship process will pay off eventually. Keep your chin up and think about how great the reward will be if you can land even one of the scholarships you’re trying for! After all, your education depends on it!

by: www.scholarshipnet.info

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Scholarship Application Strategies

Scholarship competitions receive applications from numerous deserving students each year. With so many students who deserve an award, how do they choose just one or a few winners? While some may believe that the best applicant will be the one who wins, that is not always the case. Instead, it’s often the applicant who does the best job of presenting his or her case who wins the scholarship money. So how do you become this student? The key lies in scholarship strategy and creating a successful approach to finding and applying for awards. We’ve put together some advice on scholarship application strategies to help you improve your chances of winning scholarships.

Play to Your Strengths

Featured Scholarships:
    * Enter the ScholarshipPoints.com $1,000 Scholarship
    * Cappex's "I Don't Want to Pay for College" Scholarship
    * Zinch's Talent Showcase Scholarship
    * Win $5,000 for college from Ipsos i-Say
    * Zinch's Weekly "Three Sentence Essay" Scholarship
    * College Prowler $2,000 No Essay Scholarship

Perhaps the most basic scholarship application strategyis to apply for scholarships you have the best chance of winning. While this seems obvious enough on the surface, figuring out what these scholarships are does require some thought. A good first step is to do a free scholarship search, like the one available at Scholarships.com. By completing a profile that includes many of your personal strengths and interests, you can allow someone else to do the initial legwork for you when it comes to finding scholarships. You’ll want to start early—if you begin to investigate scholarship options when you’re a junior in high school (or even sooner), you’ll have a heads up on the competition.

After you’ve finished your scholarship search, you can begin narrowing the list down to awards you think you have the best chance of winning. Perhaps you’re an excellent writer, you’ve had a truly unique experience, or you are fascinated with the subject of a scholarship competition. Whatever the reason, there are likely to be scholarships that stand out as awards for things you can do, and do well.

Beyond deciding which scholarships to apply to, you should play to your strengths in constructing your scholarship application. Everything you put in your application should be designed to highlight your strengths as an applicant for that particular scholarship, including the materials written by someone else. For example, if you need a letter of recommendation, ask someone who knows you well and can speak to your strengths, rather than someone with an impressive title or a friendly attitude who may not be able to go into the level of detail that scholarship providers would like to see.

Write a Killer Essay

A large part of your time and energy when applying for scholarships will be devoted to writing scholarship essays. Many scholarship applications require at least one essay and a large number of scholarship reviewers will rely heavily on the essay in choosing a scholarship winner. There are things you can do to write effective scholarship essays that save you time and highlight your strengths as an applicant.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a particularly skilled wordsmith, you can write a scholarship-worthy essay if you put in the time and effort the task requires. By learning about your audience and what they want (one way to do this is by reading about the scholarship contest’s mission and reading previous years’ winning essays), you can better tailor your scholarship application to their needs. This will immediately set you apart from the students who didn’t bother to figure out exactly where they were submitting their scholarship application. If you do it right, you can incorporate this strategy into a plan for efficient essay writing to maximize your results. Beyond that, following other basic guidelines for the scholarship application process and scholarship essay writing will keep you on track and help you create success in your scholarship search.

Pay Attention to the Details

The most useful, and often overlooked, scholarship application strategy is paying attention to details. From making note of scholarship application deadlines to getting organized to formatting essays, paying attention to details can make the difference between winning a scholarship and finding your essay at the top of the reject pile. Be sure to always follow the rules, no matter how tiny or arbitrary, and to observe appropriate scholarship application etiquette. Taking these steps will ensure that it’s the substance of your scholarship application that stands out, not the errors in its presentation

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Filling Out Your College Scholarship Application

Let's imagine you have sent your admittance application to all the colleges of your dream. You have received a letter telling you that you are welcome to your number one choice among those dream schools and you are now jumping up and down in pure joy all day long because of this. When you land on the earth and start to think clearly, the first thing that might appear in your thoughts is likely to be: How do I finance this? Good question! Why not apply for a scholarship or even hundred scholarships?

The way you fill out your college scholarship application is an important factor that determines whether you get the scholarship or not. The right kind of information has to be furnished in the application. Without this it is difficult to get the required scholarship. The information that you give in your scholarship application reveals the real yourself to the college authorities. So care must be taken to fill out each and every column in the application.

In case if you're filling out your Gate's Millennium scholarship form, your achievements, recommendations, essays, etc must be filled out correctly. It is better to use your common sense while you fill up your scholarship applications. You have to do a lot of research to find out the type of scholarships that you can apply for. Then seek the applications for such scholarships. You should note that most of the scholarship applications have to reach the authorities well earlier during the fall of senior year. You have to do your research well before. Check out the eligibility criteria carefully before you apply for any scholarship.

Once you have received the college scholarship application that suits your requirement, you have to organize the materials that are necessary for completing the application. Make a note of the last date of submission of the application to the authorities. This is necessary so that you file your scholarship application well before the deadline. Some of the scholarships require you to furnish some special documents for that scholarship. Make sure that you are attaching them with the application. Do not leave any item blank in the application. Get the assistance if needed to fill it out. Always print or type the application so that it is legible.

The essays that you write should be read thoroughly to identify any spelling and grammar mistakes in it. Correct them. Always make a copy of the documents that you send. Double check your application and submit them well before the deadline.

Ian Koch

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The Barack Obama Scholarship

Women and mothers in America have a great opportunity to be successful and have a better life. If you are ready to go back to school and you are a mother, the time is right. There are scholarships available to assist women to further their education.

What has been known as the "Barack Obama Scholarship" is actually the Pell grant. Now there are many private companies that help give women scholarship money to go to school on. These programs have been popularized under names such as:

the Obama mom return to school program and the Obama grant for moms programs. Other names inclue the Obama college scholarship and Obama grant for mothers.

Any way you look at it, our President is helping to increase the Pell grant and now more and more private companies are giving away money to help mothers.

President Obama's government program has $75 billion in $10,000 scholarships for women who want more education and want to improve their lives for themselves and their children.

Fact: Mothers can get scholarships to assist with college costs.

Applying for a scholarship is very simple and it doesn't cost anything. There is an application you must complete and then reply in the mail when someone contacts you. The government understands how scary and difficult it could be for some mothers to go back to school or work after being at home for a while with their children. They are trying to help with the cost and make the switch less stressful.

All mothers who are ready for the challenge, it is time to apply for the scholarship. You can start on the path to a better life in the near future.

Fact: Many women have already improved their education through the college scholarship program for single moms.

If you are a mother, your chance is now to take control of your life. You can show your children how essential education is and how it improves lives. Whatever career path you have in mind, you can achieve it. There is money there for you to help you with your career goals. You have nothing to lose but a whole new life to gain. 

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