Three Tips to Improve Scholarship Applications

You know that that going to college is more expensive than ever before; but do you know how dramatically the price has risen? According to a recent study by College Board, the average tuition cost per year at a public, four-year institution in the 1987-1988 school year was $3,190. Today, the cost is around $9,970. It is more than two and a half times more expensive today to earn your bachelor’s degree.

With these figures in mind, it’s never been more important to take advantage of scholarship opportunities. From your academic institution to non-profits and private organizations, there are countless organizations offering financial assistance to students. But what are scholarships and how are they different from other forms of financial aid? And why do should you want them?

There are many different ways to find finding to pay for the cost of tuition if you can’t cover all expenses out-of-pocket. The best option is scholarships. Why? Because they are the only form of assistance that doesn’t come with the expectation of repayment. Selection of recipients is usually based on athletic ability, academic achievement or artistic/creative merit. Academic institutions are the most common source of scholarship aid, but there is also, on average, $6.1 billion of scholarship aid available from private/non-profit sources outside of your school.

The downside is that the amount of a single scholarship award is unlikely to cover all of your expenses. However, while these amounts tend to be smaller in value individually, in aggregate, it can cover more than you think! Here are a few tips to improve your application and make the most of every opportunity.

Create Accomplishments Resume

When you apply for scholarship competitions, you’ll most likely need to talk about yourself and why you’re a worthy recipient. The better you are able to show how you have made a positive impact on your community or the ways in which you overcame a hardship, the better your chances of ultimately earning the award. Save yourself hours of time and effort by keeping track of your achievements now! 

Create a digital file on your computer and name it “Accomplishments Resume.” Add stories or examples of the times that you volunteered in the community, assisted those less fortunate, or have any story that shows you in a good light. There are two key benefits to this:

·      This file will widen your horizons and help you see that you are eligible and competitive for more competitions than you may have realized.

·      Having this list readily accessible will help you find the necessary motivation to write the essay or enter the competition as most of the hard work (thinking of an example) is already done.

Pro-tip: If there’s an example or story that helps to motivate you or boosts your confidence, add it to your accomplishments anyway! While you may not use it for an application, it could help you keep applying for scholarships when the going gets tough.

Mimic the Writing Style

When it comes down to it, you are trying to get the scholarship community to like your entry the best. While impressing them with the story or topic remains the best strategy, you can help your chances with how you write your entry. For example, many scholarship applications require you to write one or a series of essays answering their prompt. The scholarship committee usually provides formatting instructions and word count limits. Following these guidelines is vital, but go the next step and emulate how it’s written. 

Did the committee follow AP style? What was their tone – inspirational and active or reserved and academic? This may seem like a minor point, but when the competition is as fierce as it is today, use everything you can to your advantage. It’s a subtle way to win someone over.

Pro-tip: Find how past winners wrote, both in terms of topic, grammar, and syntax. Research past entrants online or reach out to your friends and family. Knowing what worked in the past gives you the inside lane to win the scholarship award and reduce how much you may have to borrow.

Practice, practice, practice 

If it were easy, everyone would do it. Putting the time in to search different applications, drafting or creating your entry, and then monitoring (and following-up if need be) the result is time-consuming. It’s difficult to work on this when the temptation to procrastinate or do something more fun is always there. Know that everything about this – from applying to collecting enough award scholarship – will take time. Worse still, you won’t win some scholarships despite how many hours you put in. But don’t give up! You’ll be thanking yourself in a few years when your peers begin to pay back their loans and you won’t have to make the same sacrifices.

Pro-tip: Use psychological tricks to help motivate you. Whether you use the Pomodoro Technique, chunking, or even psychological incentives, there are a number of mental tools to help you sit down and keep focused on achieving these goals.

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