A scholarship is a form of award given to students to help cover their
study expenses and is often based on academic achievements. Most students
want to have a scholarship so that they don't have to worry about
financial problems and just focus on their study and college lives. To
optimize your chance of winning a scholarship, besides preparing your
application packet carefully with your portfolios, recommendation letters,
essays, etc., you have to take care of some additional issues.
Keep an
eye on announcements about new scholarships. They come out frequently from
various sources: your school, city, country's government or some special
organizations. Certain local newspapers often list new scholarships as
well. If you don't read those papers, you can ask your parents to notify
you when they see any proper scholarship listed there. You can be more
active by searching online for scholarships yourself. There are many
websites providing this free service. Some good examples are
Collegeboard.com and Fastweb.com. However, you should beware of any
websites requiring payment for using their services. Personally, I think
using well-known free Scholarship websites is enough. Another way to
search for scholarships is to check on some large companies' or
institutions' websites. Some institutions provide scholarships but do not
list them on the search engine. If the information is not enough, you
should contact that company or institution for more details.
Don't forget the deadlines. Each scholarship has its own application
deadline. If you apply for a lot of scholarships, write all the deadlines
in some eye-catching place to make sure that you won't forget them.
Moreover, you should be aware what kind of deadline it is. Some
scholarships state that applications should be received before the
deadlines while others just need students to send the applications before
these dates and they will check the sending dates on the envelope. In
addition, some change their deadlines so remember to check the information
on the scholarship's website frequently.
Be aware of scholarship scams. Scholarships are aimed to help students
finance their study, therefore, a real scholarship will not ask you to pay
anything but maybe an application fee. This amount is usually very small
and you should check that organization's website or other sources to make
sure they are legitimate. The application fee should be waived if you
contact the scholarship provider and state your financial difficulties.
