Scholarship Tip #3: Where to Search, part 1

Here is the #1 question I get from students:  How do I get scholarships?  And the question behind that is, how do I FIND these scholarships?  To be truthful, looking for scholarships does require a bit of a learning curve, and since most people find it easier to look online than using a book, I'm going to use this post to cover the online sources, and a second post to cover offline sources.  The best four places to start online are:  search engines, college websites, google, and pinterest.  Use ALL of them to yield the best results.

Search Engines

1.  Because you will receive LOADS of emails from the scholarship engines about possible scholarship matches, it might be advantageous to set up a different email for your scholarships.  However, this only works if you check the new email at least once a week.  If you're going to ignore the new email account, you might want to just use your regular account and sign up for one scholarship engine at a time.  

The point:  be honest with yourself about how well you check various email accounts, and make a plan that fits you the best.

2.  Fill out your student profile as you set up each account--and be as complete as possible!  This is how you get matched with scholarships, so it's worth your time to give as much information as possible about your activities, interests, and strengths.

3.  List all possible majors and degrees.  If you are undecided, then check everything that you could possibly pursue.  Want to study Engineering, but think that English is a possibility?  Check both!  Many scholarships are geared towards students pursuing a specific field of study, and you want to keep all options open for yourself.

4.  Hopefully, you'll keep these scholarship engine accounts for multiple years--and if so--you should take time to update your information each year.  By then, you'll have had other experiences, joined clubs, completed service projects, and had other life experiences that will match you with other scholarships.  Update!

Here are several scholarship search engines to check out.  

• Scholarships.com
• Scholarship Search
• Fastweb
• Cappex
• Scholarships 360

College Websites

Since Colleges give the largest proportion of $$$$ to students, don't overlook this source!!!  Each college website is a little different, and you won't to be sure you click on each link to learn all the opportunities at the colleges of interest.  Be especially aware of each college's academic scholarships, since they vary (this helps because you might get more $$$ at one college; also, it helps to know what scores you need for specific levels of scholarship aid)

Google  

Try different variations of search words on Google to yield different results.  I've tried "scholarships for high school seniors" or "high school seniors Utah Scholarships", and then any other added words to narrow the search.  If you have a specific talent, interest, or family background that has scholarships--use them in the google search!  This can be done with "scholarships for first generation college students" or "scholarships for low-income students Utah high school senior".  Play around with how you word things, and you'll be amazed at the results.

Pinterest

No, it's not just a cool place to find decorating and party ideas.  Use the same technique here as wish google--playing around with different search words.  The results are amazing!  

***NOTE:  The important thing with ANY of these is to put in the time to search.  Read Scholarship Tip #2: Time to Search for specific guidelines about "how much time" is usually needed .  

Scholarship Tip #2: Time to Search

Tip #2:  Make TIME to Search

Most students (and parents) talk about being frustrated while searching for scholarships in a vague way, and when I ask them how long they spend searching for scholarships, they dance around the subject until finally admitting that they looked for about 20 minutes before being overwhelmed...and then don't look again for 2-3 more weeks, if they ever looked again (most students only ever look for one 20-minute session, then give up).

The problem is both lack of FREQUENCY and DURATION.  The solution is increasing both.

I'm pretty practiced at scholarship databases, searching scholarship books, even using Google and Pinterest to find scholarships--and one afternoon I was trying to find specific scholarships for seniors that were coming up in the next few months.  It took me about 40 minutes to find 3 scholarships that were good fits for many of our seniors.

What does this mean for you?  You should expect to put in the same amount of time (maybe more), with roughly the same yield.

DURATION:  You should be able to find 3 scholarships to fit YOU in about 40 minutes - 1 hour.  You've got to just sit down, not get frustrated with the ones that don't fit you--and then when you DO find the good fits--put them on your XCel Spreadsheet (explained in Tip #3) that is YOUR personal list of scholarships.  This is the DURATION:  plan to search for 40 minutes - 1 hour, and the yield of finding 3 scholarships in that time is fairly accurate.

FREQUENCY:  You should search for scholarships once a week, beginning as early as possible in high school (seriously...begin as a freshman).  If you are a junior and you haven't started yet, try to search 2 times a week to make sure you know which scholarships you will apply for before your senior year begins.

***Important Note:  Many scholarships are open to students in multiple grades, and so if you are searching in 9th grade, you can begin to apply for the scholarships listed as "open to 9th - 12th graders".  Even if you don't win in 9th grade, you can re-apply in 10th, 11th, and even 12th grade.  With extra practice, your chances of winning increase.

Scholarship Tip #1: Pay Attention to the Deadline

I get a TON of questions about scholarships, so I'm going to write a series for the next few weeks about scholarships.  Here is the first one, and it might seem an odd place to start, but it's important to start with this one because if you don't pay attention to this, you are going to miss winning scholarships everytime.   Here's the tip:  when you write down when scholarships are due, you should write down the date 2 weeks before the actual deadline.

Watching students over many years, I've noticed a trend that won't come as a surprise:  students will push things to the very last minute of the very last day.  And before parents and teachers jump on students with a well-practiced lecture on procrastination...remember...most of us do the exact same thing with our own deadlines.  

So, is that it?  We're simply doomed to not winning scholarships because we can't get our act together ahead of time?  

No--just be sure that when you list the deadline for ANY scholarship you want to apply to, you should list it 2 weeks BEFORE the actual deadline on your own personal spreadsheet.  This way, you don't even come close to missing it.  I've seen it happen too many times where students miss the deadline by hours, usually by a misreading of the time deadline.  For example:  some deadlines will say "Deadline on October 1st at 4:00 p.m. EST".  The student ONLY sees October 1st, and submits it before midnight...but the reality is that it was due at 2:00 p.m. MST (2 hours difference from EST).  So, they're late...and when they're late...their application isn't even considered.  Why is this?  Because many scholarship committees have more than enough applications that were received on time, and they don't need to make exceptions for the late-comers.

The lesson?  Make sure that all the work you do on a scholarship application pays off by getting it in EARLY (I advise 2 weeks early, but even 1 week early still works...and allows for a little window to fix things, while still getting it in several days before the real deadline).

***Note:  This same technique also works for other deadlines:  in high school, college, and life beyond the K-16 world. ;-)