7 tricks to maximize your chance of winning a scholarship

Scholarship money, a great desire of every student, is the coveted offer that helps students in paying hefty college tuition fee. There are hundreds of student scholarship programs offered each year to students from middle school to freshly enrolled for colleges and universities. It is an interesting fact that almost every student thinks that he will never win the scholarship. Also, there are many students who never won despite applying multiple times.

Why do some students easily get scholarships, whereas others do not despite applying several times? The difference is HOW they apply. Even a high school valedictorian can’t win a scholarship, if he is a single day late. Your scholarship application that is superb in all ways is more likely to win scholarship money. Today, we will talk about some of the ways to successfully win scholarship money:

Always be the first for best chances of winning:

Most of the students apply for scholarships in spring of the final year of their high school. As these students are already accepted at college, they have pressure from their parents to find some way to pay their college tuition fee. Contrary, scholarships with deadlines by fall or early winter are applied by less number of students. You should know the most common times of scholarship openings and apply for all without missing their deadlines.

Set your own deadline for each scholarship:

There are so many activities, which keep students busy, like sports, extra-curricular or volunteering activities, job, and classes; so, whenever you find any scholarship, set your own deadline at least a week before the actual scholarship deadline.  By doing this, you make it sure that no scholarship is missed and you have enough good time to include all required documents without any hassle of last-minute submissions.

Your first Impression must give you an edge:

Most of us have experienced opening an envelope with excessive use of tape on it, over-stuffed and smudged due to leaky pen. Did you ever like it? If you use a proper-size envelope, nicely close it and personally hand-over to post office, you will have an edge over many other applicants, who have sealed and dispatched in a poor way.

Get an appropriate email address:

Sweatheart@xyz.com might be a nice email address for you, but a mature and professional scholarship judge will not like it. JohnJones@xyz.com represents a serious applicant and judges will become more familiar with your name by reading it once again and makes you a memorable person for them.

Be positive on social media:

Just like an email address, your social media contacts and postings also matter. Judges can view your posts and sharings. If you have tweeted about boring experience at school or disliked any teacher etc, and still have high expectations of winning the scholarship, it will never happen. Social media sharings and posts reflect the personality of students. They should always share about their objectives, success stories, strengths, talents, achievements and big dreams.

Search for Local scholarships:

Generally, local scholarships get less competition, so you have higher chances of winning there. Keep an eye on all local scholarships and make yourself eligible for them, if they have any specific criteria. Suppose, your local club has started a scholarship competition and there is nobody member from your family. Call at home and tell them that you are excited and eager about this scholarship for your college; they’ll surely support you. You must not miss any local scholarship and create a situation to avail it. Don’t settle for just local scholarship programs. Go for all scholarships offered online, such as this one from takelessons, which is offering up to $5,000 to students who have a passion for academia, music or arts. You can also search online for large company organizations, as many of them offer great scholarships online.

Label each page of your application:

Each page of your application must have a label on it having your name, address, contact number and any other essential info. As there are hundreds of applications under-consideration, sometimes papers get separated and it is not possible to find the actual applicant; so judges get a valid reason to place it in a rejected pile.

Good luck with your college career and hopefully the advice will help you win a fantastic scholarship!