Winning The Scholarship Game
Posted: Sunday, August 23, 2009
by Monica Matthews
http://www.how2winscholarships.com
Winning college scholarships is much like playing a game. Your opponents are other students that would like to win as much as you do, maybe even more than you do. What you need to do is learn how to make your scholarship applications stand out by putting together a scholarship application that makes the judges sit up and take notice.
Picture this. Several scholarship judges are sitting around a big table with tall stacks of scholarship applications directly in front of them. Each application is piled on top of another, with staples or paper clips holding the letters of recommendation, high school transcripts, application forms, and all the other materials that the directions specified in the scholarship requirements. As each judge takes a scholarship packet and begins to read through them, papers get shuffled. Quite often, as pages are being passed from one judge to another, paper clips slip off of the packets and materials slip to the floor. One judge rescues one such page and looks at it closer. Where is the name? Which scholarship packet did this page fall from? He sees no name, just a typed essay. Into the trash it goes. There are many many more to read.
While one judge is reading through the scholarship application form, he slowly brings it closer and closer to his face. He squints his eyes, tries to decipher the print, and then places the whole application into the trash. Forms that are filled out by hand and not typed are very often hard to read, ink-smudged, and time consuming. Now you get the picture?
All of a sudden, a judge fingers a shiny black folder. It is neatly labeled with the name of the student and the name of the scholarship he is applying for. As he opens up the folder, he sees a small, clear picture of the student, carefully attached to the inside of the folder. A name to a face. The required materials are typed out neatly, on nice heavy paper, and each page of the scholarship application has a label which includes the student's name, address, and phone number. Along with all the specified documents, which are exactly in the order that the rules requested, is an easy to read scholarship resume. This resume clearly shows the student's community service hours, part-time work responsibilities, and academic success, which is documented by AP classes taken, G.P.A., class rank, and more. It also is neatly labeled with the student's name, address, and phone number. This scholarship application packet is not wrinkled, folded, falling apart, or torn.
It is very obvious that this student took the time and care to show the judges how badly he wants to win this scholarship. His whole application is a joy to read. It is clear, not missing anything, in the correct order, and looks and feels nothing like those in the rest of the piles.
The judge glances up at his fellow scholarship committee members and announces that he has found the winner of the scholarship!
Would that be you or your son or daughter? You be the judge. To win the scholarship game, you need to make your application stand out from ALL the rest. Now is the time to find out exactly what you need to do to be a scholarship game winner!
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Monica,This was so well done. What super advice for those applying to college as well. I wish all students (& parents of) could see this. It does make a difference.Nancy
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