Tips for scholarships

Senior year is a blast until you realize there is so much to get done. Scholarship deadlines sneak up on you, and they come up at the least convenient time. Once you think you are in the clear after applying for college, you realize that is just half the work.

Scholarships might not be the most talked about part of the college application process, but they are very important. Scholarships can be hard to find, and the good ones require a lot of digging.

“I’m using the Hancock County website to apply to the majority of my scholarships. They are lengthy and tempermentive but definitely worth the work in the end,” said Lexi Price, 12.

Another difficult part about scholarships is figuring out which ones you qualify for. Yes, you can apply for all of them, but if you do not fit the requirements, you will probably not win.

“I’ve searched for hours through college websites to find scholarships that I am 100% eligible for,” said Sabrina Zeis, 12. “I’ve spent days working on them, even weeks proofreading my essays. It is worth it, especially if you are like me-a person planning on attending a private school that is upwards of $60,000 a year to go to.”

Start digging for good scholarships as soon as you can. Many require essays, and you want to write the best essay to have a better chance of winning. Many scholarships can be found here, at the Hancock County scholarship website.

“The MVHS website has scholarship information on it here,” said Mrs. Roach, guidance secretary. “As you can see, we have numerous scholarship opportunities listed on this website, all in one easy location. The links on the right side of the page include sites that have multiple scholarships on one website and they are available every year, such as Scholarship 360. Many are national scholarships open to all students in the United States. There are also some scholarships listed on the right that are specific to certain colleges, such as IUPUI Scholarships.”

It is better to apply for a bunch of small scholarships rather than to put all of your hope into one giant one. Even if you do not win all of the ones you apply for, you still have a better chance of winning a few of them than only the large one.

“Students should apply for as many scholarships as possible, big or small,” said Mrs.  Roach. “You can’t apply for too many. Thousands of dollars of scholarship money goes unclaimed every year because students do not take the time to apply. Applying for scholarships is time-consuming, but once you get into the groove of applying for them, it gets easier.”

Applying for each scholarship may be a time commitment as many scholarships require a lengthy analysis of who you are and what you have achieved, but in the modern age, many don’t require such a lengthy analysis.

“Many of the sites require you to fill out the information just once and then apply it to several scholarships,” said Mrs. Roach. “Also, many of the essays students write for scholarships can be easily adapted to fit another scholarship without rewriting the entire thing or starting over from the beginning. If writing is not your strong point, many scholarships have moved away from essays and instead require video submissions now.”

Working hard throughout all of high school is worth all of the time and the stress when you can earn money for college. The scholarship process can be tedious and repetitive, but it is worth at least applying. For all you know, you might win a lot more than you think you would.