Scholarship Search Strategy: Increase Your Chances of Winning an Award -

Some say that the best way to increase your chances of winning a scholarship award is just like the strategy used in the lottery: the more you submit, the better your chances of winning. While this can be pretty good advice, it takes more than just playing the probability game to win scholarships. In order to make the ‘numbers game’ work, make sure that you are first and foremost eligible for a scholarship award. Here are some guidelines to consider:

1)      Do your research.

Although this might require a lot of your time, looking for scholarships that are well-fitted to your needs is very important.  Don’t worry about running into any dead ends, since you can get all the help you'll need from your high school guidance counselor, organization advisors, teachers, and, of course, the internet.

When you're sifting through your scholarship options, look for the ones that prioritize your achievements in school or your unique talents, and find as many of those as you can.  You should also double-check your own documents and records to see if they meet the requirements of each scholarship you're aiming for. Applying for a scholarship that you don't actually qualify for is nothing but a waste of time and money.

2)      Analyze the application guidelines of the scholarships you have gathered.

It’s important for you to analyze the scholarship application guidelines to prevent you from wasting precious time. Your goal is to determine which scholarships are the most valuable to you so you can rank them accordingly. You need to look at three important details: amount of the award, deadline, and requirements. Naturally, you’ll want a scholarship that can give you ample and generous funding for your education, and one that can support you with no strings attached. But you'll also have to ask yourself if you can meet the application deadline without cramming for your requirements. If an award has a short deadline, a lot of requirements and doesn't offer more than $1000, you may want to prioritize another award that gives you more legroom  in terms of funding, requirements, and deadlines.    

3)      Rank the scholarship awards  accordingly

Now that you you’ve determined which scholarships you want the most, you can now rank them accordingly. The awards at the top of your list should be the ones that offer you the biggest funding package and give you the least amount of time to work on your requirements.   Focus first on the ones with the most urgent deadlines so you won't have to find yourself in a cramming frenzy when the due dates com around.

4)      Follow the application instructions to the letter.