Win the Scholarship Game

By M. Matthews

To win college scholarships, you need to realize that the whole process is a lot like playing a game. There are lots of players all trying to win the prize and some might want it even more than you do. Your strategy needs to involve making your scholarship applications shine so bright that the judges stop and take a second, third, or even fourth look at yours, and forget about all the rest.

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.

As one judge is in the middle of skimming an essay, he looks up and throws it into the trash, along with the rest of the student's scholarship application materials. When the scholarship rules say to write an essay in 650 words or less, they mean it. Essays with 665 words are easy excuses for judges to toss the application and move on to the next one.

Another judge squints at an application, has a wry look on his face, and then tosses the whole packet into the trash. Information that is hand-written and not typed is often difficult to read, smudged with ink, and not worth deciphering. Starting to 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.

This judge stops what he is doing, clears his throat loudly, and proudly tells his fellow judges that he has found the scholarship winner!

Could that be you or your daughter or son? You can be the judge. In order to win the scholarship game, you need to learn how to make the application clearly stand out from ALL the others. Find out now what you need to do to be a scholarship game winner!

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