College scholarships are so important for funding higher education for students. College can certainly have a huge sticker price that can be the difference between being able to attend a school and not. 

 

As an incoming college freshman, you may already be worried about things like how to handle being far away from home and how to study in college. Finances is just another added stress. The peace of mind that comes with school being paid for is just another way to help make your Freshman year of college incredible.

 

Winning college scholarships can be tricky, and even a little disheartening at times, but not impossible. Here are 10 easy steps for parents and students to increase your chances of winning a college scholarship.

10 steps for getting a college scholarship

1. Find scholarships

There are so many college scholarships out there, so it can be a little overwhelming. When you’re trying to figure out how to win college scholarships, it’s important to find ones that you qualify for. The more characteristics of a scholarship that you meet, the better chance you’ll have of winning that college scholarship. 

 

Write a list of your personal characteristics then find ones that you meet. If you feel a little stuck while trying to make this list, get creative. Really think about all the characteristics that make you, you. Race, gender, ethnicity, and residency are some easy characteristics to come up with, but you should get more creative than that. Are you going to be a first generation student? Do you play a specific instrument? Maybe you belong to a specific club or organization, or maybe your parents do. Create a long list and use these as keywords to use when searching for scholarships.   

2. Look on college board scholarship websites 

If you’re stuck on where to search for scholarships, college board scholarship websites are the easiest places to find them. You can create an online account and find scholarships that you qualify for. 

 

There are thousands of scholarships, all with different criteria and guidelines. Some are sweepstakes, where you just enter a few details about yourself to win (like Bold.org). 

 

Others are contests that require more, such as a resume, essay, recommendation letters, etc. Don’t be afraid of the competition ones. They require more work, so they may have less entrants! You want to create a great entry profile, meaning that it’s complete (even the optional material) so that you stand out from the others. 

 

Some examples of these websites are fastweb.com, scholarships.com, College Board, and CollegeXpress. Do a web search of “scholarships for college students” and many of these boards will pop up. Some of the same scholarships will be on multiple boards, but you may find a few gems that are exclusive to certain sites.   

3. Create a professional online identity 

In today’s social media driven world, it’s important that your online identity not be an anchor to your scholarship efforts. Be mindful of what you post on the internet and what information is available for anyone to see. Any scholarship committee can use a search of your name to validate your profile or see if you’re a good representative to receive their award. 

 

There have been individuals who have lost their college scholarships by posting something inappropriate, racist, or hateful online. Once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever, so be mindful of what your online identity looks like. 

 

To double check your online identity, do an internet search of your name and see what pops up. If it’s something you wouldn’t want a college official to see, switch your social profiles to private. Most importantly, it’s easier to keep a clean profile then to go and retract something you wouldn’t want anyone to see…so think before you post! 

4. Develop and stick to a scholarship schedule 

Applying for college scholarships can be almost as taxing as applying to college itself. There are so many students that need them, so they can be hard to come by. However, if you keep applying for them, you increase your chances of winning a college scholarship. Life gets in the way, so you definitely should plan a scholarship schedule so you know when you’ll be taking time out of your week to try and win them. Some of them take a long time, whereas others are very simple. 

 

To create a schedule, find scholarships that you’re interested in applying for and write out their deadlines. Then, take about an hour a day, or 5-7 hours a week, to complete these college scholarship applications. You don’t want to be rushed and you definitely don’t want to wait until the last minute. 

 

You’re not going to have enough time to apply for every scholarship that you qualify for, so choose the most important ones to spend your time on. It’s up to you which ones are the most important.These are the ones whose qualifications you match the most, or have limited their entries by residency or some other factor. Some have large payouts and may be more worth your time than smaller ones. However, when trying to win college scholarships to pay for school, remember that anything helps!

5. Follow scholarship directions to a tee 

If you’re going to spend your time applying for college scholarships, it’s important that you follow directions well. You don’t want to miss something and be counted out due to a missed criteria. Make sure to read (and then re-read) all of the directions…especially the deadline! If there is a time difference, you want to make sure you are aware of exactly when the scholarship application is due. Missed deadlines are an easy exclusionary factor for scholarships, especially those with large application numbers. 

 

After you think you’re done applying for a scholarship, read over the directions one more time to make sure you have everything they wanted. If the essay is supposed to be about a specific topic, ensure that you’ve met that topic. Do you have the right number of recommendation letters? Is your resume up to date? You don’t want to miss anything. 

 

After you’ve reviewed your scholarship application, have someone else look over it. School counselors are great options, but you can also have parents, teachers, tutors, or friends read it over, too.

6. Collect a scholarship file 

Many scholarships ask for the same information, so as a time saver you can create a scholarship file on your computer. This is where you keep everything that you’ve ever used for a scholarship; essays, recommendation letters, volunteer logs, etc. 

 

When you come across a new scholarship, see if they ask for the same type of information as something you already have. It’s a lot easier to tweak an essay, for example, than to have to write an entirely new one. You want to proofread it, though, and make sure it matches what the college scholarship guidelines are asking for before copy and pasting. 

 

For scholarships where you enter information into a text box, it’s a good idea to write your essay in Microsoft Word or Google Docs so you can edit, see your word count, and save the essay. Then, title them and collect everything in one running document (or one folder) so you can recycle your college scholarship essays. 

 

You can keep your resume in this folder as well. Make sure it’s updated and you have contact information for any job, organization, volunteer activity, or anything else you took part in. This way, the information is easily accessible and you’ve got a running log of all your extra curricular activities (which are vital for a strong college and scholarship application).  

7. Enter essay scholarship contests and write impressive essays 

Don’t be afraid of essay scholarships. If an essay is optional, you should definitely write one because it helps set your application apart. Many incoming college freshmen may be intimidated by essays, so if you can write a strong one, then that will help push you to the front of the crowd.

 

Essays are also a good way to help award givers develop a better picture of who you are. When you just fill out boxes, they have a very surface level idea, but an essay can really help them complete your profile. Your writing has your voice and personalizes your scholarship application. 

 

If you’re not a strong writer, then you can always practice. All of the essays you’ve had to write for class were to prepare you for moments like this. You can review your writing with your English teachers or tutors and get them to help you improve your writing. 

 

Whether you’re a strong writer or not, it’s always a good idea to have someone proofread your essays before you send them off. Once again, counselors, parents, teachers and tutors are good people to start with. It can be a lot if you have multiple essays, so make sure to take the advice someone gives you about one essay and apply it to the others when applicable. 

8. Track your scholarships and keep applying

Once you’ve applied for a lot of college scholarships, it’s difficult to keep up with them. Create a spreadsheet that has columns for the names of scholarships, their links, deadlines, when you applied, and date of notification (if available). Then, as you apply for scholarships, fill out this spreadsheet after each one you submit. 

 

When planning time for scholarships, include about 20 minutes to check on the status of all the scholarships in which you’ve applied. If you won, you’ll most likely be notified, but it never hurts to double check. You can also start to remove scholarships that you didn’t win to keep your list organized. 

 

It’s important to understand that your odds of winning a scholarship may be fairly low. There are millions of students applying for scholarships every day. That being said, there is a lot of money out there, so you just have to keep applying. 

 

You can even keep applying to scholarships as you enter college. A few scholarships are even exclusive to specific college statuses (i.e. sophomores, juniors, seniors) and those with certain majors. As you decide on your area of study, future professions, and join more organizations, keep updating that list of criteria that you have and see what other scholarships you qualify for. 

 

You increase your chance of winning a scholarship with each one you apply to, so the most important thing is to keep going. Also, once you get school paid for, you can focus on other important college-life aspects like dorm room essentials for first-year students.