By: AVA WOFFORD
Staff Writer
It’s that time of the year again where Seniors in high school are spending their time trying to get scholarships and grants for college. It’s a pretty stressful time, but if you have these tips and tricks you’ll be ready to go. Here are 3 simple tricks that’ll help in your scholarship endeavors.
3: Have a story!
One of the most important things colleges will look at is your essay. It is extremely important that you have a well-constructed essay. Your essay should start with a good hook. You don’t want to immediately start with your story or your audience might not find it as interesting. After that, you want to explain your past. You don’t need to explain everything, just pick a specific past memory. Also, be sure this helps describe who you are now. For example, if you want to be a doctor it makes no sense to talk about how much you loved building when you were younger. This memory also needs to be extremely personal and hold some sentimental value. After you go into your past, explain who you are now and what you have accomplished. Your present is going to be very important so talk about community service, sports, clubs, etc. Be sure to connect all of these to your major and career goals. This should be the bow that wraps everything up.
2: Show your enthusiasm!
Whatever scholarship you’re aiming for you need to be enthusiastic about it. Whether it be for a university or just your average community scholarship, you need to show interest in it. For example, If you are going to MSU, be sure to show how much you love MSU. Be sure to research! Knowing facts about the school will show you enthusiasm and will show that you truly do care and understand what you’re getting yourself into. Think of scholarships as an interview. During your interview, you want to make it apparent that you like certain things about where you’re applying. Do the same for your scholarship. Point out tiny details that you find enjoyable. Remember, if you can’t find any enthusiasm in your application then you should rethink applying for that scholarship and probably even rethink going to said uni.
3: Community Service!
This is probably the most important one. In a recent study, it was found that the number 1 thing colleges look at nowadays is community service. Community service is huge, not only for scholarships but to get into college as well. You’ll notice on nearly all of your scholarships it’ll ask about community service. If you can’t fill in that box you’re probably not going to get that scholarship. Your best option is to start community service your Freshman year. You should find a club on campus that deals with community service in order to get started and find a coherent piece of community service that you can stick with. It’s also a good idea to do community service that has something to do with your future career path. For example, if you want to be a teacher, find community service that involves children. Community service is huge and is the best way to get into your dream school and get that dream scholarship.
