Lesson:Understand the scholarship requirements. Applying for scholarships is a time-consuming process, requiring a significant investment of your time, as well as an investment of time by those who will assist with essays and proofreading your applications. For example, we have 5 students who were selected as Gates Millennium Scholars. The scholarship application required writing 8 essays in response to multiple writing prompts, such as: 

Discuss the subjects in which you excel or have excelled. To what factors do you attribute your success? 

Discuss the subjects with which you had difficulty. How have you dealt with them so they will not cause problems for you again? In what areas have you experienced the greatest improvement? What problem areas remain?

Responding to 8 such writing prompts required hours or writing and rewriting—a process that required students to assess, “Am I really willing to put in the work required to create 8 high quality essays? 

  • Do you meet the qualifying criteria? The following questions will provide guidance in engaging in a critical review of the scholarship application criteria:
    • Do I meet all of the qualifying criteria (e.g., grades, test scores, citizenship status, etc.)?
    • Will I be able to effectively respond to the questions or topics being addressed, e.g., leadership, overcoming personal hardship, short- and long-term goals?
    • Does the scholarship require one or more letters of recommendation and do I have recommendation letters that will support my application?
  • Do you understand the organization offering this scholarship? The following questions provide guidance in gathering background information about the organization offering the scholarship:
    • Who is the organization and what is their purpose?
    • Is the organization looking for a particular type of student, essay, video, or person to promote a product or service?
    • Does the organization publish a mission, core values, or guiding purpose that can assist in better understanding why they are offering a scholarship?
  • Are you a competitive candidate for this scholarship? Based on your research, if you do not believe yourself to be a competitive candidate, there is no need to proceed further. Identify another scholarship for consideration. The following questions provide guidance through the process of engaging in a critical review of the scholarship application:
    • Is this a competition or lottery where one scholarship will be awarded to potentially thousands of applicants? If so, what are your chances of being awarded this scholarship?
    • Is this a marketing company using the scholarship prompt to gather consumer information, e.g., “why you should not text while driving?” If so, what are your chances of being awarded this scholarship?
    • Is this an organization, or private individual, who has an educational mission for supporting the educational aspirations of students from certain backgrounds or communities? If so, are you well matched to the mission of the organization or individual?
    • Does the organization post information about previous awardees on its website, and if so, is your profile competitive to the profile of previous awardees?
  • Critical Review: Carefully considering the following points will result in investing your time wisely. A scholarship is a legal contract in which an individual or organization (i.e., scholarship provider) agrees to certain terms. Use the following checklist to guide your efforts.
  • I meet ALL of the criteria to be considered for this scholarship
  • I fully understand the due dates and deadlines, such as:
  • Applications considered on a first-come first-reviewed basis, or
  • There an application deadline, at which time all applications will be considered
  • I fully understand the submission requirements, such as:
    • Applications must be typed
    • Recommendations must be submitted on a specific form or submitted directly to the scholarship provider
    • There are essays or responses to writing prompts
  • I have all of the supporting documentation being requested

After these considerations, separate your scholarships into the following categories and begin working on your applications in order or difficulty:

  1. Easy to apply for
  2. Difficult to apply for
  3. Hard to apply for
  4. Will make unreasonable demands on my time to apply for