5 Tips to Avoid Blowing Your Scholarship Application

Decision day is coming. Your scholarship applications have been in for a while and you’re waiting with bated breath for those acceptance letters to come in the mail. Maybe you’ve already been accepted to your first-choice, or even second-choice school. Now’s the time to think about how you’re going to pay for your college tuition.

According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2016-2017 school year was just over $33,000 for private colleges, $9,000 for state residents of public colleges, and $24,000 for out-of-state tuition at a public college.

What does that mean? Scholarships are more important than ever. This “free money” can help you pay for room and board, books or just your semester classes. Our suggestion: apply for as many as possible, but don’t burn out.

Here are five tips to consider when filling out those applications and writing those essays so you can be sure to score as many points with the judges as possible.

Don’t Use The Same Application Over And Over Again

You wouldn’t recycle the same pick-up lines on a date, right? So why use the same application answers over and over again for scholarships? Generic answers are obvious and judges will be able to tell if your application sounds like it could be sent to any organization offering money for school. Take the time to learn about the organization and tailor your answers to appeal to the judges.

Make Sure You Have a Strategy

It might be tempting to try to apply for every scholarship in sight without a plan of attack. But don’t do it. You’ll end up wasting a lot of your time going to scholarships that might not be within reach. Look for local groups, smaller companies, groups that gear their scholarships toward specific majors, etc.

Read All the Fine Print

Make sure you read the entire “application requirements” section and submit all the information necessary. If you’re missing pieces of your application, chances are it won’t even get looked at. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row before submitting your application.

Check for Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation

It seems elementary, but scholarship committees are constantly inundated with applications that are riddled with errors. Make sure you are spelling the name of the company or organization correctly, especially. Would you want to answer a letter if the sender misspelled your name? Lack of attention to these kinds of details sends the message to the judges that you are careless. Don’t be that person.

Choose Recommendation Letters Wisely

They can make a big difference to your application. If you have teachers at your school that are well-respected in their field, have won awards for their teaching or subject matter, or that know you well personally and can say something unique about you and why you are deserving of a scholarship, tap those resources first. Judging panels want to know that respected people respect you.

Don’t wait until the last minute to fill out the applications. By most of the deadlines on scholarships, organizations have already received hundreds of essays. Be one of the first they read by keeping up to date with your school’s scholarship bulletin and apply as soon as possible.