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Money a plenty ---- Opinion on How to Apply for a Scholarship or Grant

Mar 22 '01 (Updated Oct 21 '05) Write an essay on this topic.

The Bottom Line Say the right things, and you are as good as gold.

There is always money available to those who want to attend college. But, the process towards getting it starts way before you actually decide to fill out that college application. The reason for this, is that many of the scholarships or grants that are given out are based on either performances, or activities.

First of all, performances are how you do in high school grade-wise, and how you do on the placement tests (SAT, PSAT). You have to at least try when you are in high school to get good grades. Those people that get very good grades, have a lot more opportunities at making it into college than those that do not, but that does not mean that there will not be money available to those that do not have the best grades. All colleges have state grants that are made available to the students attending, and there is always a source of money that can be made available once you get there, but let us get back to the application process itself.

On top of the grades themselves, are the activities. What these are, are the extra-curricular involvements that a person has while in high school. All colleges want the most well-rounded students that they can find, so anything that you can put on your application that shows how involved you are in school, church or your community gives you a lot of bonus points. Such things include being in Scouts, or being on a sports team for your school. Something that would put someone over the top is community service work. Anything where you give your time and receive only satisfaction in return makes your stock as an applicant go through the roof.

One thing that is not normally mentioned, is that having a job, even if it is part-time, looks good on your application as well. This is the case, because it shows that you have some life-experience before even getting to college. And believe me, it makes you look better than the candidates who focused on nothing but classes when they were in high school. This helps you to gain "work study" when you get into college. What "work study" is, is a supplement that the Government will put on your hourly wage to increase it sort of like a scholarship. An example at Washington State University is if you are making $6.50, you would be bumped up to an hourly rate of around $9.63. This is for on-campus jobs, but the increased income really helps to pay the bills at the end of the month.

A successful application must have everything that you have done, and then some. The ingredient that a lot of people overlook is the reference people. Get people to refer you that have a great leg to stand on. By this I mean get people that have titles or positions that would be respected by college applicant readers. My recommendation for this would be your teachers.

Complete a great application, and something that might not have been your strong-point in college will be overlooked. The best example of this is grades. If you did not do that well in high school, then make sure that your application looks quite nice, and you will stand a better chance of admission with financial help.

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