“How do I get scholarships?”

Well Anne… this answer isn’t exactly simple… but it isn’t very complicated either.  I’ll give you a brief outline of what colleges look for, and point you toward other resources to help you get college scholarships.

First off,

Read my article that I wrote called, “Free Scholarships - How I didn’t Pay a Dime for College”. 

That article is a work in progress and I continually add new information and resources onto that page. 

Second,

Realize that getting scholarships is a NUMBERS GAME as much as it skill

Yep, it’s a numbers game.  Just like if you are a salesman, the more potential customers you visit… the more sales you’ll generate (unless you’re the worst salesman in the world).

So, don’t be too picky when deciding on which scholarships to apply for.  Apply for as many as you humanly can while still keeping each application a high quality. 

I’m not saying to just mass produce your scholarship applications… the scholarship committee will probably see right through it…

… what I am saying is to apply for as many good scholarships as you can to increase your odds of winning some of them.

If you only apply for 2 or 3… odds are that you will only win one (OR NONE).

Third,

Start as early as you can strengthening your resume

By your resume I mean everything that the college scholarship committee’s look at, including:

• Your grades – Work hard to get your GPA at least over 3.5 for the best chances of getting scholarships
• The SAT and ACT tests – Take the SAT seriously.  Many scholarship applications require a minimum SAT score to qualify.  Usually it’s something like a 1000 -1200… sometimes higher… sometimes lower.
• Extracurricular activities- Go out an volunteer for a few things.  Join a club or two related to your career goals.  Do something to show the scholarship committee’s that you are a well rounded student… and person.
• Reference letters – Start in your junior year or early in your senior year getting a feel for who you can get great reference letters from.  I happen to know very well the registrar at a college I applied to… so I had her write me a great reference letter.  Ask a teacher who knows you well that can give a great reference for your ability as a student and a person.

Get those elements above rolling as soon as you can and you’ll be way ahead of the students who put it off until later in their senior year in high school.

Fourth,

Look at local, national, and college specific scholarships

Don’t count yourself out on any scholarships.  I applied for probably 5 – 8 national scholarships (I got one that paid me $4,000), about 10-15 local scholarships, and probably another 10-15 college specific scholarship. 

So, apply for all of those little $500 local scholarships (they really add up), those big $5, 10, 20,000 national scholarships, and all of the college specific ones you can find.

I actually used a website called Fastweb to look for the national scholarships… it is free… really easy, and has a ton of scholarships right here online.  Check it out and set up a free account to get going on that.

All in all, successfully getting college scholarships is both a process and making sure you work hard your junior and senior years in high school to meet the scholarship GPA and SAT requirements.

That is a quick and dirty overview of what it takes to get scholarships.  I’ll go in more depth and give you step-by-step instructions on how to get that scholarship you want.  Until then, browse the rest of the site, set up an account at Fastweb to start searching for scholarships, and get your butt in gear making sure your grades, SAT, and reference letters are in-line. 

Anyhow, yes, the title of the article is true.

Here’s the story of how I did it… and how you can find scholarships to help pay for college too.

Okay, I’m not going to tell you that I was a C student… screwed around in class… had no business going to college… etc.  If that was you, I’m going to be straight with you and let you know that it’s going to be a bit more difficult.

But, almost anyone who can get into a college is probably eligible for some scholarships out there.

Anyhow, here’s the process that I took that got me enough scholarships to pay for 100% of my college.

Setting the Foundation -

Ideally, you want to start in your freshman year of high school (I actually didn’t figure it out until my junior year) and make sure that you are laying the right path toward getting scholarships.

I know, your freshman and sophomore years are the years that you are at the bottom of the barrel and are trying to climb up in the social world of high school.  But, I’m going to tell you right now… getting good (or at least decent grades) grades does not mean you are a nerd.  That’s weak thinking if you ask me.

What is more cool? 

• Acting “cool” by not doing your home work, not trying your hardest, and looking like a “bad ass” to impress a few people.  And watching your friends go to college… while you sit at home because you either couldn’t get into a college… or you can’t afford it.

or

• Actually giving a damn about your future, doing your best, attracting attention for being known as a go getter, and actually getting into school… and maybe even not paying for college at all.

Hmmmm…

That’s a tough one. 

I was kind of more in the first group in my freshman and sophomore years.  I thought it wasn’t all that important that I get my GPA up over 3.5. 

But, I was lucky enough to have an older brother who was a senior when I was a freshman… and he was the guy in the first group all of the way through high school.  I love the guy… but guess what happened to him?

He couldn’t get into a 4 year school, got no scholarships, and ended up not finishing college while his friends (even the one that everyone coined as the screw off) made it through college to graduate.

That really lit a fire under my ass and made me realize that I could still have fun, be “cool”, and get my work done in high school all at the same time.

So, what did I do to set my foundation for getting scholarships and getting into pretty much any school I wanted?

1. I started to actually care and apply myself.  School is a heck of a lot more interesting when you actually try something and conquer it.  My grades have always been decent, but in my first two years of high school I let them slip a bit so I was around a 3.2.  At the end of my junior year I sat down and calculated what grades I needed to get in my senior year to meet the scholarship qualifications for the colleges I wanted to go to.  My main college choices all required at least a 3.75 GPA to qualify for their scholarships. My calculations showed me that I had to get straight A’s my entire senior year in order to get that 3.75.  The only problem is that I had never gotten straight A’s in high school up to that point.  For most people… that’s a problem.  But, for those who are determined to get what they want… it’s just a challenge.
2. I took the hardest classes I could find… not the easy ways out.  Colleges look at more than just your grades.  My best friend that I have known since I was 1 year old… well, his mom is the Registrar at a top college here in Oregon.  So, I talked to her about what colleges look for when giving out scholarships. One of her biggest answers was that they like to see that you didn’t loaf your senior year.  Most kids use their senior year to relax and take only the classes they needed to take to graduate.  Those are the people that usually don’t get too far in life.  So, I made sure that I still took as many classes as I could… and that the classes were the honors classes (or at least the highest level class I could possibly take).  Hey, I’d rather get a B in an honors class any day of the week than get an A in the low level class.So, don’t loaf.  Take the honors and AP classes.  Colleges like to see that on the resume and application.
3. Volunteering isn’t as bad as it seems… it actually is pretty fun.  Another thing that my buddies mom (the college Registrar) taught me was that you need to be (or at least look like) a well-rounded person. Ya, grades are fine and dandy… but when I later applied for Law School… I learned that grades really are like #2 or #3 on the list of importance.So, I went out and volunteered for stuff.  Don’t just go out and volunteer for any ol’ thing.  Do something that you’ll actually enjoy so you will stick with it a little longer. A few things I volunteered for were:
   
   1. Spent time w/ elderly at a nursing home once a week.  These people are lonely and just like to talk to people.  It really made me feel great every time I went too. 
   2. Volunteered as a baseball coach for little leaguers (this was hilarious!)
   3. Helped at the March of Dimes walk a few years in a row
   4. Helped run a canned food drive for Thanksgiving dinner baskets
   5. Did a toy drive for needy children
4. I joined a school club or two that interested me.  Extra curricular activities are pretty important to college admissions and scholarship comittees.  Baseball was always my thing, so I at least could put that I was on the varsity baseball team for 3 years (we won the state championship my junior year too!).  But, I also joined a club called FBLA. FBLA is a business club that helps you hone your business skills.  I joined it my senior year just to get another thing on my college resume… but I actually enjoyed it.  So, look at your interests… and see if there is a school club that you can join.  And… NO, it isn’t nerdy to join these clubs.  Once again, what is nerdy is sitting on your ass at home when you are 20 because you couldn’t get into college… or racking up $50,000 in student loans because you couldn’t get any scholarships. 
5. Almost there… I didn’t say it would be extremely easy to get ALL of your school paid for… did I?  Then, I went out and searched for scholarships that I even remotely qualified for.Believe it or not, there are some weird ass scholarships out there… scholarships for pretty much anything.  I found one for left-handed veterans in my search… but I didn’t apply for that one, DARN!  But, I did find a ton that I did qualify for.  
   Look Locally:  There are a ton of local and school centered scholarships out there for the taking.  I didn’t know about any of these before I went to my senior class counselor and asked her.  She happily handed me a whole stack of local scholarships that I could apply for.  Most of these ones aren’t huge… but they sure did add up for me.

   Look at the College:  Almost every college has some type of scholarship foundation that you can apply to.  I ended up getting about $1,500 a term from one foundation scholarship just by filling out the application and sending it in.  If you don’t send in the application, you are guaranteeing to NOT get the scholarship.Search Online:  This was one way that I found a ton of cool scholarships to apply for, and actually won a scholarship that paid me $1,000 a year for 4 years.  There are a ton of free scholarship search databases out there. 

   The one that I liked the best was Fastweb.  Here’s a link to search for scholarships for free.  Just fill in the questionnaire form so they can set up your free account and find scholarships that match you… and you’re on your way.

   FastWeb Free Scholarship Search <<

   Find as many scholarships as you can that you qualify for and apply to as many as you can without going crazy.  I think I qualified for something like 20-30 scholarships and ended up getting enough to pay for all 4 years of undergraduate, plus I usually actually got money back every term… so I made money going to college!But, I wouldn’t have gotten any of them… and I’d still be forking over cash to the student loan sharks if I didn’t have the confidence to apply myself and give myself a chance.

So, that’s my quick and dirty story of how I built my foundation for getting college scholarships.  No, it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world… but neither is paying student loans for 10 years or working at McDonalds because you couldn’t get into college.

The most important thing about setting your foundation for getting scholarships is to know that you don’t get anything you want unless you try.  So, if you truly want to go to college… and you really don’t feel like paying back $50-$75,000 in student loans… apply yourself now and set your foundation for successfully getting scholarships.

In other articles I describe how to go about finding scholarships, applying, writing your essay, and a ton more.

So, if you are in high school or are a bit older but are heading back to college… I’d suggest bookmarking our site.  Not only do we give you useful and actionable information… but we provide you with discounts and tools that will help make college life a whole lot easier for you.