{"id":4011,"date":"2016-05-11T11:11:30","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=4011"},"modified":"2020-08-31T21:20:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T01:20:41","slug":"the-complete-guide-to-scholarship-hacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/the-complete-guide-to-scholarship-hacks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Guide to Scholarship Hacks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"The Complete Guide to Scholarship Hacks: Winning Money for College\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FHyCO56FMzI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>&#8220;Well begun is half done,&#8221; Aristotle had once said. <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">And he was right. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When it comes to applying for scholarships,&nbsp;<span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>front-loading<\/strong><\/span> really pays off. So take your time to carefully plan and organize, and&nbsp;you will save a LOT of time and energy in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"715\" height=\"135\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/front-load.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27228\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>When applying for scholarships, remember&nbsp;these 4 key ingredients:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\">1) organization;&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: #003366;\">2) initiative;&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: #003366;\">3) smart strategy; and&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: #003366;\">4) the right mindset<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">By the end of&nbsp;this article, you will have learned to apply these 4 essentials to your scholarship search and application process.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #1: Keep a MASTER LIST of ALL the scholarships you ever apply to.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Make an excel sheet.<\/span><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&nbsp;F<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">or EACH scholarship, record the following<\/span> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">information:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Name of scholarship<\/li><li>Category [see Hack #4 below]<\/li><li>URL (link)<\/li><li>Company\/Organization<\/li><li>Contact Info (email + phone)<\/li><li>Eligibility<\/li><li>Requirements&nbsp;(essays, recommendation letters, transcripts, etc.)<\/li><li>Deadline(s)<\/li><li>Scholarship Amount<\/li><li>Date Submitted<\/li><li>Winner Announcement Date<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tip<\/span>: sort the scholarships according to their <strong>deadlines<\/strong> (click the little down arrow button&nbsp;\ud83d\udd3d&nbsp;on the upper right corner of the &#8220;Deadline(s)&#8221; tab, then click on &#8220;Sort Sheet A &#8211;&gt; Z&#8221;) or mark the deadlines on a&nbsp;physical calendar.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1AYXmvyYfaQRPc4uqrnk0roJmu7qelL9WYa5pk7GygHk\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4172 noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"502\" height=\"375\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Screen-Shot-2016-05-10-at-10.42.35-AM.png\" alt=\"Scholarship Application Master List\" class=\"wp-image-4172\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>[alert-announce]Want to win scholarship money? See this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/how2winscholarships.com\/?ap_id=yoorapark\">step-by-step scholarship guide<\/a>![\/alert-announce]<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #2: Gather the resources before starting the applications.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You may not need them all, but just in case, have <em>all<\/em> of these documents ready, in a single folder:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>transcript(s)<\/li><li>work samples<\/li><li>current resume<\/li><li>contact information for references (previous jobs)<\/li><li>copies of letter(s) of recommendation [see Hack #3 below]<\/li><li>scanned image of your signature<\/li><li>scholarship application essays +&nbsp;personal statement [see Hack #5 below]<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tip<\/span>: Also have your basic information (address, school history, test scores, etc.) typed up on a Word Document so you can easily copy-paste when&nbsp;filling out the gazillion applications.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #3: Ask for&nbsp;letter(s) of recommendation (LOR) <em>before<\/em> you need them.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For each class where you a) did exceptionally well b) liked the&nbsp;professor and actually had a relationship with them or c) learned something invaluable and can apply those lessons to real life, ask the professor for a letter of recommendation. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While some professors will only <em>directly<\/em> email or mail the LOR to the institution\/company\/organization (because they don&#8217;t want you reading the LOR), you can <strong>propose this alternative<\/strong>:&nbsp;have them seal the LOR in a special&nbsp;envelope (with a signature or a stamp so that it cannot be duplicated), and have them indicate this somewhere in the LOR. They could write &#8220;VOID IF OPENED&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&nbsp;on&nbsp;the flap of the envelope for extra security.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If the professor(s) agree to&nbsp;give you the letter(s) of recommendation, save them (<em>resist the temptation to open them!<\/em>)&nbsp;for future use.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #4: Identify and&nbsp;&#8220;categorize&#8221; the scholarships.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As you do your scholarship search, you&#8217;ll notice that most&nbsp;scholarships fall under&nbsp;a &#8220;category&#8221;:&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">merit-based, need-based, unique&nbsp;stories, career\/major-specific, or&nbsp;college\/region-specific.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On Google Drive, make a folder for each category and keep all your scholarship information, applications, and documents in the folders.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[alert-announce]Want to win scholarship money? See this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/how2winscholarships.com\/?ap_id=yoorapark\">step-by-step scholarship guide<\/a>![\/alert-announce]<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #5:&nbsp;Recycle essays.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Scholarship applications are no different from job applications, in that there are many overlapping questions&nbsp;and qualifications.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The trick is to revamp and reutilize.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you have applied to scholarships before, you probably already noticed that a lot of them ask very similar questions, like the ones below:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>how will winning this scholarship help you achieve your&nbsp;academic goals?<\/li><li>what are your future aspirations\/passions\/hobbies?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Write a general essay answering the&nbsp;above questions, and use it as a template. Tweak it and&nbsp;tailor it to individual scholarships when&nbsp;you need to.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #6: Save&nbsp;every single essay you&#8217;ve ever written and date them.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For the same reason as above, and&nbsp;also to see your progress, save every essay you submit! They might come in handy later, when you want to see which essay you&#8217;ve submitted to which scholarship applications.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tip<\/span>: When you attach a file with a scholarship application, always send it as a PDF file, unless otherwise specified. But make sure that&nbsp;<em>you<\/em> have the Word file, so that you can keep making changes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>Hack #7: Target&nbsp;small, local, or branded scholarships.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>[alert-announce]Want to win scholarship money? See this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/how2winscholarships.com\/?ap_id=yoorapark\">step-by-step scholarship guide<\/a>![\/alert-announce]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Many students go to the same exact places&nbsp;(those popular scholarship search engines), find&nbsp;the same national scholarships, and end up applying to the same exact scholarships. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, we all know that high&nbsp;competition means low chance of winning.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And we all know that the opposite is true as well:&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the lower the competition, the higher your chance of winning.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So spend some time researching small, local scholarships&nbsp;and apply away!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span style=\"color: #666699;\">Hack #8: Don&#8217;t treat it&nbsp;like a lotto.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Applying for scholarships is very different from&nbsp;buying\/winning a lottery &#8212; you actually need to put work into those scholarship applications.&nbsp;While some scholarship applications can be&nbsp;very draining and after a while just seem repetitive, give each one careful thought and put in the effort. Don&#8217;t treat it like a lotto and just leave it to your luck. You have to work for it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span style=\"color: #666699;\">Hack #9: Remain hopeful and positive.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s easy to get discouraged when you&#8217;re applying, applying, and applying, and not&nbsp;hearing back. But don&#8217;t lose hope! Keep applying. The key to staying positive is pacing&nbsp;yourself. Apply to one scholarship a week, or maybe one scholarship a month. Don&#8217;t think that you have to apply to every single scholarship out there. That is literally impossible. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Instead, find the ones you want to invest in. There are plenty of scholarships for your specific&nbsp;skill sets and preferences, so choose wisely and set pace!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><span style=\"color: #666699;\">Hack #10: Don&#8217;t feel&nbsp;entitled.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Nobody &#8220;owes&#8221; you money. The company\/organization\/institution is giving out money to help students like you.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Be grateful and appreciative. If you&nbsp;win a scholarship, don&#8217;t forget to thank the people&nbsp;who awarded you the scholarship!&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"3805\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/The-Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks-by.-Yoora-Park-1.png\" alt=\"The Complete Guide to Scholarship Hacks\" class=\"wp-image-27216\"\/><figcaption>The Complete Guide to Scholarship Hacks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Well begun is half done,&#8221; Aristotle had once said. And he was right. When it comes to applying for scholarships,&nbsp;front-loading really pays off. So take your time to carefully plan and organize, and&nbsp;you will save a LOT of time and energy in the long run. When applying for scholarships, remember&nbsp;these 4 key ingredients: 1) organization;&nbsp;2) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12,608,589,5,92,586,228],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-discount","category-favorites","category-featured-scholarships-ace-college-financing","category-freshmen-101","category-student-life","category-scholarships","category-school-hacks","category-student-guide"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks.png",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks-224x144.png",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks-300x193.png",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks.png",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks.png",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks.png",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks.png",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Yoora Park","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/yoora\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"&#8220;Well begun is half done,&#8221; Aristotle had once said. And he was right. When it comes to applying for scholarships,&nbsp;front-loading really pays off. So take your time to carefully plan and organize, and&nbsp;you will save a LOT of time and energy in the long run. When applying for scholarships, remember&nbsp;these 4 key ingredients: 1) organization;&nbsp;2)&hellip;","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Complete-Guide-to-Scholarship-Hacks.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}