Often, scholarship opportunities also serve as opportunities for students to think about and respond to pressing issues of the day, and one of the problems weighing most heavily on society in the last year has been the global economic crisis.  While the recession has begun showing signs of abating, it is still creating serious problems in several areas of life, ranging from paying for school to owning a home.

Homeowners have been facing threats of foreclosure due to a combination of factors related to the recession, and this problem could still get worse before it gets better.  The real estate website Foreclosure.com is sponsoring a scholarship essay contest that invites college students to propose solutions to the ongoing spike in foreclosures.  With a $5,000 top prize for the scholarship essay that best explains “how to solve the foreclosure crisis,” the Foreclosure.com Scholarship Program is this week’s Scholarship of the Week.

Prize:

Top prize: $5,000

Four runners-up: $1,000

Eligibility:

Students who are currently enrolled in or have been accepted to an accredited college, university, law school or trade school in the United States.  U.S. citizenship is required.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: college scholarships, essay scholarship, graduate student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, Scholarships, undergraduate scholarships, writing scholarship

Comments (0) Sep 14 2009

Unless you’re lucky enough to happen across an extremely obscure and unusual scholarship with only one or two qualified applicants, you are going to have to face some competition to receive a scholarship award. In the case of essay scholarships that are easy to enter or that come with a substantial award, you may be facing quite a lot of competition. In fact, with many scholarship competitions, you may be up against so much competition that there’s no guarantee a reviewer will even have time to completely read and digest each scholarship essay submitted. This makes your essay’s introduction vitally important.

The first sentence of your scholarship application is your first, best and possibly only chance to capture your reader’s attention. To have the best chance at winning scholarships, you need to know how to start your essay off right. The following are some tips to help you craft an eye-catching introduction that gets your foot in the door and gets your application the attention it deserves.

Put it in your own words.
While starting with a quote is a common technique in speaking and some writing, it may not work best in a scholarship application essay. Leading with a quote shows the reviewer that you know how to read, but it doesn’t tell much else about you or your ideas. Use your own words to begin, and if a quote supports or enhances your argument, consider bringing it in later in the essay.

Avoid clichés and tired phrases.
One of your essay’s goals should be to distinguish you from the competition, and it won’t do this if it rehashes the same overused expressions that everyone else employs. Keep in mind that the scholarship reviewer will be reading hundreds or even thousands of applications. What seems clever or cute the first time doesn’t seem that way after the 50th or 100th iteration. A good rule to follow is that if a phrase belongs on a bumper sticker or in an e-mail from your mom, it likely does not belong in your scholarship essay.

Establish a personal connection.
If your experience gives you a unique perspective on the essay’s topic, show your reader this. Most people are suckers for personal anecdotes, provided the stories are interesting and well-told. Make sure the story you tell fits these criteria and actually enriches your essay and contributes to your overall message. Don’t get melodramatic and don’t bog down your introduction in an overly long, detailed or irrelevant narrative, but if you’ve got a good story to tell to frame your essay, use it.

Say something new.
Are you arguing something that falls well outside the typical series of canned responses? Consider leading with your thesis, or at least some of the information or realizations that guided your essay towards its thesis. There’s no better way to stand out from a pile of fairly standard responses than to have something fresh and thought-provoking to contribute with your scholarship application.

With a solid introduction and a thoughtful and well-written response, you’ll be well on your way to writing a scholarship-worthy essay.

Posted: under Scholarship Applications, Scholarships, Tips.
Tags: applications, essay scholarship, Scholarship Applications, Scholarship Search, scholarship tips, Scholarships, Tips, writing scholarship

Comments (0) Sep 11 2009

Many scholarship essay contests have broad and open-ended questions, designed to allow applicants a great deal of leeway in crafting their responses and allowing their writing to shine.  But sometimes it’s nice to have more structure to a writing scholarship, too, especially if you’re skilled at literary analysis and argumentative writing.  Luckily for the English and composition nerds out there, there are scholarship providers who are happy to oblige with contests asking applicants to read a novel and write an essay response.  One of these is this week’s Scholarship of the Week, the Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest, sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute.  Interested students just need to read the novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and write an essay response to one of three prompts for a chance at up to $10,000 in scholarship money.  There’s one catch: the novel is nearly 1200 pages long, so you’d better really like reading.

Prize:

• 1 first prize: $10,000
• 3 second prizes: $2,000
• 5 third prizes: $1,000
• 20 finalists: $100
• 20 semifinalists: $50

Eligibility:

High school seniors and current college students worldwide are eligible to apply.  Applicants must be enrolled in high school or college at the time their applications are submitted.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: college scholarships, essay scholarship, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, Scholarships, undergraduate scholarships, writing scholarship

Comments (0) Aug 10 2009

The fall semester is just around the corner, and in addition to the start of classes, students are also beginning to gear up for scholarship application season, the time from late fall to late spring when the majority of scholarship applications are due.  If you are just starting your scholarship search, there are a number of things to keep in mind when deciding which awards to apply for.  The size of the award, the application deadline, the amount of work required, and your likelihood of winning are all criteria you likely use in evaluating awards.  One other thing to think about before putting together an application, though, is whether there will be any costs associated with the scholarship contest.

Every scholarship application will have some degree of cost associated with it, whether it’s postage, time, or the costs involved in creating your application materials (for example, printing an essay or filming and editing a video).  However, some scholarship applications are going to be more costly than others, and when a scholarship charges an application fee on top of the time, energy, and money you’re already putting into it, it should be cause for some careful thought.

Scholarship opportunities are generally seen as altruistic offers made by organizations that want to help students succeed in college.  Sure, many scholarships have a promotional nature, as there are few better ways to attract interest in a company than by giving something away for free.  However, some companies actually charge students to apply for scholarships.  For example, we came across one scholarship essay contest that offered a $500 award and charged a $15 application fee.  The scholarship provider boasted of receiving 10,000 applications in a year, meaning they hauled in $15,000 and only gave away $500.  Unless they’re spending over $14,000 promoting the contest and paying people to judge the essays, it’s reasonable to believe they’re profiting off the scholarship in more ways than just boosting traffic to their site.  Not necessarily the most altruistic endeavor, huh?

This isn’t the only example of a scholarship contest charging a seemingly unnecessary application fee.  Offers like this aren’t necessarily scholarship scams, as legitimate awards are offered to people who apply.  However, why would you pay money for something when there are so many other ways to get it for free?

Posted: under Scholarship Applications, Scholarships, Tips.
Tags: applications, essay scholarship, scholarship information, Scholarship Search, scholarship tips, Scholarships, Tips, writing scholarship

Comments (0) Aug 05 2009

Majoring in engineering can lead to a stable, lucrative, and challenging career, but it involves a lot of hard work and often more than four years of college with little free time to earn money to finance your education.  Luckily, in addition to a good job, your engineering major can also land you college scholarships, such as this week’s Scholarship of the Week.  The Scholarships.com College Engineering Scholarship offers an annual award of $1,000 to an undergraduate student majoring in engineering.  There are no GPA or test score requirements. To win, all you have to do is write a scholarship essay explaining what has influenced you to pursue a career in engineering.

Prize:

$1000

Eligibility:

Registered Scholarships.com user and current undergraduate student or high school senior who will be enrolled in a two-year or four-year college or university in the coming academic year.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: Area of Study Scholarships, engineering, essay scholarship, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships, undergraduate scholarships

Comments (0) Aug 03 2009

As our annual Resolve to Evolve scholarship essay contest draws to a close and we move closer to the time of year when a number of other scholarship competitions begin accepting applications, we thought it would be a good time to review an often overlooked aspect of applying for scholarships:  the actual act of submitting your scholarship application.

By applying for a scholarship, you are making contact with someone who could potentially award you money, so you want to make sure that your application makes a good first impression before the reviewer even gets to the content.  At the very least, you certainly do not want your application to wind up in the discard pile due to a failure to follow the contest’s official rules.  While official rules for scholarship opportunities can often come across as dense and full of legal language, you should still take time to review them and ensure your application complies before you spend the time, money, and effort involved in creating and submitting a scholarship application.

A good idea is to make a note for yourself of the requirements for each scholarship for which you intend to apply.  Print off sheets or make a spreadsheet on your computer.  Get organized.  We suggest including the following items in your list of rules to note:

Eligibility Requirements

This may seem like a no-brainer, but before you apply for a scholarship, make sure you’re actually eligible to win.  Pay attention to details like age, grade level, and enrollment status, since your answer for these could be different from what you think, depending on the scholarship provider’s cutoff dates.  For example, a scholarship could ask for “currently enrolled” students as of summer 2009, but if your first class starts during the fall term, you may not be eligible to apply.  If you are not sure whether you are eligible based on the official rules, it doesn’t hurt to contact the provider and ask.

Length and Format of Submission

Once you’ve made sure that you are eligible to apply, make sure what you plan to submit is eligible to win.  Your 20-page scholarship essay may provide a brilliant analysis of the subject matter, but if the upper limit for the contest is 800 words, you are not going to win a scholarship with it.  Your scholarship application also can’t win if you forget to provide appropriate contact info or include required items, so make a list of what you need and check off each item as it goes into your application packet.  Similarly, you’ll want to pay attention to any rules about file format, typeface, and other details that may disqualify you, or at least generate the impression that you didn’t carefully read the rules.

Submission Method

Does this scholarship contest ask for applications to be submitted via e-mail, via a form on their website, or via postal mail?  Do they request that you use a specific mail carrier, or avoid using others (some scholarship providers will include stipulations such as sending your application only through the United States Postal Service)?  Do they want you to label your submission in a particular way or address it to a particular person or office?  All of these questions are important not only to make sure your application gets to where it needs to go, but also to demonstrate your interest in the award and your ability to follow instructions.

Deadline

If your essay is to be submitted online, make note of the exact time of day at which the contest ends.  Is there a time zone indicated in the official rules?  You don’t want to find yourself searching for a scholarship submission form on a website at 11:50 PM PST when the contest closed at 11:59 PM EST.

If your esay needs to be submitted through the mail, check whether the application deadline is a postmarked by date or a received by date.  For example, our Resolve to Evolve Essay Contest requires that applications be postmarked by July 31, so students who are sending them overnight on July 30 are unnecessarily paying more for postage.  Meanwhile, students who attempt to submit an application for a scholarship with a received by date of July 31 would not want to simply stick a stamp on it today and hope it’s still accepted.

In the end, your application will still be judged primarily on its merit, provided it meets basic requirements.  However, closely following rules for each contest and showing that you have a legitimate interest in the scholarship as more than just a potential source of easy cash will improve your chances of winning scholarships.

Posted: under Scholarships, Tips.
Tags: applications, college scholarships, essay scholarship, Resolve to Evolve, Scholarship Search, scholarship tips, Scholarships, Tips

Comments (0) Jul 30 2009

This week’s Scholarship of the Week is a scholarship essay contest that offers a $10,000 reward to students who are actively engaged in fighting poverty.  The In The River They Swim essay competition asks participants to reflect upon an experience living or working in a poor country or a poor region of a developed nation and tell a story about a personal journey they’ve had doing enterprise solutions to poverty.

What makes this competition unique is that it asks for students to go beyond the traditional response elicited by community service scholarships and other essay scholarships and to reflect on both successes and failures, as well as people encountered and lessons learned along the way.  Rather than simply recounting experiences in a matter-of-fact way, a winning essay will tell a story in an engaging and illuminating manner.  Most importantly, the essay should teach the reader something, and presents an opportunity to think both critically and creatively about your work, your attitudes, and your assumptions for a chance at a substantial cash prize and possible publication.

Prize:

$10,000

Eligibility:

Anyone is eligible to participate, regardless of age, level of education, or area of study.

Posted: under Graduate School, High School, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: college scholarships, community service scholarships, essay scholarship, graduate student scholarships, high school student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, undergraduate scholarships, writing scholarship

Comments (0) Jul 27 2009

Pursuing a career in education shows a commitment to increasing knowledge and improving the lives of others.  However, in order to become an educator, you need a college education, and the prospect of a teacher’s salary can make many students reluctant to borrow heavily to achieve this goal.  Thankfully, there are a number of education scholarships that offer future teachers an alternative to student loans.  One of them is this week’s Scholarship of the Week, the Scholarships.com College Education Scholarship.  High school seniors and current undergraduate students are invited to write a scholarship essay explaining what influenced them to pursue a career in education for a chance to win a $1,000 college scholarship.

Prize:

$1,000

Eligibility:
Applicant must be a U.S. citizen, a registered user of Scholarships.com, and an undergraduate student or a high school senior who plans to enroll in a college or university in the coming fall.
Applicant must have indicated an interest in one of the following:

• Child Care/Education
• Education
• Health Education
• Music Education
• Special Education

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: college scholarships, education, essay scholarship, high school student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarship Search, Scholarships, teachers

Comments (0) Jul 06 2009

Scholarship opportunities for international students can seem few and far between. However, money is out there. If you want to study in the United States but are having trouble finding money for college due to your citizenship status, this week’s Scholarship of the Week is for you.  The myUsearch International and Undocumented Student Scholarship will award $1,000 to one student who is not a United States citizen but plans to attend college in America.  All you have to do is register on myUsearch and complete a short scholarship essay to be eligible.

Prize:

$1,000

Eligibility:

International students and other non-citizens planning to study in the United States. Must begin your first semester at an accredited undergraduate institution on or before October 1, 2010, either as a freshman or a transfer student.

Posted: under Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: essay scholarship, international student scholarship, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships, undergraduate scholarships

Comments (0) Jun 29 2009

International relations and national security remain hot topics in American politics, so it’s no surprise that scholarship opportunities exist to foster new thinking and innovative ideas in such fields.  Students interested in issues of national security, counterintelligence, and international affairs are invited to apply for this week’s Scholarship of the Week, the Jim and Anna Hyonjoo Lint National Security Scholarship.  This scholarship essay contest awards $1,000 to the student who writes the best original essay addressing an issue of importance to national security and related fields.  In addition to the scholarship prize, winners will also see their essays published by the Lint Center.

Prize:

$1,000

Eligibility:

Applicants must be admitted to a university and must plan to enroll as undergraduate students or graduate students in the fall semester.  The scholarship is open to students of any major who show an interest in national security, counterintelligence, or international affairs.

Posted: under Graduate School, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships.
Tags: college scholarships, essay scholarship, graduate student scholarships, Scholarship of the Week, Scholarships, undergraduate scholarships

Comments (0) Jun 22 2009