Congratulations to David Cook, last night's winner on American Idol. 

Americna Idol is a close example to how the scholarship world works and I think it helps students understand that "everyone" in not a winner.  One person wins.  The other contestants may still be successful and I hope they learn from the experience to improve their approach or delivery in the future but the bottom line is ONE person wins.

To recap the journey for those who don't watch American Idol:

Tens of thousands of hopeful singers apply or audition

A chosen few make it to Hollywood week, based on the decisions of the judges

The cast of characters is further winnowed to 24 contestants, again by the judges

And, then, America votes week by week, eliminating the people with the lowest number of votes.

In the case of scholarships, America is not voting, but the elimination process is very similar.  First round is eliminating people who applied but don't even qualify.  Next round is judging the applicants on who best matches the criteria.  The next round is reading the applications carefully and assigning some type of ranking system (using a judging criteria) to distill the list of top candidates.  At this stage, much like Davd and David, you have very highly qualified people.  If you have two scholarships to distribute you could awared both but if you have only one scholarship how will you determine who is the best of the best?  As a scholarship judge, you might ask for an interview, an additional essay question, you might more closely examine the supoprting documents.  It's tough and scholarship committees often wrangle with this decision (unless a clear, unequivocal winner emerges).

Remember that the scholarship committee can only judge you based on the information, audition or image you have presented to them - make sure it is your best!

What an amazing week!

I tried a new way to gather scholarship success stories for the website and was inundated with responses.  I heard from a woman who owns a pest control company (The Bug Lady) who also oversees a scholarship fund, a woman who raised $100,000 in scholarship money to attend college and now is headed off to law school and an organization that helps moms pay for online education.  The stories just kept coming in.  Of all the people who submitted stories, only one of them represented a scholarship that I already knew about (Dell Scholars).

What I learned is that the people who give out the money are very passionate about their causes.  The people who win the money are very passionate about pursuing scholarships.  In both cases, they never give up to make their voices or their stories heard. 

If you have a scholarship success story that you would like to share, please email me:

kim at scholarshipstreet dot com  (in the proper format, of course)

 

 

Good morning.  If you haven't made plans yet for how you will spend your summer, please check out volunteer opportunities.  These opportunities will not only add strength to your community but add strength to your scholarship resume. 

With permission from professor Bill Coplin at Syracuse University, I offer this excerpt from his article College Bound?  11 reasons to try doing good, which is targeted at college students but has good advice for high school students, too.   (full text available by clicking here)

College Bound? 11 Reasons to Try Doing Good - Bill Coplin, PhD

"Community service is not just good for the hearts of college undergraduates, it is also good for every part of them, including their wallets. Here are the top 11 reasons that undergraduates should consider community service an essential part of their education.

Number 11: It is an inexpensive and effective way to get dates, or at least make friends. Volunteering -- instead of attending awkward mixers, lame icebreakers and the dreaded singles bars -- is so cheap and useful that 20- and 30-year-olds have established volunteer organizations in Washington, Stowe, Vt. and Minneapolis, Minn., called Singles Volunteers. No awkward blind dates or fix-ups or rejections based on superficial criteria." (full text available by clicking here)

Don't wait until you get a financial aid package from your prospective schools to decide if you are going to apply for any scholarships.  The fact is that if you win scholarships, the school will most likely replace the loans that you qualified for with your newfound scholarship dollars.  Some people are disappointed to hear that, but I think it's great.  You probably can't even imagine what it feels like to graduate without loans.  Neither can I.  I have student loans that I've been paying for more than a decade...those scholarships would sure come in handy now!

No, I'm not talkng about basketball - but scholarships.  This is it.  If you are headed to college in the fall, this is prime scholarship season.  Does your quest for the ultimate Spring Break include time for scholarships?  Look at it this way, I highly doubt that most of your competition will use Spring Break for scholarship applications so if you make the commitment, you are already ahead of your competition.

Why is this hot season for scholarships?

Most scholarship applications are due February - April so that scholarship sponsors can make a decision, inform you that you won, host a scholarship ceremony or event if they do that, and complete the last bit of paperwork before the school year ends.

Are you ready?  Did you make your picks (of scholarships)?  Which ones do you actually have a shot at?  Now go for it!

 

 

Just want to let everyone know that I created a Scholarships for Beginners video on youtube but you can view it easily at www.sutree.com.

Here's the link:  http://www.sutree.com/how-to/17865/Scholarships-for-Beginners

What was interesting is that I didn't find many other videos on scholarships.  When I do Scholarship Success Boot Camps it's a very interactive training and I'm guessing people would like to see what goes on at a boot camp.  What do you think?

-Kim

You might be wondering why there are no comments on the blog.  Well, I'm wielding my web sword and trying to slice and dice the spam.  Since I woke up today I received 46 spam posts to the scholarship street blog.  Unless I open each one it's hard to tell sometimes from the IP address if it's a legitimate message.  So...

If you really have a question or comment, just send me an email and I'll get back to you.

kim  at  scholarshipstreet.com

Thanks for understanding.

FREE INFORMATION
Back when the Internet started, people built websites and over the years loaded them with content.  You can visit some of the biggest and best scholarship websites and get all of the information you want for free, and it's really good information.  You must of course be willing to search for it all, read it on your own, digest the information and make your own decisions based on that information.  In the end, it's just information.  What I have learned is that many of my students and their parents suffer from information overload.  They want someone to guide them.  They want more support than their guidance counselor can provide.  They want their specific questions answered.   I've also learned that not everyone learns by reading.  In fact people only retain about 10% of what they read...they learn much more by doing, which is why I wrote the book with clear exercises and action steps.  Successful students won't just read the book - they will take action, complete the tasks, and build a team of champions to help them.

I recently read about a woman on the east coast who charges families $20,000 - $40,000 to assist students with their preparation and application to Ivy League colleges.  Her clients pay about $3,000 for a weekend pre-college experience.    The students I work with may have one parent with an annual salary of $40,000.  So, for my parents I would never recommend something like that...but I understand in certain circles it's common and acceptable to do that.

So what should you do if you don’t have 20 grand to drop on a consultant?  Become a DIY scholarship expert!  Look at how successful Home Depot and Lowes have been at attracting people who want a nice house and nice yard but aren’t willing, or can’t, hire a professional contractor.  You can read about your project, gather information and advice and attend painting classes.  For scholarships, you can take the same approach.  Gather information, advice and experiences that will set you on a successful path.