<p>Wow, Recycling Bin, HOW did you make the time to do all that? (and win!)? Did you like make one essay and send it to evry1, or what?</p>
<p>Please share</p>
<p>I applied to 5 and got 2, so like 40% success rate... I wasn't eligible for most scholarships I found due to various needs like URM, chosen field, the fact that im going to out of state school, level of income, etc.</p>
<p>I applied for 12 scholarships. Currently, I have recieved three of them. I am also a finalist for four of them, which decisions have yet to come out. So, there are five more I have yet to get decisions from. I'm hoping for the best</p>
<p>D applied for 38 and so far received 2 (Best Buy and Comcast) plus runner up (letter from Dubya) for Prudential. Still waiting decisions on Byrd, other national ones not announcing till summer.</p>
<p>My advice for next year's seniors and other scholarship applicants: Don't be discouraged to apply for any scholarship that you qualify for. I remember passing up on applying to big scholarships because I would read the past winners' profiles and say to myself, "There's no way I'm as good as these people that have won." This discouraged me from applying to Coca-Cola, Target... Not to discredit any of the people who won these scholarships, but I know some people in my area that did receive these and they weren't that much different from me. Looking back at it, I always ask myself... "What if I applied to this or that?" The cliche moral works in this case: You're only guaranteed not to get something if you don't try. </p>
<p>In the end things all worked out for me as financial aid saved my behind, but I was very lucky.</p>
<p>DS applied for 5 outside scholarships. Four were local and one was international. He got 3 out of 5.</p>
<p>After all the essay writing for college applications he was much less than thrilled to have to write more essays. None of the scholarship essay topics were similar to each other or his college essays so it was a lot of work for him.</p>
<p>I applied for about 22, and got 10. Like the above posters, just search for local scholarships. Also, look for the less popular ones that no one really knows about.</p>
<p>It was very hard for me to do all 67, but I tried. I have to give up about 10 others b/c the deadlines are so close and I couldn't do. Most of the time, the scholarships deadlines are so close or on the same date, I just do each little by little each day and it turned out fine. Even though scholarships are hard to do, but it all pays up in the end with little time and effort. Not considering I spent about $30 on transcript money. Just as the posts above said, apply for mostly local becuase it is easier than nationals. Nominations from school is also good as well. Scholarships such as TOYOTA, Prudential, COca-Cola, Etc. are really hard to get. So this is all I got to say. Oh... and any amount is owrth it, even if it is %00, it all adds up.</p>
<p>Agree with all the info posted so far, with 1 clarification:
scholarships from MNC employers (multi national companies) tend to be highly competitive, not "easy" at all.
Reasons being:
1. Each company has a large employee base within the US alone, making it into a national scholarship.
2. Most of its employees are highly educated and with a high level of edu focus ==> their children are among the most well prepared HS seniors nation wide.</p>
<p>This is especially true for companies with a R&D & tech focus,
e.g. IBM, Bell Labs, Microsoft, Siemens, pharmaceutical giants, & many others.
They have very highly educated employees who then have children who are highly achieving as well!
These companies tend to offer substantial awards that are renewable for 3 more years, hence competition is intense.
the only exception that I have seen is where companies offer "token" awards, e.g. 1-time $500!</p>
<p>I applied for 5 local... received all.</p>
<p>Emmeline, effort well spent, what was your final amount, was it renewable?</p>
<p>I applied for national and local ones alike. I got... 1 national one so far (for $2000) out of who knows how many. Local ones, I've gotten 3 of 5. Two are renewable for 4 years ($24,000 together). The local ones I didn't get were less than $1000, so I'm not too concerned about those.
If I were to do things differently, I probably wouldn't apply to so many big national scholarships. Unless I had a really good feeling about them. They took time and effort (going to the post office to weigh and send them off lol) that I could have spent on other matters.</p>
<p>The advice about local scholarships seems wise. Does anyone have any other advice? Something has been keeping my D out of the running. Maybe she isn't finding a good voice on the essays. Maybe her community service work is too complicated and takes too much space to describe.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? Any suggestions? </p>
<p>Did you try any guidebooks? Where did you get useful advice?</p>
<p>Essays:</p>
<p>Read carefully what they are asking for....some essays seem to ask more about the person writing the essay and not what they have done. Especially Liberal Arts Degrees such as BFA's and BA's they are mostly looking for creative writing in self expression with honest slant to what your son or daughter is like and what personally they liked about say, their high school experienced and how they would resolve issues similar when presented in the college level.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks. My D has been trying for community service awards. She isn't a writer type, although she's a very strong student. </p>
<p>Maybe she comes across as dull, rather than as deeply sincere. A light tone just isn't her forte.</p>
<p>It may be strange but I think that, if she could succeed with one, she'd find her way with others. I just wish I knew how to advise her. </p>
<p>The aplications are really time-consuming, of course. What's even more costly right now is applying, never hearing anything, and then facing the realization at some point after the notification deadline that the decision must have been a "no." It's draining.</p>
<p>My son applied for more than 30--I'm not sure how many exactly. Some were local, some state level, and a few national, but he didn't bother with the really big ones like Gates or Coca-Cola.</p>
<p>So far he has received 2 small local ones. We're hoping for more, but after $5000 total, any award money will just get taken out of his financial aid anyway so it's pointless.</p>
<p>be patient,D didnt get one of hers until the last week in June (fathers employee sponsored).</p>
<p>congrats to all of those who have received scholarships
also, if any "scholarship" requires you to give your social security number, it is most likely a scam</p>
<p>i have applied for 12 or 13 scholarship and so far i have won 6 scholarships. I've been very lucky. The won i really want is the 1500 per year for 5 years i find out about next week. im still waiting on the others. good luck to everyone</p>
<p>i applied to two. For one i got 30K each year for two years. The next one i made the first cut and am still in the running.</p>