<p>yeah, the intent of this thread has def. been lost. :-S</p>
<p>Interesting point about the SSN -- I can't agree that makes it a scam. We tried to avoid providing it to several legitimate foundations and discovered the foundation's tax-exempt status depended on recipients providing a SSN.</p>
<p>With identity theft becoming such a problem, we wish it were otherwise.</p>
<p>Yeah, scholarships have been frustrating for me. Some of my friends (I'm happy for them and all), but some have gotten scholarships when they really weren't qualified and they got almost full need based aid. I hate to sound selfish, but I can't help but be ****ed a bit.</p>
<p>Scholarship recipients need to give their SSN's for tax purposes, but not applicants.</p>
<p>For those of you successful in getting local or regional scholarships, can you describe for the clueless parents (speaking for myself of course), how you searched out and found the opportunities? Our high school does a local scholarship package and submits it to the local organizations, but we'd like to look beyond that.</p>
<p>imiracle911~ Do you mean 3K each because 30K is kind of off the charts!</p>
<p>As for kids getting scholarships after getting free rides to their (state?) schools, most of my D's scholarship aps had to be in beginning in October, through March, and I think one in April. (She applied to about 6 I believe.) Meanwhile, her college acceptances did not completely occur until April 1, 2 of which did not even send the financial package until almost the due date for decisions, May 1! This could explain why kids are finding out that they don't need the scholarships, as they received financial aid packages after applying for the scholarships.</p>
<p>ElliotsMom~
My D just used fastweb, which all but one of her aps was on, including the regional one where she got 10K. I think I found one additional for her on her high school's website, which she did not get. One that she did get was a state one that could be used for out of state, but only certain states, not the one she ended up choosing in the end, so she had to turn it down. Ouch. Still waiting to hear on another regional. Somewhere on this thread there is a list of other scholarship search engines besides fastweb, perhaps others have used them with success?</p>
<p>The Horace Mann scholarship requires a SS # to apply. When I emailed them they said there was no substitute# or ID one could use.</p>
<p>Melsmom
I got 30K each for two years from this scholarship committee which I don't know the name. Kind of strange because my dad told me to write essays for whatever topic and to get recs and stuff. I did all that and sent it to him. He sent in my app. This is because the committee is not in the US. He got the call.</p>
<p>I applied for about a dozen and didnt get any. Massive waste of time.</p>
<p>I got a full tuition NROTC/Marine Corps scholarship to Harvard. Of course, when I first decided to apply for ROTC I didn't even know that it paid for college, so when I found out that it pays up to $150,000, I was pretty stoked. It's a sweet deal, because you're training to serve your country in a noble and honorable way (4 years active duty, 4 reserve), and they are picking up your college tab. You also get paid monthly while you are doing it. </p>
<p>**NO ONE should apply for ROTC solely for the financial benefits, but if you have any interest in service, you should look into it, for any of the military services. You can start the application process in the spring of your junior year.</p>
<p>Re Post #49</p>
<br>
<p>Massive waste of time. Sorry & please don't feel too bad. You put in honest work for it! The process is indeed difficult for most applicants.</p>
<br>
<p>What we learnt from 2 years ago (for S) is what has been posted already:
1. National scholarships are extremely hard to win, even for those who are accepted to multiple elite univ.
It's a numbers situation: a top univ accepts a couple thousands,
but most national scholarships have few winners,
sometimes as low as 1-2 only!
2. Finding the "best match" scholarship is important:
quite a few emphasize astoudning community service levels and less so on other criteria.
In addition, if you really don't like/want to write for specific essay topics required by a scholarship, don't force it.
Let it go & find something that's more to your liking!
3. Scholarships on the local, or smaller scopes, are best bets.</p>
<p>Based on the above, this year (for D) has been more successful:
applied to a small set of carefully selected/matched scholarships only, and
so far won 3 out of 4 that have announced results, waiting for 1 more.</p>
<p>Check with any associations of which you or your parents are members. My son got one from the National Guard Association of Texas and one from the Army Aviation Association of America. These were $750 and $1000 respectively. He also got an Air Force ROTC scholarship which covers his tuition & fees, so those "extra" scholarships helped with room & board. He applied for several more (maybe 8-10) that he didn't get.</p>
<p>One thing my son learned was to balance the amount of effort with the possible payoff. There was one that he thought he'd be a shoo-in for. It was the Sheep & Goat Ranchers Association of Texas and was for $500. You had to write a letter to your congressman and 2 senators regarding a specific piece of legislation affecting ranchers. So, my son researched the legislation and wrote really compelling letters to his congresspeople, sending a copy to the scholarship committee. In his letters, he discussed his grandparents who raise goats and how this legislation would affect them. He didn't get it. They sent him another application this year, and I just threw it away.</p>
<p>I applied to about 8 and got 2. My biggest recommendation is to find scholarships only for your area. The big national ones give a lot of money, but your chances of winning those are slim to none. If you apply to local scholarships available to only students in your area, your chances of winning increase dramatically. Also, the more involved the scholarship is (as in, the more work you have to do), the better.</p>
<p>My son applied to one from a historical society. He wrote a great essay and got wonderful recommendations, but did not win the scholarship. Fine. But can you believe that the historical society has the nerve to write to him a couple of times per year to ask for donations! LOL!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I got a full tuition NROTC/Marine Corps scholarship
[/quote]
Hoorah!!!!</p>
<p>Applied for ten...so far havent recieved anything! Wat a waste of time!</p>
<p>Some parents have this idea that if you apply for a scholarship you'll always win. Counselors act like there's a ton of scholarships out there that no one is applying for. Both of those are false. I see it as there's a lot of students out there looking for scholarhips, but only a few scholarships out there. On top of it, if you don't have a 4.0 or higher you can say good bye to that. A friend and I applied for the Best Buy scholarship which they claim is based on community service and ec's. I'm in 3 varsity sports, prez of a club, organized a 5k run/walk which raised $8000, and work at a local food pantry. On the other hand, he has no sports, his only club is NHS, and is only community service is the small amount he has done through NHS. He ended up winning over me, simply because he had a higher GPA. IMO, most people would are better off getting a job at Sams for $10/hr than spending time writing essays for scholarships.</p>
<p>I could never figure out why they need your family financial info for merit based scholarships, or how scholarship criteria can say things like "based on gpa AND need".</p>
<p>I lost count, probably like 13 or something. I recieved 3, all local. I recieved rejections from all the national ones. Always go for the local and university-specific ones. That's where the money lies.</p>
<p>I don't agree that scholarships aren't worth the time for the money. Think about it...you work possibly 30 min.-1 hr. for the chance to earn $500+ dollars...much better than a part-time job. Of course, there's the chance that you won't get it. </p>
<p>My recommendation is to do as many as possible, and over time (as I found) the essays will start repeating. That way, by the end of "scholarship applying season," you are now spending around 10-15 minutes per application.</p>
<p>Organization is the key. Save every essay you write - you never know when you can use it again. Tons of scholarships use the "Write about your college and career plans" essay...probably half of the 30ish applications I filled out used that one. Sometimes you might have to tweak your "stock" essay...but that's much better than writing a whole new essay. Also keep a resume saved on your computer. Lots of applications have sections for clubs, awards, etc., and if you have that all typed out, you can just copy and paste it to resemble the order of the application and write on the space in the app. "see attached." That only works on the local ones mostly, of course, and not for ones that say no attachments. Finally, early on get a few teachers (from different subject areas...sometimes scholarships ask for math, english, etc. teacher) and one or two community members to write universal recommendations. That way, they can take their time and write a really nice one, and you don't have to bug them for months on end.</p>