<p>Re: local scholarships
I was surprised to hear three different people I know complaining that so few students applied for scholarships offered by their three different groups. But how are students to find these? Only one of the three made their scholarship offers known in the high school guidance office. I think there is really a lapse of communication, and groups need to do a better job of advertising.</p>
<p>QUOTE:
"Of course, I believe that committees may think that since we are in the top of the class that we will be getting money from all over to help with our college. The problem with that is that everybody thinks that, so we don't get the scholarships...."</p>
<p>wow i couldn't have shared my feelings any better...i too am the valedictorian...and even though i absolutely poured my heart and soul into every application (giving essay-like answers for every question on every application no matter how involved the question was) my efforts yielded so few successes...i also think that scholarships (not all, but very many) are incredibly political... it's a bit disheartening actually</p>
<p>Re Fastweb, yes, one has to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there's a lot of chaff.</p>
<p>New question: I'd like to hear the experience of people who are already in college, as sophomore, Jrs. or seniors, and their experience applying for scholarships starting in their sophomore year or later. I gather most of the posts on this thread are reporting on the experience of high school seniors about to graduate. Thanks!</p>
<p>Local scholarships can definitely be political. I wrote earlier in the thread that our high school has tried to avoid this problem by having a scholarship packet. The student submits one application, checks off the particular scholarships for which he wants to apply, and then copies of the application are sent off with no names to the various organizations selected. However, what can happen is that the committees can still be tipped off by certain information so they can choose those whom they wish regardless of academic or other merit. Often this can't be avoided because everyone might know who the captain of the football team is, for example, so if they see that accomplishment listed on the application then they automoatically know the identity of the student. But rumor has it that sometimes (esp. with the town sports organizations) a certain kid may be directed to include a particular clue on the application so the committee knows which application is his.</p>
<p>Beyond that, we've seen the scholarships go to the really nice kids who are decent students and do a lot of community service. They should get awards for sure, but the true scholars (who may also be very nice and service-oriented, of course) seem to get neglected in the process. I would agree that people probably think they are already getting loads of money. The problem is that these kids would get plenty of money if they chose to attend lower tier schools, but often they are going to the top LAC's and Ivies and are only getting need-based FA.</p>
<p>I am 1 for 1 (hurray!). I got lucky, it was a retired employees' scholarship for my school district, and because they are old employees of the district, they like to give the scholarships to valedictorians/salutatorians (i was the latter)...to make a long story short, i got a 5K scholarship renewable for 4 years (= $20K, wohoo!).</p>
<p>what sucks is that it will just take out of my need based aid.
tough i guess. :(</p>
<p>ustas06, If you are receiving any loans and/or work study, most schools will deduct from that before grants, so it can still be helpful.</p>
<p>My son just finished his freshman year of college and applied for several scholarships for the coming year. So far he has received a $500 one from his dad's work union. (My older son received that each year for four years; they give 3 a year and there are few applicants.) We have not heard from any others yet.</p>
<p>TheGFG, I have the same feeling as you do. Local scholarships are by far the most unfair, baised ones. I just attended my high school's senior award ceremony tonight. I have observed a trend in people that got scholarships. They are mostly girls (90%), popular but not necessarily the smartest kids, and have gotten full rides already to some less known schools. Instead, the smartest kids who go to elite schools and actually need the money often dont get any. And yes, I'm proud to say I'm one of them. I'm not the smartest but I did get accepted to a school that many of these "scholarship winners" couldn't even get in.</p>
<p>I'm a junior right now, and wondering what is the best way to go about looking for scholarships outside of school. And when generally are most deadlines? Anything before summer? Because I am thinking of working on some during summer. This has been helpful so far, so thanks!</p>
<p>"Scholarship money should be awarded to SCHOLARS. That's exactly why I think a lot of scholarships are baised because they're funded by private money. If you don't know the committees, haven't cured cancer, helped poor kids/senior citizens, or aren't black or hispanic...your chance of getting a scholarship = .000001."</p>
<p>First of all... MR100% I'd like to point out that I am a "SCHOLAR" and therefore have received those scholarships plus more since then. I also have numerous ECs and have had a steady job since I was 14. I have pretty weird circumstances in my family, though I am not a minority nor have I cured cancer. So I'm not sure exactly how your getting off implying that I don't deserve the Veterans one. </p>
<p>You were pointing out that it's not fair that scholarship committees are "biased". Let me change this... those of us who have figured out the game of scholarships have networked! It's a valuable skill that's going to help not only get scholarships but also to get jobs, I recommend learning to network soon. Sure it might not be the most fair determination for scholarships, but life isn't fair either... wear a helmet!</p>
<p>looeypie,</p>
<p>I have a few bits of advice for you, but already I think you are well on your way to success because you are thinking ahead. I didn't realize how many scholarships had early deadlines, so my son missed out on the chance to apply for a great number of them. We started looking in December/January, figuring we were ahead of the eight ball, but that wasn't the case. Unfortunately our guidance counselor wasn't at all helpful. All our local deadlines are April/May so we didn't know how early we should be looking.</p>
<p>Having said that, these are the types of things that helped in my son's search for scholarships. I did a billion google searches using everything I could think of that might pertain to him. In his case, he is going to be a high school math teacher/coach, so I started googling education scholarships, teaching scholarships, math scholarships. I then moved on to things that pertained to some of his EC's. I searched for wrestling scholarship, baseball scholarship, etc. I did searches for community service scholarships. Later I began searching other schools' websites. Many of their guidance counselors post scholarship info and deadlines so I was able to "borrow" the information that was lacking from my school. I also searched our own school website for the local scholarship deadlines.</p>
<p>The result so far has been $29,900 in scholarships. My son is caucasian, middle income family. He has been very active in sports, theatre, NHS, community, service-oriented groups, etc. during his high school years, and in particular, he has done a ton of tutoring/peer mentoring work in our school district which I think has been very helpful in his scholarship quest.</p>
<p>He is still a finalist for a $6,000 award which we will hear about in June, and there are I think two more scholarships which he applied for that will be announced in June.</p>
<p>He's not what many on this BB twould apparently consider a SCHOLAR. 3.96 GPA and a 27 ACT. Many on here would be embarrassed by that ACT score, but his was the highest in our school. We are a small rural school district -- no AP's etc. so our kids aren't "groomed" for the Ivy schools, but he has done very well for himself and I am proud of him.</p>
<p>Scholarships he received included: $1000 State Wrestling Coaches Assn., $1000 Best Buy, $1000 MN Twins, $20,000 math scholarship, $4,000 teaching scholarship, $400 local teaching scholarship, $500 local teaching scholarship, $1,000 American Legion Scholarship, $500 local baseball scholarship with $500 matching Presidential Freedom Scholarship to be certified in July.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you in your scholarship hunt. For those going into the health field, I think the Tylenol scholarship will be posted in June.</p>
<p>PrincessPaige, please don't take what I said personally. I wasn't saying you didn't deserve whatever you got. But in my case, I'm new to the community (moved in last yr), and not exactly a popular kid. However, I do work hard in school, volunteer outside of school, and have plenty of ECs. I live in a fairly wealthy community, thus the local scholarships usually don't take financial needs into consideration. They just pick the most popular kids with the most community service hrs to win the scholarships. The MOST unfair thing is a lot of those kids already have gotten free rides to their schools. I don't even wanna know how they're gonna spend all that money, go to Cancun and party their asses off? On the other hand, I'll have to REALLY figure out how to get the money because I chose to attend the best school I got accepted to.</p>
<p>Ok... sorry to nearly attack you on this one... and believe me I understand where you are coming from in a few ways... your community sounds pretty much like mine (loads of fun living on Cape Cod, the home of the excessively rich, yet my mom earns less that 20k per year). So I understand that... the only reason my mom even know all the rich people on the comittees is b/c she is often their waitress. I guess the best thing in your case is just to try to make your applications stand out. Good Luck (I think a lot of luck is needed in the great scholarship process)</p>
<p>Well, my son applied for zero scholarships and got one--so that's kind of unexpected. It wasn't for a lot of money relative to what he/we will have to spend, but everything helps. (It was for $1,000 per year for 4 years at the college he applied to, given to scholars from OOS--but the yearly tuition is still over $18,000--plus, of course, we still have to pay for housing, meals, books, travel, computer, etc.).</p>
<p>Like most people on here, we just presumed that white, upper-middle class, no ethnic background, no work scholarships meant zero dollars. If I had a nickel for everything I've learned on this site that the local counselors didn't know I could probably put him and his three best friends all through the colleges they've chosen for free. I guess the best thing I can do is try to share this with neighbors and relatives--especially the ones with hard-working, deserving children who might otherwise be denied college or have to go to a "worse fit" college because that's all they could get into or afford.</p>
<p>Maybe high school guidance counselors should read this website! ;)</p>
<p>I applied to about 20....none so far.</p>
<p>brainomatic -- </p>
<p>did your son take a look at the mathmovesu scholarship? It sounds like a good match for him. the deadline is passed for this year, but you can apply the next year. $900 a semester and renewable -- and if he is planning on being a math teacher, he may be coaching a math counts team anyway for volunteer work.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mathmovesu.com/grants.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.mathmovesu.com/grants.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the heads-up on the math scholarship. We hadn't found that one but will definitely apply next year. I already sent an email to a potential advisor of a MathCounts team in Wisconsin where he will be going to school. Thanks again!</p>
<p>brainomatic -- </p>
<p>you are welcome! as soon as I read your post, I thought of the scholarship!</p>
<p>It is not common to find young men with aspirations to be math teachers -- and the United States desparately needs them!</p>
<p>My younger son is in middle school and will be applying for the scholarship and grant for middle school kids.</p>
<p>I am sure your son will get the scholarship and the time spent coaching the math counts team will look awesome to future employers!</p>
<p>stef</p>
<p>My son got 5 scholarship from his high school, which total $2500.00 I think that was pretty good from his high school. Every little bit helps.</p>
<p>Do valedictorians tend to receive monetary awards from their High Schools automatically?</p>