<p>Are top essay contests, like National Peace or Profile in Courage, as prestigious as Siemens or Prudential Spirit of the Community Awards?</p>
<p>bump …</p>
<p>I don’t understand why applicants slave over these essay contests for outside scholarship money. If you should win, say 1,000 in scholarship money, any college you are enrolled at is probably going to reduce your grant award by $1,000, or dollar for dollar! So you have not improved your financial situation at your college. You just put $1,000 back into the college’s coffers, so your scholarship money which you earned by writing an essay has benefited the college, not you! </p>
<p>Before embarking on entering these essay competitions for scholarship money, I would check the schools financial aid policies on “outside scholarships.”</p>