He explained that he can get an overage in scholarships of about $6000 before Harvard would reduce his grants, including some to buy a computer. A $2000 computer, but of course a $500 computer would work just fine too.
My daughter got a little more money than we originally expected, and it does feel good to get more, to ‘win’ things. The question is how much time is it worth to keep applying to local scholarships. If it is just the cost of a stamp, fine. If it is taking a lot of time that could be used working, then it becomes foolish to waste that time.
How can we possibly answer your question on why you aren’t selected as a scholarship winner without seeing specifically your completed applications and qualifications?
Almost like asking outsiders why you didn’t get an A on an exam when the teacher didn’t hand it back so we have almost nothing to go on other than a few qualities.
I can’t work because I may not be able to work. At this point it isn’t in my control and I am just waiting for something. Not something I see a benefit in discussing online. It doesn’t have any negative bearings on me, but I prefer not to detail my whole life. Nobody here could help me with the situation anyways.
Also this is not the same question, I’m just getting similar responses as with the last thread. My question is more, say perhaps I decide to apply to these scholarships after my first year, what could I do to make myself more presentable or more decisive. This is an advice question.
@twoinanddone is getting at more of what I am asking. For example, I have been tailoring my applications. If it’s a bank for example, I’ll highlight my economic experiences by reordering my resume, talking more about these activities, and deleting other parts. However, I may just change my essay and make it more personalized to the appropriate major since I’ve mainly been reusing stuff.
Perhaps, I should reword the question. “People who were generally successful at winning scholarships, what are tips you have that allowed you to be successful and set you apart and can you share them?”
As I said, I’m asking qualitatively about scholarships, not quantitatively. Bringing how much a I made isn’t relevant to my answer.
There, that is the essence of what I am asking. The rebuttal of some would be “there is no way to know!” However, that’s absurd seeing that there is often a reason why some people excel more than others doing similar things and that is nice to know sometimes.
You should ask @courtneythurston; since she was awarded $280k in scholarships, she may have advice.
You need to rework your essays and resume for each scholarship application, just as you will eventually need to rework your cover letters and resume for each job application. Yes, this is a real drag, but it’s what you have to do.
If a scholarship expects an EC that you don’t have, or community service that you don’t have, then just move on. Concentrate your energy on scholarships that look like they are designed for you.
Your aid package is generous. To be perfectly honest, if you would put as much energy into job hunting (and eventually into job keeping) as you are right now expending on your scholarship applications and worrying about them, you are likely to not need any more scholarships. So try turning your focus to that.
OP,
The decision of who to award scholarships to is often based on both merit and need.
Money is money, regardless of how it is described- FA, grants, scholarships, etc.
And you appear to have been awarded a lot of money by Harvard.
Given that you will have very little monetary shortfall, i.e. “need”, while attending Harvard, you are not likely to be selected to receive any outside scholarships . I suggest you focus on what work study jobs will be available at Harvard and apply soon.
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Besides the fact that my son is an excellent writer, he received private scholarships, but he focused on win"able" scholarships where he had direct ties to the scholarship. (This is the only money he received, nowhere near what you have received from Harvard, so, these have helped us a little with tuition and fees; we’re footing the rest of the bill).
Scholarships applied for and won:
One was his grandfather’s employer corporation that gave aid to descendants (with proof of relationship, employee badge numbers and years of employment.)
He received the National Merit Corporate Scholarship through NMF and my husband’s work.
He received his high school’s Athletic Foundation Scholarship for his Eagle project of building a shed on campus for his team.
He also worked all summer, in a demanding restaurant, to save tips and pay for his computer that he would need for his cs programming workload: about $2K. He didn’t really want to work, but he didn’t have a choice because he wanted a computer with decent memory and graphics capabilities. We couldn’t afford to shell out $2k for a computer.
If you don’t have a personal connection to these scholarships, you don’t have a very good chance of receiving anything.
Let me turn your question around. Even with great stats and a great resume, the competition for scholarships is incredibly stiff. Why would you expect to win multiple scholarships?
A couple of things come to mind. First, you are a URM, and as highly qualified as you are, you were competing for your Harvard (and other college spots) with other URMs. Unless you are applying for minority scholarships you are now competing with a much larger pool of candidates for scholarships.
Most regional/local scholarships aren’t going to care about your 35 ACT score. How do you compare to your classmates that are also applying? Are you Val? Have you done anything regionally that has been newsworthy? Is your name known in your community? There are students in our area that already have quite a public profile.
Local scholarships can be very political/nepotistic.
Scholarship programs may see the middle income student as more needy than a low income student; they realize that low income students, especially those attending Harvard are already getting tremendous aid.
Each scholarship grantor is looking for something different and it is really impossible to know how their selection process works. Sometimes to us outsiders it really makes no sense. For instance my son sent out 2 applications-one to a local organization and one to the state level of the same organization. The local organization gave out 10 scholarships and my S did not get one, so he had given up on the state level. Then he received a call that he was a state level winner. There were 1700 applications and he was tied for #1 in the state. Since the local organization contacted me about the state selection I offhandedly mentioned that I was really surprised since he had not won a local scholarship. The rep actually seemed a little embarrassed about it, and clearly she was surprised too.
Different committees with different criteria- who knows? You don’t like that answer, but really there is no answer. If there was a magic formula everyone would follow it, but still everyone can’t win, even if they are doing everything right.
My kids each got several thousand dollars in local scholarships. None of these were available for students who had completed their first year of college. So start by finding that out. The best application on the planet won’t help if you are not eligible to receive the award.
My kids targeted scholarships where there was not a need component…at all. And the applications clearly stated that.
They also looked for awards that involved things they had done…so music, the elementary school PTO, the business council (because both had done things with them in HS), the music parents awards at the school.
But…you are likely too late for these things for the upcoming school year. My kids did these local scholarship applications in March or so.
I would suggest you talk to your high school guidance department. I realize you have already done so…but do it again. Maybe something will come in with a late deadline that is suited to your interests. In addition, keep an eye on the newspapers because sometimes there are scholarships local that are listed there.
Re: Courtney Thurston. She won a number of national awards…(well, the real Courtney Thurston did, anyway). The deadlines for those are long gone for the upcoming year.
I’ve sat on a committee for a local organization’s scholarship. I.e. I am not an expert, but saw some of the dynamics at play, but I can’t claim that my experience represents every single organization (and surely not the one’s you are applying to).
Two pages is too long for an activity resume. Our committee liked short and snappy- i.e. an essay or description about “what makes this kid tick” combined with an easy to read summary of academic achievements, outside interests, and personal history.
Nobody on my committee was going to wade through a two page list of EC’s. We loved essays which were clearly relevant and tailored to our mission; we rejected the generic “give me money and here’s why” stories-- if the kid couldn’t invest 20 minutes into editing their story, why should we send them a check?
We loved essays which showed pluck and determination and resilience; we loved the kids who demonstrated gratitude for the people and organizations which had helped them along the way. Kids who had grown up under tough circumstances but could gracefully do a shout-out for a guidance counselor or social worker or mentor who had gone out of their way to be generous counted for a lot.
I don’t know if this is relevant, but I suspect that your applications look like a dense “Here’s everything I’ve done in my life” package, and the readers are looking for a well crafted and edited “I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given” story which speaks to their mission.
We also loved specificity- i.e. “I plan to use the grant from your organization- if I’m lucky enough to be chosen- to cover the lab fees at University of Blah-Blah where I intend to study genetics. My grandfather died of XYZ disease and I hope to become a researcher to help unwind the mystery of this fatal genetic disorder”.
We liked “funding” a kid for a specific purpose. Nobody wants to throw money down a black hole.
Hope this helps.
Maybe scholarship committees shy away from giving money to a low-income Harvard-accepted high school senior because they know that Harvard has the world’s largest endowment and meets 100% need. How could you possible need their little Kiwanis or Rotary $500 scholarship in order to afford college?
Obviously too late, but did you apply to Gates Millenium? Just curious.
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URM if that counts (also the myth that minorities get scholarships easier is soooo false)
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You don’t know that. The winners of the scholarships that you applied for may have been URMs. You’re not the only one applying.
There may be something off-putting about your apps, or simply the competition was too great.
Are you saying that you’ve gone from planning to work full time this summer to not working AT ALL? Why?
Iirc you are in a city with a lot of local competition for scholarships.
I understand from one of your other threads that you know several people with excess scholarship money. Does that mean they don’t have to get a job to afford to go to school? I get the impression from your posts that you’d prefer not to work at all during college. I worked full-time for the majority of time that I was in school so I could afford to attend, so I understand the desire to catch a break. But you’re going to attend one of the country’s best schools for very little money out of pocket. Your billable costs are covered and you have an internship lined up that pays $11+/hour. You want to “catch a little break”? You’ve caught a pretty fantastic one already.
Winning enough of those little $500, $1000, $1500 scholarships may mean that you wouldn’t have to work while you attend Harvard. Do you know what they mean to the students who won’t get them if you win? They may mean the difference between being able to afford their books or not. Those students may be trying to cobble enough aid together to pay for gas, car insurance, or tuition to their local cc. If I were on a committee deciding which student to give a small grant to, my choice wouldn’t be the one who already had a quarter of a million dollars in free money.
@blossom thank you for the informative post. I’ll refine my scholarships as necessary. For reference, I definitely try to go with balance for my scholarships. I add interesting hook, my personal struggles, my future plans. For the last application I filled I specified the funds would to to a laptop. For my previous ones maybe I wasn’t so specific.
@mom2collegekids I do know that. For local awards you can see the winners. For national awards I sometimes look up the names of the winner to ascertain if there was a specific profile they wanted. I look people up on social media to see if there are commonalities in the winners. My experiences along with this article, support this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13462312
I am not not working not out of my own volition, something just needs to happen to make me work. It has nothing to do with me.
@thumper1 I think it’s ridiculous to think that I’d spend time applying to scholarships I’m not eligible. I’m not. Once again I said I’ve been applying since last year through now.
Once again, many scholarship were merit based or didn’t know I was going to Harvard at that point.