I swear there are no scholarships for me.

Paying for College
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<p>So if I get accepted into my first choice college, I know I'm going to need some money from an outside source because my efc is kinda high - like $30,000 - but my parents really can't shell out quite that much. I've been looking at scholarships, and it just seems like I'm not finding anything that I actually have a chance at. </p>

<p>I got a HUGE packet of local scholarships from my gc, but because I'm not hispanic, poor, or on the football team, I'm only eligable for literally 2 of about 60. So then I look at fastweb and it just seems like most of the stuff they have is either a little shady, an essay that requires a TON of research if you actually want to win it (I don't have time to undertake a huge project on top of my schoolwork), or some national scholarship that's extremley hard to get (that I will apply for, but I'm not counting on actually getting them). </p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions on places other than fastweb to find scholarships that are actually somewhat attainable? sorry for the longwinded post.</p>

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<p>I so know what you mean, fastweb.com is just too much.</p>

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<p>i am in the exact same situation</p>

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<p>I'm in that boat too.....not rich enough or poor enough....too white and parents didn't fight in a war.</p>

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<p>same situation here</p>

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<p>I REALLY hope someone has some answers, because even tho i'm trying, i'm pretty much in the same situation</p>

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<p>i'm in the same situation: i tried for the national scholarships and im hoping for the best.</p>

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<p>"Does anyone have any suggestions on places other than fastweb to find scholarships that are actually somewhat attainable?"</p>

<p>Not really because you already implied you don't want to work on them just before you complained about being at an disadvantage. What's the point? You're far too busy.</p>

<p>I mean, don't people understand that? You might have to spend 20 hours on a $1,000 scholarship (too small to bother?) doing work for it. And what does that mean?? It means you made $50 bucks an hour. Get that shoveling fries. </p>

<p>We found locally alot of scholarship opportunities, you just had to work for em. Are you sure you should be considering a school that is going to cost 30k a year? </p>

<p>You know, I'm sorry to be harsh and a bit of an ass. But reread your post, it's not your finest hour. People and organizations don't just give you money, you have to compete for it. You have to work, even if your of color, a football player and yes even poor. You still have to do the work to get the check.</p>

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<p>Wow. That really touched a nerve. And I'm feeling feisty today. </p>

<p>That's not at all what I meant nor what I wrote. I meant that locally I am not even ELIGIBLE (as in not even considered so don't apply) for the vast majority of scholarships. My guidance counselor kind of had me thinking that local scholarships would be my best bet as I would have a 1 in say 300 chance of getting one rather than a national one where my chances could be as slim as 1 in several thousand. So I was a bit disappointed when I found out I couldn't even try for most local scholarships. </p>

<p>As far as the super-essay scholarships, if you've read any of the winning ones, you'll see that these people obviously went to their local college library and put in a lot of time and research. That's awesome and I totally respect them for their dedication and whatnot, but I simply do not have the time to do it. I'm a full IB Diploma Candidate which means I am getting absolutely slammed right now. I have three external assessments that need to be sent out by the end of the month, six CAS forms to fill out, an internal assessment on Monday, 9 classes, and a partridge in a pear tree. We're behind in Biology so we're doubling up on labs each class. I'm not trying to give a "woe is me" speech because I actually LOVE IB and I'm so happy I chose to do it, but with juggling IB with a 20hr/wk food service job (getting paid at minimum wage, so yes I DO understand the value of money), violin, a bunch of volunteer stuff, and my sanity, no - I don't have the time to put into a research essay that I'd need to put in to win. I just don't. I've done some of those essays before and have ended up doing just an okay job on them and it's been a complete waste of time because to win you have to do more than an okay job. In fact, I have a hunch that most kids don't have that kind of time as there were a number of people that agreed with my original post. It's very possible and probable that some of these scholarship essays were assigned in classes at schools. That's usually what scholarship organizers push for anyways. I really do wish I had the time to do those essays, but my school work and long term commitments always come before an essay that may or may not pay off.</p>

<p>As far as some other national scholarships, I stated in my original post that I am applying to them. In fact, I already have applied to several. I'm a Coca Cola semifinalist for example, and if you saw that application you'd know that I certainly did have to put a lot of work into it. It's a bit on the lengthy side. I'm just not comfortable depending on national scholarships to come through as they are extremely hard to win as you're really up against the best. </p>

<p>So I did reread my post, and it's not my finest hour. After all, I misspelled "eligible" and I'm usually a pretty good speller. But I do not think that it deserved your harsh and pretty darn judgmental commentary.</p>

<p>By the way, I did not mean for this post to turn out to be as long is it is. I'm just one of those crazy Type A people that are easily ticked off, especially when it comes to how hard I work. Plus, I'm in the middle of a Theory of Knowledge essay so I'm kind of in a pis* on the world mood. I'll probably regret wasting my time on this in about a half hour. oh well, life goes on.</p>

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<p>Im just like you...but I found a really good strategy.</p>

<p>There is a school in my district that has a much better website than my school, and lists ALL the local scholarships, plus in-state college scholarships. There must have been 200 scholarships listed...and most of them just wanted some facts and a 500 word essay (not bad).</p>

<p>Maybe type in google your region, or city, and local scholarships...and youll get a lot of responses. I applied to about 5-6 local scholarships so far that were a simple essay and application process.</p>

<p>A good thing about your schoolwork and these essays, is some of your schoolwork may intertwine with the essay competitions. For instance, one of the essays I had to write was about the US and India being the most secular governments, and how theocracies can cause destruction (or something). It looks like your studies could help you with something like that...so look expecially for those ones. </p>

<p>Hope I helped...good luck. I didn't even fill out a fafsa...my efc is going to be HUGE...but unrealistic.</p>

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<p>thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>Go to a less expensive school? You might never get near your EFC.</p>

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<p>"but I simply do not have the time to do it."</p>

<p>" I'm a full IB Diploma Candidate which means I am getting absolutely slammed right now. I have three external assessments that need to be sent out by the end of the month, six CAS forms to fill out, an internal assessment on Monday, 9 classes, and a partridge in a pear tree. We're behind in Biology so we're doubling up on labs each class. I'm not trying to give a "woe is me" speech because I actually LOVE IB and I'm so happy I chose to do it, but with juggling IB with a 20hr/wk food service job (getting paid at minimum wage, so yes I DO understand the value of money), violin, a bunch of volunteer stuff, and my sanity, no - I don't have the time to put into a research essay that I'd need to put in to win. I just don't. I've done some of those essays before and have ended up doing just an okay job on them and it's been a complete waste of time because to win you have to do more than an okay job. In fact, I have a hunch that most kids don't have that kind of time as there were a number of people that agreed with my original post. It's very possible and probable that some of these scholarship essays were assigned in classes at schools. That's usually what scholarship organizers push for anyways. I really do wish I had the time to do those essays, but my school work and long term commitments always come before an essay that may or may not pay off."</p>

<p>Hon, I know I am coming off harsh, but your really complaining about nothing. You've made a choice and your justifying not doing more because your "too busy". A lot of too busy kids find the time. </p>

<p>You've chosen to elephant hunt, and you've made the semi finals, good for you. There's guys who hit for average and there's guys that swing for the fence. I hope the ball clears the wall for you. </p>

<p>If you only knew how many kids all thought "they were too busy" or "so many other kids are doing this one" and didn't try for some local scholarships. Well, I know of several in my area that had like three people do the work for two scholarships. I mean if you can make the semi's for the coke scholarhips competing with thousands of entries, you can't match up against 10 other kids locally?</p>

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<p>If you need to raise something like $20,000 for each year of college in order to go to your first choice, and you don't have time to apply for the big bucks awards (even though you may have the stats and writing skills to get such awards), then you'll probably need to go to a college that you can afford: Which may mean going to a lower ranked college that will give you excellent merit aid.</p>

<p>If it's too late for you to apply for such a college, then you may need to take a gap year and apply to such a college for next year.</p>

<p>If you have the stats to get into a place like Harvard or Yale, then you may be able to get excellent merit aid from a place like Duke, University of N.C., Emory,Washington University, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest , Rhodes, Rollins or many other colleges that offer excellent merit scholarships to top prospects.</p>

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<p>OpiefromMayberry: I have every intention of applying for the local scholarships that I'm actually eligible for. I'm just not eligible for many so when planning how exactly I could pay for my top choice - NYU - I'm not depending on them. But I'm hoping they work out. </p>

<p>As far as being too busy, I really really am at this point and I think it's something way easier said than done. I do not have the time; there are not enough hours in the day. And I don't mean to come off complainy because I'm very satisfied with my decsions, I'm just asking for advice on alternatives to long research essays because I don't have the time. You might think I do for some oddball reason, but I know I don't. I'm already doing several research essays for school and getting 4-5 hrs of sleep per night. Once again, not trying to complain here, just trying to demonstrate that despite what you say some kids really don't have the time. I don't know how to impress that upon you any further. Time is a limited commodity. That does not mean that I'm not willing to put a lot of effort into a scholarship, though. I am. But filling out a lengthy application or writing an essay about myself rather than foreign policy seems far more do-able to me at this time. </p>

<p>I'd also like to mention that it appears that a number of students seem to be in the same boat as me, so I'm most likely not some lazy anomaly. I plan to work as hard as I can to get money and still stay sane. There are some opportunites that just won't allow for my sanity at this point in time.</p>

<p>Northstarmom: I did apply to a good instate u. and would actually be very happy going there. I'm just planning for best case scenario. But I agree with you on the whole go to a college you can afford thing.</p>

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<p>I have to defend ava78...I know exactly what you are saying. It's not being lazy, to me it's using the little extra time I have wisely. Some of these scholarships require a tremendous amount of time to fullfil their requirements.</p>

<p>I have a very strenuous HS courseload (5 APs) plus work a part time job. You have to make good choices as to which scholarships to devote that minimal extra time towards. No need to apply to some obscure scholarship that chances a 1 in 75,000 of winning.</p>

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<p>I have to pipe in to Opie. My son is an excellent student and always has been. He literally studies his you know what off. He spends almost all his extra time in his room studying with very little off time. He has maintained straight A's since elementary school and he takes the maximum AP classes. He is number 1 in his class. He has all the academic stuff going for him. We made a decision this year that I would work hard to find the scholarships and then present them to him and see if he is interested. I know he is very busy and I can attest he has literally no extra time for anything. He is also involved in community activities scouts, volunteer work, etc. so as to help him eventually get scholarships.</p>

<p>We have applied for numerous scholarships but if I would have not helped, he would never have had time to find the scholarships. So, I am sticking up for Ava as a mother of a very fine student. He is much, much better than I ever was. He already looks sick from lack of sick, worrying about his grades, college, money, etc. So, I will put in all the time I can to at least find possible scholarships and I am surprised more mothers don't do this for their children who have been very good students.</p>

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<p>^^ That is kind of like my mom. Parents can make an account on Fastweb, put in their children's stats, and it will come up with some scholarships. She usually forwards me some that I may be interested in. </p>

<p>That's a good idea. However, I do have the time to find my own scholarships, which I do. She just likes to do that as well. Usually we end up finding the same scholarships anyways.</p>

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<p>I'm also in the not rich/not poor scenario, so I'm screwed when it comes to a lot of scholarships. And I keep a strong workload and EC's, but I did find some time to apply to some national scholarships. So far out of maybe twelve national ones that I applied to, I got a $1,000 savings bond, and won honorable mentions for two essays. Kind of lame I know, but I got to go on a trip for a national competition. It happened to be 30 minutes away, so the money that I was supposed to spend on travel expenses I used for an Xbox 360. I'd say it was worth it :P</p>

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<p>Just out of curiousity - what were the scholarships that you won/got an honorable mention?</p>