<p>Hey I'm just starting to look for scholarships to fund my college education. I am a junior about to be senior next year and summer is just around the corner (1 more week!). What is the best way to find what scholarships are out there and any advice on how to get good scholarships?</p>
<p>I am probably going to be a National Merit Scholar in 2008 and I have a 4.0 UW GPA and am number 1 in a class of 530ish people</p>
<p>google is your friend.</p>
<p>try googling any interest you have and the word "scholarship"</p>
<p>so --
samba dancing scholarship
eagle scout scholarship
left handed scholarship
trail runner scholarship
etc.</p>
<p>also register with the major scholarship websites (look at the top of this forum) like fastweb.</p>
<p>finally -- check your high school's counseling office and the counseling office of any other high schools in the area for local scholarships.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea where you are looking for college? With your Stats you will probably get pretty good merit monet at your State U. Many State Us give very good scholarshipa to attract NMFs</p>
<p>I have been looking at fastweb.com the past few days and the information seems pretty overwhelming. It seems hard to tell which scholarships are reputable (I don't want to apply for a scholarship only to later find out its a fraud) and how competitive the scholarship is. Anybody have any advice on how to best use fastweb.com in my scholarship search?</p>
<p>swimcatsmom--i am looking out of state and trying to get a full ride (i sent my NMS College Reporting Service thing to USC and Texas who i heard give pretty good NMS money). at my instate school (Univ. of Ariz) i would get a full ride for sure (my dad is the track coach at UofA and my mom works in the UofA registrar department, so my tuition is like $500 WITHOUT any scholarship at all). So basically, say it comes down to $20K a year for a USC education compared to possibly MAKING money going to school at the UofA, i would most likely choose the UofA. For the timebeing, I'm trying to do all i can to get a full ride to a out of state school</p>
<p>The best bet is to use multiple scholarship searches (<a href="http://www.scholarshipexperts.com%5B/url%5D">www.scholarshipexperts.com</a> - <a href="http://www.AIE.org%5B/url%5D">www.AIE.org</a> - <a href="http://www.fastweb.com%5B/url%5D">www.fastweb.com</a> - my favorites) and save the local and state scholarships. You may only get a few state/local awards, but those are the ones you should focus on first. The scholarships you don't want are the ones that have eligibility requirements like "all HS students with a 2.0 GPA or higher" - that means everyone in the country could be applying!</p>
<p>The more exclusive the eligibility, the better your odds are to start. So pay attention to each scholarship's requirements. Your local chamber of commerce should also be able to help you locate some more local scholarships.</p>
<p>To prioritize which scholarships you will spend time applying for, I would approach in the following order: </p>
<p>1: Local/State/School specific - lowest competition and best odds of winning </p>
<p>2: Major, Clubs & Personal Info specific - If you know what you want to major in, look at the professional organizations in the field for networking, scholarships, and other benefits. This would also include scholarships for disability, ethnicity, religion, and similar considerations.</p>
<p>3: National awards - that are 'lottery style' and do not take a lot of effort to apply other than a short essay (1-2 pg) or registration (bad odds of winning, but some are easily signed up for)</p>
<p>4: National awards - that require lengthy essays, projects, or other creative work (high effort, bad odds, but sometimes a large cash amount and/or prestige)</p>
<p>So you may only want to apply for a few scholarships from each search location. Obviously, apply to as many as you have time to apply for. It just makes sense to start with your best odds and work from there!</p>
<p>definitely apply for local scholarships first. go to your high school guidance office on the first day of school and load up on scholarship apps. you have a better chance at winning in a local level then national level. apply for the WALMART & SAM's one you may have a higher chance of winning that one then the Best Buy or Lowes. so yaa and check out u're parents corporations and companies.</p>
<p>get a 3 ring binder with sections for each month and a calendar page. As you come across possible scholarships, place them in the notebook based on due dates and mark your calendar -- work on them as you have time, apply for anything you might have a chance at, keep mailing supplies paper, letters of recommendation and transcripts etc. on hand. Make a list of ECs, awards and the like so you have it handy....have friends & family do some searching for you, a good job if parents or others want to help...good luck!</p>
<p>i agree with ubiquity.... your guidance office/career center person will be your best friend, lol.</p>
<p>Like Sharry, I feel that being organized really will help. There are too many dates and requirements to remember without organization. I kept a list in a folder with all the dates and requirements along with all the items possibly needed (along with what Sharry listed, I also kept ACT scores, grading system from our school, and a resume of sorts with all the info). For us, fastweb was a great place to start during the summer before senior year and then the counselor had all the locals. And like hsmomstef said, google your interests and major...that is your best bet along with local stuff.</p>