<p>My HS just opened "application season" for our local city/town scholarships. Besides getting the applications in on time, do any parents who had kids go through this process have any good tips or need-to-know info? Since many parents and older people are on the advisory committees for these scholarships, what distinguishes an applicant from others in your opinion? How do you make a good impression with an scholarship application?</p>
<p>At our high school, there was a file in the guidance office where these scholarship applications were found. Not too many students took the initiative to look through these files to see which scholarships they were qualified for and to apply. My daughter did take this initiative and was well rewarded with several small scholarships, totalling about $3400. For example, one scholarship was specified to go to a female member of marching band, one was based on writing an essay about a teacher who had inspired, and one was for community service. For the latter two, multiple scholarships were awarded, I believe 5 and 12 respectively, so the chance for someone who puts together a decent application is pretty high. These applications did not take very long to complete, and it was a very good result in terms of dollar per hour of time expended by my daughter, especially compared to the hourly pay at her part-time job. </p>
<p>I must say that other local scholarships (not the ones I mentioned above) do take into account financial need, so that someone not in need will not get them regardless of their qualifications. For example, my son applied for and was interviewed for a scholarship awarded by a local Engineering Society. It was awarded (deservingly so) to a student from an inner-city area near us as need was part of the criteria for the scholarship.</p>
<p>The great majority of ours were need-based, too. S did get small ones from the Music Parents Society and from his former Little League, so you never know what's out there till you look! (ironically, he'd qualify for the needs-based now. Oh well, we never time anything right!)</p>
<p>I think the main thing to do is just be sure to identify everything you could qualify for and get all the apps in--many students just don't.</p>
<p>If your school has a website, look at it, they sometimes list the scholarships available. Another trick I learned, there is another public school in my area that has a better website, and they listed EVERY local scholarship, and they all pertained to me because I live near it (except for the ones designated for that school). It was amazing. I suggest that.</p>