<p>Do people actually win scholarships through things like Fastweb and other services? I mean, I'm applying for a ton, and I suppose my attitude is that I really have nothing to lose by it, but I don't personally know anyone who was awarded an outside scholarship through one of these sources.</p>
<p>On a related note, other than fastweb, does anyone have any reccomendations for applying for outside scholarships?</p>
<p>Well, my son applied for some from fastweb last year and did not win them, but applied for a couple again this year, so we shall see. The main problem with ones listed through fastweb and such is that so many people see them and apply, so competition is tough. </p>
<p>The easiest to win are smaller, local scholarships. Your school guidance office should have information on these. Also have your parents check with their work places to see if they offer any scholarships. My son just won one through his dad's local union. It was only $500; however, there were three being given, and three kids applied. Couldn't ask for better odds! He also applied for one through the national union, but that is a bit more competitive.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I'm actually a freshmen in college trying to transfer, so I really can't look in the school's guidance office (my experience with my university is that the scholarships advertised are specific to the university & I don't yet know where I'll be next year), but I'll look into my mom's business.</p>
<p>Yeah I was wondering about the Fastweb scholarships too... has anyone won any recently?</p>
<p>Somebody must win. But it probably is the same person winning multiple times (i.e., star student from the entire state). But I've not heard about anyone winning anything other than a thousand or 2 hear and there. The only way to win one of these schollarships is the smaller local ones which have limited application.</p>
<p>I'd recommend people concentrate on researching schools which provide merit scholarships... thats where the real money is.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the school I'm going to be attending doesn't give merit based scholarships... :-/</p>
<p>The US News and World Report personal finance section lists some late-deadline scholarships in their recent issue. Some of them we had already seen on Fastweb, so we concluded that with the already stiff national competition, that additional publicity would make winning extremely improbable. But someone does need to win. We don't personally know any students at my son's HS who are bothering to enter, since most require essays. Is entering common among top students where you guys are? I'd also like to know if you have to be practically desitute to win.</p>
<p>Most of my class did enter a few of the scholarships on Fastweb, but so far, i don't think we've had any winners... but i'm sure the extra publicity won't help our case...it's also really frustrating that most of them announce winners after you've made your college choice, whereas a win could tip the balance in favor of another school...oh well, i guess i'm just going to have to wait...</p>
<p>The only thing that I've seen people have luck with is regional scholarships, or the scholarship programs (such as coca-cola, Gates...), which do appear on FastWeb, but you don't necessarily need their search engine to find out about them.</p>