Hi, I was just wondering why I am having such a hard time receiving scholarships. I am my high school salutatorian, I have a 4.0 GPA, a 32 ACT score, and I have hundreds of volunteer hours, and thousands of extracurricular activity hours. I also show leadership because I am president of two clubs. I do not know what more I could do? I have applied for 35 scholarships, and have had no luck so far. Any advice??
Can you afford college without scholarships?
Scholarships are very competitive - one way to think about it is to consider that every single high school in the U.S. has a salutatorian.
There is nothing wrong with you. You did your best, that is all you can do. You will not get an offer if you don’t try for scholarships, but that doesn’t mean that you will either. I understand that it is frustrating and a lot of extra effort to apply and write all of those essays.
@SavingSavy Are you trying for local scholarships or the online scam sites?
I am mainly trying for local (city) scholarships and state scholarships. I am trying for a few national scholarships (DAR, etc) here and there. I thought I would at least have effort with local scholarships, but I am wrong.
Did you apply to colleges that have great scholarships for your stats? That is the best way to get the best scholarships…from the colleges!
I applied to over ten scholarships at the two colleges I applied to, and received nothing. I am just very puzzled as to why I did not receive an academic scholarship at least.
Yikes. Do you need help with the essays? Your stats are great.
My mom is a writer, so I had her help me write my college essays, and I then had multiple teachers/peers read them, and they all agreed they were fantastic and personal. I just do not know why I cannot get scholarships?
What can I do more of to increase my chances?
Are you sure you the scholarships have already been awarded. Do you need scholarships to attend college?
What schools did you apply to?
Most aid in my experience can have an element of need.
Most aid also seems to come from the colleges.
Have your schools given you your financial aid package?
Did you apply to any schools that meet need and can your family manage the EFC?
I do need scholarships to attend college, because I have to pay my way. And yes, most of them have been awarded. I believe only five or so have yet to be announced. I have kept a list, and I have been rejected for most all of them.
@emeraldkity4 I applied to both Marquette University and UW-Milwaukee. I did receive a financial aid packet from both schools, but I did not receive much aid. We look wealthy on paper, but I am solely responsible for college, so I need scholarships. And what is the EFC?
If you have to pay your way, the best way is to choose very high merit automatic scholarship colleges like Alabama. Large scholarships are too competitive. If you HAVE to take a gap year there are options like AmeriCorps. http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/AmeriCorps where you can earn money. http://www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/scholarships/americorps-vista.php
Did you apply to any colleges with guaranteed merit awards based on your stats?
Does your family have financial need…or not? Did you also apply for need based aid?
If you got no scholarships from any of your colleges, I hate to say it…but you applied to the wrong schools. If you really need to have merit aid to attend college, you might want to take a gap year, and apply to schools where your chances for merit aid are high.
For example…I believe you would have gotten full tuition, guaranteed with your stats at University of Alabama if you had applied before December 1.
Does anyone know if University of Alabama Huntsville is still accepting applications and awarding their scholarships?
Personally, I had greater success with national scholarships than I did with local/“uncompetitive” ones. I’m really not sure what’s up with that, but it happens sometimes. I hope things work out for you; many national scholarships haven’t notified applicants yet.
did you apply to ANY colleges that give assured merit for stats? If you didn’t, WHY did you not do that???
If you need a lot of merit, then you need to quickly apply to a few schools that will still award large merit…
UAH
Mississippi State Univ
there are others…
I don’t understand WHY someone who needs merit didn’t apply to schools that would give HUGE ASSURED merit.
Also look at CityYear if you take a gap year. Deadlines are soon. For that and AmeriCorps.
What is your FAFSA EFC? How ‘wealthy on paper’ are your parents? Where does the money go? (Unusual medical expenses? Private high school?).
How much will your parents contribute?
How far do you live from UW-Milwaukee? Tuition is only about $10k per year.