Scholarships Tips and Tricks

Freshman & Sophomores

1. Start looking today. It’s not too early! There are scholarships out there for students of most any age. EVEN Freshman!!!
2. Talk to your Counselors and visit the school scholarship Webpage.
3. Your grades don’t to have to be perfect to get scholarships. However, your eligibility for scholarships increases GREATLY when you keep your GPA above a 3.0.
4. GET INVOLVED Early and look for opportunities to boost your leadership skills. There are lots of opportunities for students who exhibit leadership development. Leadership is not just limited to the Class Officers, it can include school club leadership, coaching or tutoring younger students, church leadership. You don’t have to be in a leadership position to show leadership skills, it can include organizing service projects, being a part of a planning committee, helping to organize church functions.
5. START Tracking SERVICE hours now. Do yourself a favor and create a service log. Every service project you participate it log the hours and get it signed off. Also look for opportunities to organize service projects with your school clubs, this links leadership and services…Colleges and Scholarship committees LOVE that! If you need a log see Ms. Thomas for a template and more information.
6. Start a College Folder, both electronic and paper. Keep copies of awards, recognitions, service log,s and saved college essays. This will help you later when you are in the application process. Start working on essays and resumes for the future it saves valuable time and headache in the future, so start early.

Junior Advice for Scholarships

1. Don’t slip on your GRADES, work hard and keep your grades up. STAY INVOLVED. You are almost there!
2. Search and Register at: 2 or 3 of the scholarship search site listed on the Webpage. 
3. Think about what your career and major, look for ways to be involved in these fields. Via Internships, part time jobs and VOLUNTEER opportunities in your field of interest.
4. Think about your references for scholarships. These should be persons who have seen your dedication and hard work. You need to give at least two weeks for someone to write a letter of recommendation for you.
5. Take the PSAT test!!! This will help to prepare you and give you valuable help to study and prepare for the ACT. The PSAT is the only qualifier for the National Merit Scholarship.
6. Take the ACT test at least 3 times, and plan on taking it again as a senior.
7. Talk to Ms. Thomas about summer leadership and ways to up your resume over the summer break.

Senior Advice for Scholarships

1. Take the ACT early so that you can take it again, and scores will be back before college application and scholarship deadlines. The December test is the last one for College application deadlines.
2. Check the school website, individual college scholarships, the college search engines and with MS. Thomas scholarships for application due dates.
3. Talk to your employer or your parent’s employer to see if there are scholarships offered by their company. Some companies will pay for school if you work for them for a certain amount of time after completion of your degree.
4. Get organized. Set up a file by months for scholarship applications by when they are due. And organize your college folder. Work on your essay questions and make them easy to tweak for each scholarship application. Look for priority deadlines and final deadlines and KNOW WHEN THEY ARE!!!
5. Plan on investing some time. We recommend least invest 1-2 hours a week, just think when you get a 1000.00 scholarship it will be worth that hour…. because you just made 1000.00 an hours. Submit early!!!!!!!. Don’t wait for the actual due dates. A lot of scholarships are first come first serve and applications will not be accepted late.
6. Apply to at least 3 schools, even if SNOW is your first choice you never know you might get a scholarship to your dream school. Don’t count out trade and tech schools there are scholarships available for those too!

Create a Scholarship Master Application

A scholarship master application gathers into one place the information required to fill in scholarship applications. This allows you to copy and paste information into the many scholarship applications you will complete. You may also use your master to fill in applications for employment throughout your life.

A master application divides your information into three parts:

• Specific details about you
• Lists of awards, recognitions, classes, grades, performances (athletic, creative, or other), and more
• Themes that describe your personality, accomplishments, and character

You may prepare your master application using Google Documents or another online word processor. You could also upload the documents to your UtahFutures account. Thus, you may access your master application anywhere you use the Internet. You will add answers to your master application as you encounter questions not included in this article.

Review your master application carefully and ask at least three other people to review and edit it for accuracy. This process will take time at first, but you will save time as you complete scores of additional applications.