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Tips on Finding and Securing Scholarships
“Not to quote Charlie Sheen, but we want to create a culture of winning,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of the financial aid Web sites finaid.org and fastweb.com on Friday morning.
Mr. Kantrowitz was encouraging students to strive for excellence in applying for college scholarships, speaking on a panel entitled, “The Importance of Private Scholarships and How to Succeed in Winning Scholarships,” part of this year’s College Board conference.
His principal tip was volume. “The trick to winning is to apply to lots of scholarships,” he said.
All students – including the “very lucky and very skilled” – will get far more rejections than they will get wins, he said.
Jeffrey Cipriano, an undergraduate atFordham University who recently completed the scholarship application process, agreed. Mr. Cipriano said that he applied to approximately 30 programs and wound up winning four or five awards.
He attributed his success to networking, saying that he canvassed his family and friends for scholarship opportunities. His aunt wound up referring him to an Elks Lodge scholarship, which he won.
Mr. Cipriano emphasized the variety of underpublicized scholarship opportunities that research can uncover. “There was even a bowling alley a couple towns over that gave out a scholarship to left-handed bowlers,” he said, incredulously.
In order to find opportunities more formally, both Mr. Kantrowitz and Mr. Cipriano referred scholarship seekers to Web databases, including those of the College Board, Peterson’s College Search and Fast Web.
Additionally, Mr. Kantrowitz suggested, students would be well-served to take a look at the coupon section of the local newspaper for listings.
Once scholarship targets are set, discipline and regimented scheduling are key in meeting deadlines, Mr. Cipriano said.
Mr. Kantrowitz encouraged students to seek out past winners of scholarships that interested them, as a way to solicit advice from successful candidates on writing essays and interviewing.
He also recommended sending a thank-you note following an interview, emphasizing that because so few applicants do so, the action really stands out.
Finally, Mr. Kantrowitz said that even if rejected, students are well-positioned to benefit from the feedback on their application. He noted that many programs will send a reviewer’s comments upon request, and he advised students to seek them out.
“Those comments are often quite specific, and if students address them in a subsequent application, they often win,” he said.
Beyond winning, Mr. Cipriano mentioned a happy byproduct of the scholarship application process: a first draft of his college application essay.