Scholarship: How to get a scholarship for College

Full scholarships are also known as full-ride scholarships. It covers almost everything for the full three or four years of a college education. Once the tuition and living costs will be covered by the scholarship provider, leaving one free to remain focused on his or her studies and life without having to worry about cash or money.

Sadly, there aren’t too many such dream scholarships around these days. To discover how to increase your chances of being awarded one of these prestigious scholarships, read on.

Know where to locate the best scholarship schemes

First of all, where do you actually look to find full scholarships? Your first point of call should be one’s chosen college’s official website which may offer funding opportunities for qualified applicants from one’s location, one’s subject, or possibly write some external sources of scholarship one could apply for.

One could check other sites having such scholarship slots which have their Scholarships to study abroad page, listing funding opportunities in different studies, and many more.

Advance Preparation.

If you are aware that you will need a full scholarship to assist you to attend college, it is essential to start preparing as far in advance as possible.

This is especially necessary if you find you need to attend an interview – some colleges conduct special ‘scholarship weekends’ in which 50 – 100 students will be invited to campus to interview with a faculty member, answer questions on their goals and motivations and how it fits in with that college and course.

If you are to attend a scholarship interview, you should treat this as you would treat any other formal interview, dressing neatly and coming well-prepared with good answers for their possible questions, and also have a few questions to ask them when invited to at the end of the interview. Check out how to answer common admission interview questions here.

Work hard and be motivated.

Although some scholarships are based on financial need rather than academic excellence, some may take both into account, or only be rewarded to exceptional students. It goes without the say that you should be working hard in your studies, but you’ll need to put in the effort if you really want to get that full scholarship, as the majority are rewarded to the highest-achieving students.

In some cases, colleges may automatically consider applicants for scholarships using your regular college application, making good grades crucial.

While pushing yourself academically, you can be mentally exhausted, try and stay motivated by keeping your goal to yourself and give yourself a break now and then to relax (especially during and after exams).

Make yourself stand out from other applicants.

With so much competition to have a full scholarship, it’s crucial to stand out from the pool of applicants by demonstrating real contributions to bettering yourself as an individual.

This implies having a few extracurricular activities to show to scholarship providers, demonstrating your passions and likes outside the classroom, as well as the examples of times you’ve engaged with the local community, perhaps by contributing to volunteer work for a good cause.

Leadership skills are also greatly valued by scholarship providers and can be demonstrated by volunteering to lead projects in your extracurricular activities.

Another thing that may make you stand out from others when it comes to scholarship applications is a glowing report on your academic and personal abilities through your letters of recommendation, so it’s essential to build strong relationships with your academic mentors – if a mentor knows more about you, they’ll be able to provide a more personal and correct reflection of you in their letter.