by Sarah Fellows
For many high school seniors, by the time you have completed your college applications and turned your attention to scholarships, it’s too late for some awards. Whether you delay because of procrastination or because you are preoccupied with college applications, if you snooze, you lose. To make sure you don’t miss out on scholarships, bermudascholarships.com recommend the following:
Begin Your Scholarship Search At The Start Of Your High School Senior Year
The number one reason most high school seniors miss scholarship deadlines is because they do not start their scholarship search soon enough. Even if you are not sure what college or university you plan to apply to, begin identifying scholarships you can apply for as soon as possible. It is easy to create a ‘shortlist’ on this website – and remember to include the ‘non-specific’ awards too which do not specify a particular area of study.
Get Organised
If you start organised, you are less likely to miss an application deadline or forget to ask for a letter of recommendation. Create a spreadsheet of the awards you want to apply for, their criteria (e.g. essay, documents), along with their deadlines.
Start Preparing In Advance
Make scholarship applications a part of your normal homework routine. Work on them a little every day. Establishing a routine will prevent you from being overwhelmed and ensure that you don’t turn in hastily completed, last-minute applications. Contact your school or college to provide authenticated copies of your grades and the Government Department of Immigration for a letter stating proof of citizenship if the scholarship requires it. You usually have to pay a fee for these.
Find Out What Scholarships Are Available
Your best scholarship research sources include: bermudascholarships.com, local newspapers, career fairs and your school guidance counsellor.
Find Out What Scholarships Are Available Outside Bermuda
Use the links below to find out what scholarships are offered to international students who want to study in the US, Canada and Britain.
For the US:
- scholarshipexperts.com/
- usastudyguide.com/Financial_aid.htm
- edupass.org/finaid/undergraduate.phtml
- goodcall.com/scholarships
- societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/scholarships
- pgsf.org (Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation)
For Britain:
For Canada:
- studycanada.ca/english/scholarships_canada_international_students.htm#u
- infozee.com/canada/financial-aid.htm
Reuse Your College Application Essays For Scholarships
You can often save yourself some time by editing your college admission essays appropriately and reusing them for your scholarship essays.
Submit Your Application Before The Deadline
If you have all your required documents uploaded and are not waiting for any transcripts or reference letters, you can go ahead and hit the ‘Submit Application’ button before the scholarship deadline. If the deadline arrives and your on-line application is not complete, you can submit it but either add a file explaining what is missing and why or contact the award provider to explain.
Don’t Despair Even If You Do Miss Some Application Deadlines
Remember that even if you miss some deadlines or don’t receive any awards this year you can reapply next year and for many scholarships you can reapply all the way through college.
This article was published in the 2019 edition of the Rg Scholarships
