How to graduate from high school with many scholarships?

Question

Hi, i want to graduate from high school with as many scholarships as possible. I am applying to the unversity of waterloo as an engineer, and there are only 3 scholarships!!! How do people in my school graduate with 10 or more scholarships??? I want to have as many as possible. Preferably people from Canada, Ontario.

Answer 1

Students are usually lucky if they get 2 or more.  Not many people get scholarships because for every scholarships there are usually 2,000 or more applicants.  That means that you have to be the BEST out of all of the 2,000 students.

Scholarships are very difficult to get and there are specific things they look for when selecting a recipient. The following is a list of things that you usually have to have to get a scholarship.  

You shouldn't just have 3 or 4 of these, instead you should have a combination of all of these:

A Theme:

They like you to focus on a theme like animals, homeless, cancer reaserch, children, etc. When you do extracurricular activities, they don't just want you to do random ones, they want you to focus on 1 or 2 main topics/themes because it shows that you care about what you are doing instead of just picking random activities so that you can put them on a scholarship application.

Volunteer/community service:

Volunteering and community service is one of the most IMPORTANT things that a scholarship provider looks at. That alone can determine you getting a scholarship or not. You HAVE to have volunteering on your app.

You should be volunteering at least 200 hours a year, but you really should be volunteering around 300-400 hours a year if you hope to get at least a couple. Also you don't just need a lot of hours; you also need to have been doing the volunteering for a couple of years. So if this is your Senior or Junior year and you have never done any volunteering before, it would just look like you are trying to do a last minute catch up. So volunteering should be started 7th grade to Freshman year and no latter than sophomore year.

Sport:

They like you to also do sports on the side. It shows that you like to be active and be part of a team and that you do not quit very easily. Just another nice thing on your application, but a sport is not necessary.

Leadership:

You should have leadership to go along with your volunteering. Leadership is VERY important, it shows that you are willing to lead others and take action. You should ALWAYS have leadership on an app.

GPA ( and a few consider transcripts):

Most scholarships don't look at your GPA that much. They might set a limit, like anyone over a 3.5 GPA can apply, but just as long as you meet the requirement, they usually don't put too much focus on it. But its not a good thing if you are under a 3.75, you should be AT LEAST over 3.75 GPA.

Hardships and challenges overcome:

Lots of scholarships look at your hardships. Divorce and depression is one that many people use, and its such a popular one that they don't always look at those challenges. Some they might look at is the death of a mother/father, moving to the country, not speaking English, etc.

Whatever it is that you have experienced, you NEED to show that you have overcome it and learned from it. They want to see that you have learned and have more experience from the situation that you were in.

Financial need:

Financial need is also a biggy. A lot of scholarships require you to have a financial need, and to prove it too with tax documents.

Past awards and recognitions:

You should usually have a list of awards that you have received. You should list at least 6. This is where you can list National Honor Society membership, honor roll, etc.

A clear goal or career:

Scholarships providers want you to have a clear goal and know where you are going in life. You should already have a career planned out, those who know what they want are usually more successful (that’s the way they look at it), it shows dedication.

To find more info and scholarships you can visit fastweb.com

Its a really helpful site.  Just use google too.

Answer 2

The secret is to apply for as many as you can find. Many community organizations offer scholarships (Lions, Optimists, DAR in the states) as well as WalMart. There are also engineering association scholarships you can apply for.

Just do some web surfing and apply for all you find. Warning: do not apply for any that require you to pay a fee.

Happy hunting!

Answer 3

There are scholarships for everything and most aren't focused on career goals its just a way for people to feel good for helping others or get a big tax break.  Seriously my friend got one for writing an essay about how much he loves duct tape.  Go to your high school's career center or whatever they have where all scholarships are also ask the people in charge there if they have any local scholarships which are easier to get.  If your school has a scholarship award night there are usually some forms you get teachers that actually like you to fill out, you write a couple essays, get some letters of recommendation and most people that file for those are guaranteed at least $100.  At my school I got one of the best ones its a full ride but I have to go to community college first and I have to pay for everything first and then get reimbursed.