Scholarship Alert!!! 10 tips for success in applying for scholarships (Part Two)

I assume you have read the first part of this two-part blog post, so I’ll jump right in where I left off.

Tip No. 6. If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.

Once you begin applying for scholarships, keep a file filled with previous applications; your large-essay document; smaller essays you have written for each application; a list of all your extracurricular activities, awards, honors and letters; letters of recommendation and transcripts. There may come a time when you receive a scholarship application days before it is due for submission. If you have a file with all of the right information, completing the application will be a piece of cake. For this reason, make sure that some of your letters of recommendation say “To whom this may concern,” or some other generic heading. This allows you to submit the letter with any application. If you are going to use the generic-heading option, be sure to pay close attention to the date. You don’t want to send a letter in September that has a January date. Always have three or four copies of your transcripts on hand. This makes life a lot easier when applying for scholarships—trust me. If you have everything at your disposal, applying for scholarships is no longer a cumbersome task. An application can be in and out of your hands within an hour or so.

Tip No. 7. Work the minimal amount of time possible.

The more time you spend working, the less time you have to search for scholarships, build relationships with your professors and participate in extracurricular activities. It is imperative that you use the time you spend in school to focus on school. You have the rest of your life to work; work isn’t going anywhere. Unless you are a nontraditional student who has a spouse and/or children, do not work anymore than is absolutely necessary to pay tuition and bills. Shopping and vacationing is unimportant right now (this is coming from someone who loves to do both). You will only be in school for a few short years, so use this time wisely. You will never again have the opportunity to be fully engrossed in campus life unless, of course, you return to school fulltime to obtain another degree. At this point in your life, if school is all you really have to worry about, then only worry about school. Don’t take on responsibilities you don’t have to take on. Spend your time studying, going to school activities and providing community service. You will not regret it, and it will make your scholarship application stand out.

Tip No. 8. Apply, apply, apply!

No one who didn’t apply for a scholarship ever received one—well, not to my knowledge. Apply for every scholarship for which you are eligible. This will greatly increase your chances of receiving at least one scholarship. I have found that the more scholarships for which I applied, the easier it was to apply for additional scholarships. I also found that the more scholarships I was awarded, the more scholarships I continued to receive. It was a law of attraction that I had never experienced. So again, apply, apply, apply! You can’t go wrong by applying for a scholarship. What’s the worst that can happen? Even if you aren’t awarded the scholarship, you have gained experience, and the next application will be that much easier. If you don’t see the results of your hard work immediately, don’t give up. Continue to apply until you begin to see results. Your hard work will pay off in the end.

Once you begin to receive scholarships, pay close attention to my last two tips.

Tip No. 9. Stick to a tight budget.

As an undergraduate nursing student, I would not have survived had I not had the good sense to create a budget. Once I received enough scholarships to quit my job, my budget became VERY important. I only received scholarship money once per year, for the most part. I had to figure out how to make the money I received in September last until the next September. Unless you receive a scholarship that pays out each semester (or quarter) or unless the scholarship money is disbursed in a nontraditional fashion, you will only receive the money prior to the beginning of the fall semester or quarter.

Here is my advice for how to deal with this situation: Figure out how much you spend each month on rent, necessary bills, gas, groceries, etc., and move that amount (plus maybe $200 for incidentals) from a savings account to a checking account each month. Spend only the money in the checking account! You have to make yourself believe that the money in the savings account doesn’t exist. This is what I did when I was in college, and it worked well for me. In fact, I still use this tip for managing money.

Tip No. 10. Become more involved.

Once the scholarships start to roll in, show your gratitude by doing more on your campus and in your community. The purpose of scholarships is to provide you with added income so you don’t have to work so much, and you can focus on your academic experience. This doesn’t mean just spending more time studying; it means spending time being involved in things you may not otherwise have been involved in, if you had to spend all your extra time working.

The 10 tips I have given you are not exclusive to undergraduate students. In fact, I still follow each of these tips myself, and my undergraduate career ended more than seven years ago. At the master’s level, scholarships are not as easy to come by, but fellowships are plentiful for doctoral students. At each level of your education, these tips are helpful.

If you have any questions about what is written in this two-part blog post, please post in the “comment” section below. Be sure to share these tips with your classmates and colleagues. Don’t keep them to yourself. And good luck on your applications!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

Scholarship Alert!!! 10 tips for success in applying for scholarships (Part One)

The cost to attend college and, especially, to major in nursing, can be very high. Of course, obtaining an associate degree in nursing will be less expensive than obtaining an entry-level master’s degree in nursing, although both are prelicensure programs. I know the struggle to pay for education, and I have been very successful at funding mine. I try to encourage others to apply for scholarships and grants, whenever possible.

Case in point: In an undergraduate nursing class, for which I was teacher’s assistant this past quarter, I presented “Tiffany’s Link of the Week” at the end of almost every session. I would show the students one or two websites of use to them as nursing students, paying special attention to the scholarship or funding section of the website. Following the end of the quarter, several students asked me to speak with them in more detail about the process of applying for scholarships. Instead of e-mailing each student individually, I decided to write this blog post. (This is Part One.) To all my awesome freshmen and transfer students, this is for you!

Tip #1. Condense your scholarship search to increase the likelihood of receiving the monetary award.
There are many scholarships and grants available for nursing students. There are scholarships for students who live in a certain area, attend a certain school and have parents who are military veterans, and there are scholarships for students of every ethnicity and religion, and for both sexes. Once I decided I wanted to use scholarships to fund my education, I used a strategy in searching for them. I only applied for scholarships that were given to students who lived in my city, county or state; majored in nursing; were African-American; were members of my student or professional organizations; or attended my school. I realized early on in my scholarship journey that sticking to these categories decreases the number of applicants I compete against and, in turn, increases my chances of being awarded the scholarship.

Tip #2. Network, network, network!

I was never shy about telling people I was looking for scholarships. My professors, my campus mentor, members of my church, people in the scholarship office—everybody knew I was on the lookout for scholarships. When people are aware of your needs, they are willing to help you reach your goals. I became very familiar with the staff in my campus scholarship/financial aid office. I visited the office frequently during what I like to call “scholarship season.” I noticed that most scholarships become available after January 1 and are due on or before April 15. During this time, I made trips to the scholarship/financial aid office weekly and perused the application stacks. I would take only those applications that met my criteria (see Tip #1), and I’d begin the application process immediately. For more tips on successful networking, see my RNL article "Going up? Intentional networking works."

Tip #3. Write a winning essay.

Most essays ask for the same types of information: What past adversities have you overcome? What are your professional/career goals? What extracurricular activities do you participate in? How will this scholarship help you achieve your academic/professional goals? What awards or honors have you received? My advice is to create a document that answers each of these questions at length. Then you can easily pull information from that document to meet the criteria—subject and word count, for example—of the specific scholarship for which you are applying. If you begin with a large document, it is a lot easier to narrow the essay portion down. I recommend writing one page to answer each question. This will give you more than enough information to pull from when writing an essay for a scholarship application.

Tip #4. Secure strong letters of recommendation.

I have always been very relationally driven. I enjoy establishing academic relationships and mentorships with my professors, so I have never had much of an issue receiving letters of recommendation. If you don’t know any of your professors, choose one or two whose classes you really enjoy, and get to know them outside of class. Meet with them during their office hours, e-mail them to let them know how you’re doing in your classes and converse with them about your future goals in the nursing profession. If professors know you on a personal level, they are far more likely to write a letter of recommendation for you than for classmates of yours about whom they know nothing. When a letter is written, keep copies of it, either electronically or in hard-copy form, and always ask the professor to save the letter on their computer, as well. I’ve learned that most scholarship applications ask for one or two letters of recommendation. The only application I have ever completed that required four letters was my application to UCLA. The point here is, if you have three or four professors who will write letters for you, you’re set!

Tip #5. Remember that extracurricular involvement is important.

Scholarship donors want to give to students who are well rounded. It’s great that you have a 4.0, but what do you do, other than study? Membership in a campus or community group shows you have interpersonal skills, especially if you hold a leadership position in that group. It also shows you desire to give, as well as receive. Giving of your time to a sorority, student nursing organization or community service group is very telling of the type of person you are. You don’t have to be involved in everything, but you should be actively involved in something. Narrow down what it is that you love to do and find a club on campus that is filled with other students who love to do it, too. If there is no club, start one! I started several clubs during my time as an undergraduate and, more recently, as a doctoral student. Trust me, it’s a lot easier than you think. You don’t want to join a group just so it looks good on your application; you want to join to give yourself something enjoyable to do outside of school.

I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’ll save Tips 6-10 for my next post, but be sure to read them. And, if you haven’t already “liked” my nonprofit’s page on Facebook, please do so. I often post scholarships, using the tagline “Scholarship Alert!!!” The name of my non-profit is Kyrie Mentoring Academy. You can access the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KyrieMentoringAcademy.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.