Hand of White person in black plaid shirt pulling hundred bull out of jar

Why the Scholarship Search Matters, Plus Quick Tips and Tricks

Everyone wants scholarships, but not everyone knows you can win them for almost anything! Read on to see how your talents can help you pay for college.

Scholarships, at their core, are competitions that allow students to show off certain skills in order to win money to help pay for college. While most people generally think of essays, there is an array of options and requirements. If you can think of something, chances are somebody is willing to give you money for it. However, since they are generally competitive, that means somebody else also wants that money. So, how can you pull ahead?

The early bird gets the worm

Scholarships are not just limited to seniors—at least, not all of them are. While some are only for college-bound students, the majority are open to students of all ages. This means that even as a freshman you could start earning money for college. This also gives you a lot of practice, which means that with every essay or competition you enter, your applications will get better. It also means if you don’t get a scholarship, you have the opportunity to try again the following year. Or, of course, you can earn more money by applying for, and winning, more scholarships. There really is no downside.

Related: The Ultimate List of Easy Scholarships

Rinse and repeat

This tip is more specifically for essays or writing prompts. Don’t be content with just one draft. Tear it apart, look for anything, anything, that might bother you, and fix it. Then have a friend or teacher do the same thing. Repeat this process multiple times. This will not only allow for a more refined piece, but will give you more confidence in your work. You want your application essays to stand out!

The search continues

There is a scholarship for everything. If you don’t like writing, that is perfectly fine! There are artistic competitions, random drawings, or rewards for your heritage—even scholarships for red-haired, left-handed violinists. So there is no need to stress over essays. If you need help looking for scholarships that suit you, there are many resources. Besides talking to your high school counselor or teachers about upcoming competitions, there are many websites that are specifically designed to search for scholarships. These are free to sign up for, and they will often send you weekly emails with many opportunities. Most also have a section on their website where you can type in a keyword, and any related scholarships will pop up.

Related: Some of the Weirdest College Scholarship Opportunities

Now that you have some tips to help with scholarships and understand why it’s important to put in the effort to find and apply for them, you can start raking in college funds. Let this guide you to winning some great awards from some awesome organizations, and you can head off to college confident about your financial future. Good luck in your scholarship search!

Need an awesome resource to search for scholarships? CollegeXpress has your back. Check out our very own Scholarship Search tool!

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About Zia Sampson

Zia Sampson

I am currently a first-year student at Loyola University New Orleans, where I'm majoring in Mass Communications, both Strategic Communications and Journalism, and minoring in Sociology. I'm in the University Honors Program and the Social Justice Scholars Program. In my free time, I like to watch Netflix, sleep, and read. I am a big animal lover, with four cats and two dogs, and I have two older brothers and a twin sister. You can follow me on Twitter @ZiaSampson.

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (FL)

Daytona Beach, FL


Amari Toussaint

Amari Toussaint

High School Class of 2022

CollegeXpress helped me narrow my school choices down from 10 schools to four and then two. It also gave me information on a school I had never heard about or thought about attending until now, which is the school I will be attending in the fall. I am thankful for CollegeXpress and its helpful tools.

Carlie Cadet

Carlie Cadet

High School Class of 2019

CollegeXpress has helped me learn about an abundance of scholarships available to me and my situation. I was able to do research for colleges in my best interest with your website. I've had multiple colleges email me and offer me multiple scholarships and things of that nature because of this website! Thank you so much for uploading scholarships I didn’t even know existed, even if my life took a huge turn and I wasn’t able to go to college straight out of high school. CollegeXpress helped me a lot in high school to be even more motivated to get into my dream college (which I did, by the way). I'm looking forward to using the materials CollegeXpress has kindly provided me for free to look for scholarships to help pay for college.

Makiyah Murray

Makiyah Murray

High School Class of 2021

The college application process has been a stressful one, but CollegeXpress has eased some of that stress with its readily available college resources. At the beginning of the process, I frequently used the college search feature, and now that I’m almost done applying, I’ve started using the scholarship search. Both of these resources have made it easier to find relevant information.

Nazira Abdelkhalek

Nazira Abdelkhalek

$2,000 Community Service Scholarship Winner, 2014

I am very honored to be this year’s recipient of the Multicultural Student Community Service Scholarship! This scholarship is vital to helping me achieve and fulfill my dreams, and gives me confidence and motivation as I begin my college career. The CollegeXpress website has been invaluable over the past year as I planned my educational and professional goals. I highly recommend it to all students as they begin to focus on their college and career interests. The website is a wonderful guide to schools and scholarships.

Ruth Aguilar

Ruth Aguilar

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress helped me by providing me with many scholarship opportunities and information about universities I want to attend. What I love about CollgeXpress is how it provides a variety of information, and as the first child attending a university next year, it has been very essential and helpful. I’m so grateful for this because the information provided by CollegeXpress has also helped me see that there are so many college opportunities, and it always informs me by email. In other words, CollegeXpress has been like a guide for me as a future college student.