How To Avoid The Most Common College Scholarship Mistakes

Every semester college students all across the country are pursuing scholarship money to help pay for their college education. Some are very successful in getting scholarships, and others aren't. So here are the most common mistakes that are made when pursuing college scholarships, and how you can avoid them.

1. One of the most common mistakes that students make when applying for college scholarships is to only apply for one or two at a time and then hope for the best. Instead, think of scholarships as a numbers game, where the more scholarships you apply for, the more you are most likely to get.

2. Another mistake that you want to avoid is not following the directions that are clearly stated for applying for the scholarship. Some students seem to just send off generic packets of information to every college scholarship program they can find, but this would usually only guarantee failure.

3. A scholarship application mistake that is often made is in filling out the form itself. Scholarship reviewers like to see the entire form filled in, so if there is a blank on the form make sure that it has something in it. Even if that particular section does not apply to you personally, just note that on the space provided.

4. Another deadly mistake that will almost guarantee failure in applying for college scholarships is sending out a sloppy application that is hard to read. If you put yourself in the place of the scholarship reviewers who will most likely be looking over several scholarship applications at the same time, you can understand why they will most likely not spend much time with applications that are very hard to read and understand. The best way to avoid this is to type in the information on your application, but if that is not possible be sure to write it in clearly and legibly instead.

5. Closely related to neatness is spelling and grammar. Even if the information in your scholarship packet appears neat and easy to read, it can still reflect badly on you if it is filled with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. So before you send off any scholarship information packet, be sure to have someone with good writing skills review the entire packet beforehand looking for all spelling and grammar mistakes that they can find. Also, it's a good idea to ask them for any suggestions on how to improve your essay at the same time.

6. Of all the mistakes that are commonly made each semester when students apply for scholarship money, perhaps the worst is simply not getting the application and packet in on time. This usually indicates that there is a failure to organize your schedule enough to get the job done. So don't let all your hard work go down the drain because you miss the scholarship deadline.

7. A common mistake that is growing in popularity these days is falling for college scholarship scams that are designed to separate students from their hard earned money. So if any scholarship program promises to do all the work for you, or asks for money or credit card information in advance in order to qualify for the scholarship, it's best to avoid this scholarship program altogether if you don't want to get taken.

These are some of the most common mistakes that are made when students apply for college scholarships, and hopefully by being aware of them you can avoid falling victim to the same mistakes yourself.

Discover 3 Common Misconceptions About Scholarships

When searching for financial aids, most students will think of "Scholarship", which is the free money sponsored by government and private sectors to students who meet their eligibility requirements. Many myths and misunderstanding about scholarships get passed around the halls of high schools and among the parents of students getting ready to go to college, causing them to focus too much energy on searching for these awards and get ignore on other financial aids sources which are more abundant than scholarships.

Before you start to search and win the free money: scholarships, you should understand the truth behind these misconceptions so you will not be taken in by them. Here are 3 of the common misconceptions about scholarships:

Misconceptions # 1: Billions of dollars' worth of scholarship money goes unclaimed

Among the biggest myth about scholarship is that billions of dollars' worth of scholarship money goes unclaimed each year, just waiting for a savvy student like you to come along and scoop it up. This misconception is potentially cause by certain marketing activities campaign conducted by potential scams which they use in an effort to get you to hand over your money to them.

The truth, according to most college financial aids offers, is that almost all available scholarship money is given out each year. There are some scholarships not awarded usually due to applicants who apply for those scholarships are not meeting the eligibility requirements. But these unclaimed scholarships are just a small percentage of the total scholarships given out each year, and those scholarships which are failed to be awarded usually have highly restrictive eligibility requirements.

You may hear about 75 percent of all private financial aid went unclaimed last year. The fact is this figure does not refer to scholarships at all. What is actually refers to is tuition assistance offered by companies to their employees.

Misconceptions # 2: Scholarships provides free ride to college

Many students believe that scholarships are the largest awards that can provide a free ride to college. If you think that by winning a scholarship, you will pay less for your college, you are wrong; your winning scholarships will not reduce EFC (Expected Family Contribution), in other word, EPC remain and the winning scholarship will be added into the total amount of financial aid that you have already received and an equal amount of aid from other sources is subtracted. In additional, scholarship awards are typically small, often under $1,000 and you may not even be able to renew the scholarship for all four years of college.

There are a few scholarship programs pay for your full tuition fee, but competition for the biggest prizes definitely fierce and these scholarships typically go to students with the best possible qualifications. Even you have the best grades and the highest score, you may not count on winning a full-tuition scholarship, your peers may have a better community service record than you, or more leadership experience. You may submit your application for these scholarships applications, but you need to put in place other financial aid alternatives to support your study if you fail to win a full-tuition scholarship.

Misconceptions # 3: Scholarships Only Go to The Best

Many students miss their chances to apply for a scholarship because they think that they are not the best, and they have no hope to win a scholarship. While it is true that the largest scholarship awards go to the academic and athletic all-stars, those make up only a very small percentage of all the scholarship programs that open to you. Most programs are awarded based on specific requirements such as your major, your place of living, whether you are from minority group, you are a woman or you have a specific talent & etc. So you may not qualify for the national scholarships or the huge athletic awards, you may easily find a smaller scholarship with more restricted eligibility requirements where you are uniquely fit into it.

In Summary

Scholarship is just one type of financial aids; there are still other alternative sources available where you can find money to support your college study. Don't be taken by the myth that there are billions of dollars unclaimed scholarships available because most of scholarship offers are claimed. The fact shows that not all scholarships go for the best, there is a scholarship waiting you somewhere. Keep hunting for those scholarships; don't give up before you put your effort to search for it.