Examples include earning a high GPA, doing well on the ACT or SAT and earning awards. Making the most of your high school experience gives recruiters and scholarship foundations more insight into who you are and what you have to offer them. Your work in high school will pay off for years to come, trust me. Students ahead of the game early on can make the most of their college experiences and have little to no student loans. Keep in mind that the people who review your applications are trained to look at a holistic view of the applicant, meaning that if your grades aren’t the best, you can describe the hardships or challenges that affected them through your personal essay. Another example is with your resume. If your grades aren’t the best, but you include on your resume that you’ve been working many hours to support yourself or your family, and your personal essay mentions this, then you will still stand out as a candidate.
Third, list what colleges and scholarships you want to apply to. Financial aid is offered at the federal level, like the Pell Grant; at the national level, with national scholarships; at the state level, with state-specific scholarships; and at the town/city level, with local scholarships. You can apply for scholarships through universities once you’ve been admitted as an incoming freshman. Looking at a long list of applications can be overwhelming, but remember that quality effort is better than quantity of applications, raising your chances of getting some scholarships. It’s better to put 100% effort into five applications over 50% effort into ten applications because there will always be students who put 100% effort into those ten, and they will win those ten.
