For the vast majority of us high-school students, our education has only just begun. I know, I know; that’s not exactly what you wanted to hear right about now. But it’s true. Our educational economy is pushing the number of years it takes to achieve a modest level of affluence higher and higher, and that’s because the high-school diploma is depreciating at such a rapid rate. It just doesn’t mean anything anymore. Now, the bachelor’s degree has taken its place, and, in some cases, even that’s not enough. Unless we pursue our higher education by some other means, we need to start thinking ahead and preparing for a college education.
There are many ways that we can get ready for college. While still in high-school, we should certainly strive to study our very hardest and learn as much as we can in the time that we have. Many of us plan on earning a secondary education, but we think of it as the Grand Final of our high-school days, something to procrastinate about and put off until the bitter end. As with many things in life, adequately preparing ourselves in advance can save a lot of time and energy, as well as save us from a lot of frustration. For those of you who know that you should be doing something but don't know what, The Cracked Pot published a list of Ten College-Admissions Tips in its April edition. Hopefully, you can get a better picture of what sort of preparation you can be doing now as you begin thinking about college.
Colleges are just tricky. There's no other way to put it. To be accepted to the college of your choice, you have to submit an application, usually in the spring before the semester you’ll be attending. That means sending out applications before you even graduate from high school, if you plan on going to college immediately after you graduate. But, to apply for college, you usually need to have already taken the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), and also have gotten your score back. According to The College Board’s calendar for 2007 testing dates, this would mean taking the SAT, at the latest, on June 2nd, and registering for this test date no later than April 27th. Now we’re back in your junior year, when all you're thinking about is "When's school over?" and "When can I do what I want to do?" Applying for college scholarships can be a similarly harrowing, time-consuming process that catches you off your guard.
Joshua Wilke, a Potter’s School junior, took the PSAT and received the National Merit Scholar Award. It earned him around $20,000. “The scholarship was automatically given to me,” he says, “based on my performance on the PSAT combined with my high school transcript and GPA.” The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) offers the National Merit Scholar Award to high school juniors for high PSAT scores and an excellence in academic studies. Only 15,000 students of the approximately 1.4 million entrants receive the finalist award each year.
A college scholarship is basically a sum of money given to you by someone (usually a rich someone, or a committee of rich someones) who wants to invest his or her capital in your future. “Why would somebody do that?” you ask. Well, there can be a variety of motives involved, including charity, the selfish goal of attaining tax-break benefits, or the bet that you will use your education to bring back a financial or social return on the money that you were given. Many wealthy individuals want to do some good in the world before they die, and so they’ll start a committee which selects and awards scholarship funds to a predetermined number of students each year. In doing this, the benefactor hopes, in giving away money, that the student will reach his educational goals while at the same time using his education to bring about social change, or some progress in a particular field of study. This is a win-win situation, as the benefactor feels good about what he or she has done, and the student receives the education he so desired.
When Potter’s School student James Corrin applied to the United States Air Force, he received the ROTC, three-year, type-two scholarship, which provided him with $15,000 each school year as well as a monthly stipend. For the $45,000 that the Air Force provided, he will have to complete four years of active duty service. James also completed, in his estimation, “well over 500 pages of questions, essays, medical paperwork, and security clearance items” and received congressional nomination for free tuition to the Air Force Academy (worth an additional $380,000). As with the ROTC scholarship, he will have to pay this back after he graduates in 2011 with five years of active duty service and two years in the reserves. By filling out reams of paperwork, going through several interview processes, and promising eleven years of service, James will receive an education that costs over $400,000.
I hope you realize by now the importance that every single dollar can have when you're pursuing a higher education. College scholarships can help, but you have to plan ahead, and you have to know what you’re doing. There are a couple of very important items that you’re going to need in order to start receiving scholarship money. First, you need some way of finding the scholarships in the first place. If you already know which college you want to attend, then you’re ahead of the game. Many colleges and universities offer a cornucopia of scholarship opportunities to their students, which your advisor or the admissions office can bring to your attention. But, if you’re at all like the other 95% of us, then, at best, you think you have a pretty good idea of what you want to do after high school, but you’re still lost when it comes to colleges and how to pay for your education.
Here’s what you do. Get on the Internet and search for college scholarships. The Internet, in as short a time as a decade, has become a wonderful storehouse of information, and, yes, there are even websites dedicated solely to finding college scholarships for you. I recommend FastWebs as well as Scholarship Experts. Combined, these two powerful engines will search through over $15 billion worth of scholarships to find exactly what you need. Not that you’ll get all $15 billion, but you will have quite a few scholarships to choose from by the time your search results come in. By answering all of the questions that these search engines will ask you, you essentially download the most pertinent information about yourself when it comes to scholarships.
After you’ve finished the lengthy process of completing your profile on these search engines (it took me nearly an hour and a half just for Scholarship Experts), the service will bring up a list of scholarships that it recommends, given what it has learned about your academic history, your college degree plan, your membership in any national associations, as well as basic, personal information, such as ethnicity and country and state of residence. Take the time to do your research for these scholarships and choose the ones you think you have the best chance of winning.
Samantha Young applied for and was accepted to the Eagle Scholars Honor Program at Northwestern College. “The application required two essays, one answering the question of ‘What qualities do you think an Eagle Honors Scholar should exhibit?’ and the other addressing ‘What vows, or commitments of follow-through, would you make if accepted to this program?’ Additionally, the application required two pieces of scholarly work. One work had to be an essay between 1,200 and 3,000 words. The other piece of work could be another writing sample, or something more ‘abnormal,’ such as original artwork or musical performance recordings.” The scholarship that accompanies the Eagle Scholars Honor Program awarded Samantha a total of nearly $50,000 to put towards her college tuition. To keep her scholarship, she must maintain a GPA of at least 3.65 and take Honors Level courses.
From looking into various scholarship opportunities, you’ve probably realized that you need a few things before you can start applying. Many scholarship applications require applicants to submit an essay, either on a specified subject or on the subject of your choice. They do this for a very good reason. Your essay represents you to the commitee. It's the single most important part of the application, since it personalizes your application. How well you master English grammar and sentence construction, how natural your writing voice sounds, and the originality of your thesis lets the scholarship committee know whether they’d be making a wise investment by awarding you the scholarship money that you’ve asked for. An essay doesn’t tell them everything, though, so the application may also ask you to submit a variety of additional materials. Hopefully, you’ve had the opportunity to practice your essay-writing skills during an English class at The Potter’s School. If so, you are well-prepared for the scholarship application process. Having such basic tools as a calendar to record scholarship deadlines and a schedule for yourself to follow in completing them can make an incredible difference. Remember: writing takes work and, like anything else, it takes time. Those scholarship essays won’t write themselves; you’re going to have to manage your time effectively to pace yourself if you’re to reach your scholarship goals.
Another thing that you should realize is that some, but not all, scholarship applications will ask you to submit one or more letters of recommendation. Start collecting these from teachers, community leaders that know you, adult friends, and anyone who has interacted with you professionally. You want to choose people who know you well enough so that they can vouch for your qualities and character as a person. Choose these individuals as you would personal references for a job.
You may also need a high school transcript to apply for certain college scholarships. Because The Potter’s School does not offer transcripts for its students, you and your parents will need to sit down and organize all of the activities, classes, and extra-curricular programs you’ve been a part of and list them by year. There are a great many resources available to homeschoolers that will demystify the transcript and break it down step-by-step in a way that is easy to manage. Like the letters of recommendation, not all scholarship applications will ask you for your high school transcript. Since you already need a transcript for college applications, though, you might as well come up with one now.
Joanna Griffith, a Potter’s School student, competed in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy (VOD) Audio Essay Contest last November. Each contestant submitted a three- to five-minute audio recording of their essay. Joanna received first place in the state of Colorado, earning $1000 towards her college education. She also won second place in the American Legion’s oratorical contest in Colorado, earning her an additional $1000.
Applying for college scholarships is like sending out a manuscript for publication, applying for a job, or even applying for college. You have to realize that not everyone will accept your application, and so you need to send out as many of them as you possibly can—some for scholarships that you’re fairly confident of getting, others for those that are more of a long shot—and then leave the rest up to God. He knows what you need even better than you do, and He knows who needs that money the most. Remember, it doesn’t cost you hardly anything at all but your time to apply for college scholarships, and, as a high-school student, the time that you spend filling out paperwork and writing essays will pay itself back many times over in the long-run.
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