Scholarships

Top 10 Tips On How To Win A College Scholarship

Top 10 Tips On How To Win A College Scholarship. This is the best place if you are looking for direction on how to win scholarships for college. Full of free resources, guides and a ton of tools!

How To Win A College Scholarship

Scholarships are privileges given to some set of students usually outstanding students that cover for the tuition fee of their schools for a certain year or years. Are you a student that wishes to win a scholarship for yourself? Do you know the measures you have to take to successfully win one?

I have the answers to your questions as I have arranged a set of helpful tips that would be useful in winning a college scholarship.

Read Also: How To Get A Scholarship With These 5 Proven Tips

What is a college?

A college is a tertiary institution that usually offers undergraduate degrees. Sometimes, colleges are used interchangeably with a university. When called a university, it usually comes with an undergraduate and graduate program.

What are the categories of colleges?

One thing we should understand is that we have two types of colleges and they are:

  1. National/local colleges
  2. International colleges

What are the tips on winning a college scholarship?

There are various things one must put in place before winning any college scholarship. I have identified some of them and put them down as 10 tips which are:

  1. Get information on ongoing scholarship programs
  2. Apply and take note of deadlines
  3. Do not just rely on one scholarship program
  4. Know the competitors you have
  5. Get information on the subject areas set if there be any exam
  6. Start studying properly
  7. Ask for letters of recommendation from individuals that know you well
  8. Search for information about past winners
  9. Dress properly for the interview or exam
  10. Do not give up if one of the scholarships program fails to shortlist you

Read Also: 8 Tips To Apply And Win A Scholarship In Developing Countries

Top 10 Tips On How To Win A College Scholarship

1. GET INFORMATION ON ONGOING SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS

Information is very key in anything that one does in life. Information must be valid and usable; the first step one must take before winning any kind of scholarship is getting information on the programs available. Without getting information, you might miss a lot of opportunities without idea of the available scholarship programs.

Getting information on a particular scholarship involves a lot of things. Some of things you should get information about include:

  1. The name of the scholarship program: that is, you should know how the scholarship program is sponsored.
  2. Who can apply: it is very important that one gets valid information on the eligible candidates for the scholarship programs. It is a norm that the eligible candidates are always stated in any scholarship program memo because you do not want to apply for scholarships you are not eligible for.
  3. What is required: it is very important also that one gets information on what is required of every candidate of the scholarship program. For instance, some scholarship programs memo would state that only people with first class can apply for the scholarship while some might say it is open to all students. Some of the scholarship programs might ask for national identification card or probably one of your certificates or even a signed transcript from your school. It depends on what the scholarship board wants.
  4. Method of shortlisting students: it is very important also that one gets information on the method of shortlisting students so as to get prepared on time. Most times, the ways of selecting successful or outstanding candidate is through an examination, successful candidates would be selected if they pass the examination. Again, other method of selecting candidates may be through essays or through interviews.

All these are things you must take note of whenever you want to get information about a particular scholarship. If you feel confused on how to get tangible information about scholarship programs, then you can use the internet. If a scholarship is offered by an organization, then they must have a website.

2. APPLY AND TAKE NOTE OF DEADLINES

Once you have gotten substantial information on the ongoing scholarships available, it is then time for you to apply. It should be noted that before you make attempt of applying, you must have gotten the necessary documents or must be eligible to apply. This is because your application would not be considered if you do not meet the criteria.

Applying for the scholarship is not just the end. You have to take proper note of deadlines, if you haven’t gotten any of the required documents; you should do so before the scholarship closes. You cannot apply for scholarship when it is passed the deadline because your application would definitely not be considered.

3. DO NOT JUST RELY ON ONE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

If you truly want to win a college scholarship, you should not rely on just one. This is because a lot of people are actually qualified for the scholarship program but they only get to select a few people. I have had instances of applying for one scholarship program but I was not shortlisted for the exam. This is because most scholarship board might pick people randomly and probably, luck might not be on your side on that particular day.

One way which you can deal with this is by getting a handful of information of many scholarships that you are eligible for and apply. At least, you would get lucky with one or two or even more.

4. KNOW THE COMPETITORS YOU HAVE

Another important thing you need to now is the competitors you have. The question you should ask yourself is; “are my competitors local or international?” This is important because the way one would prepare for a local scholarship program is quite different from how one would prepare for an international scholarship.

You should know that if you are applying for an international scholarship that the competition would be more because it is open to many countries. Once you have been able to identify who your competitors are, you will then make plans on how to be outstanding and ways by which you would achieve this.

5. GET INFORMATION ON THE SUBJECT AREAS SET IF THERE BE ANY EXAM

I have said it before now that information is very key for anything you are doing. The next step you have to take is get information of the subject areas if you are going to be sitting an examination. Whichever way you choose to get this information, make sure it is a reliable source. The reason for this is because I have had a lot of cases of people preparing for a scholarship examination without any idea of the subject areas they would be sitting for.

You should also get this information because you do not want to prepare for an exam studying chemistry and end up seeing general studies on the day of the exam. You can get information on the subject areas to be set for any scholarship by asking those who have taken the scholarship examination before. However, if you do not have anybody who has taken the examination before then you can check the internet for information.

6. START STUDYING PROPERLY

If you want to win a college scholarship, you have to set plans for achieving that. If there be any exam for you to take, then you should make plans to study properly before that day. One of the measures you should take is making or creating a study plan for yourself. You should be determined to remain consistent with your study plan.

A study plan should be properly written with goals for you to achieve as well as ways by which those goals would be achieved. You should always adhere to good study habit for a good outcome and better assimilation. Here are some of the good study habits you should adhere to:

  1. Do not read or study on the bed
  2. Do not eat while studying
  3. Do not read with terribly loud music
  4. Do not read where there is too much noise
  5. Do not read aloud
  6. Do not trace what you are reading with your fingers
  7. Avoid any form of distraction while reading. Distraction can come in different ways. Today, many youths and teenagers are always distracted with their phones, learn to put it away.
  8. Do not read on an empty stomach
  9. Do not read with dim light

All these are good study habits which if can be adhered to, you would be able to recall a greater percentage of what you have read. You should be able to make goals like studying for a period of two hours without distraction.

Also, if by chance, you are able to lay your hands on practice questions for the examination, then you should study and solve them properly. While doing this, you should try to motivate yourself if you get the answers right. This would make you want to perform better when next you solve the questions.

7. ASK FOR LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION FROM INDIVIDUALS THAT KNOW YOU WELL

Some scholarship board would request that you get letter or letters of recommendation from people before applying for the scholarship. You can easily get this from people that know you very well. However, if you do not have anybody available to make you a letter of recommendation, you can ask for places it is being done, but one negative part about this is that you would have to pay for this service.

If you are asked for a letter of recommendation and you do not provide one, then you will not be considered for that scholarship program.

8. SEARCH FOR INFORMATION ABOUT PAST WINNERS

One way to perform excellently well is by getting vital information about past winners of scholarships. There are so many people out there who have benefitted or are benefitting from one scholarship program or the other. You can engage them in helpful conversations on how they were able to get the scholarship successfully. They can then tell you how they made their study plans or whatever measure they took again to win the scholarship.

However, if you feel that you do not have anyone who has benefitted from any scholarship, then you can always make use of the internet. They have been many interviews conducted for people that have won different scholarships at different times. It will be really helpful if you read this up.

9. DRESS PROPERLY FOR THE INTERVIEW OR EXAM

There is a popular saying that goes as “The way you dress is surely the way you would be addressed” you should note that if you are going for any interview or examination for any scholarship then you must dress properly so as not to be seen as an unserious person. Here are measures that might be helpful for you in dressing properly for an interview or a scholarship

  1. Do not expose any private part of your body as a lady.
  2. If you are a guy, you should avoid sagging
  3. Iron your clothes properly
  4. Do not pick odd or too flashy colors because it is usually a turnoff. Black and white are mostly considered as official colors.
  5. Do not fix long lashes as a lady
  6. Also avoid fixing long and flashy nails. You can even avoid fixing nails at all
  7. Do not make extremely long hairs
  8. Do not use dangling earrings. It is totally unofficial

If you put these measures in place, I don’t think anyone would see you and consider you as improperly dressed.

10. DO NOT GIVE UP IF ONE OF THE SCHOLARSHIPS PROGRAM FAILS TO SHORTLIST YOU

Many people tend to give up or get frustrated if they do not get shortlisted for a scholarship exam or interview. This is why I mentioned earlier that you should not just rely on only one scholarship. It is normal that you do not get shortlisted for an exam. It doesn’t mean you have not met the required criteria; they most likely would have done the shortlisting randomly. Brace up, don’t lose hope, go ahead and apply for other scholarships.

TOP 10 NIGERIAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Here is a list of the top ten scholarship programs we have in Nigeria:

  1. Agbami scholarship for 100 and 200 level undergraduate Nigerian students
  2. Agip scholarships for undergraduate Nigerian students
  3. Mobil Nigeria Scholarship for undergraduate students
  4. Shell scholarship for Nigeria University students
  5. Shell/SNEPco National merit university scholarships
  6. Nigeria LNG Undergraduate Scholarship Award
  7. Total Nigeria scholarship
  8. Addax petroleum/NNPC scholarship program
  9. NPDC/SEPLAT undergraduate scholarship awards
  10. MTN foundation science and technology scholarship


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