7 Tips for Improving Your Scholarship Application

When Filling out your Scholarship Application, you need to first make sure that your
Scholarship Application stands out. Since scholarships award various amounts of money to
eligible applicants, you need to always assume that you are facing some sort of Competition. If you want to increase your chances of winning that scholarship, you need to improve the quality of your scholarship application.

In the section down below, we will be going over 7 tips that will help you increase your financial gains and also strengthen your college application. So these 7 Important Tips will definitely increase your chances.

Don’t dismiss scholarships because of their low-value rewards! Apply to as many
scholarships as you can, and always do your best when submitting your scholarship application. Have a great rest of your day, and don’t forget to smile. So the 7 Tips for Improving Your Scholarship Application is given below.

7 Tips for Improving Your Scholarship Application

1. Focusing on Your GPA (Academic Scores)

First and foremost, you need to focus on getting good grades in class. As a high school
student, your academic responsibility comes first, and that means you need to get good grades and maintain that high GPA.

If you are already getting low grades and can’t seem to find ways to improve, try asking
your teachers for personal assistance or sign up for one-to-one tutoring. If all else fails, why not try asking other students in your class who are already getting good grades?

It might be a humbling experience at first, but you will learn quite a lot from students who
are already acing in your class. Please keep in mind that learning is a growing process, and if you don’t know, it’s okay to ask for help since you are not expected to know everything!

In the United States, the academic GPA starting from 9th grade becomes very important,
so do your best in every subject. In addition, make sure to take all the optional classes that are offered on hard subjects, and if your school offers AP subjects, try to take those too!

2. Getting a High Standardized Test Score

Due to the continued pandemic, scores from standardized tests have become optional
for many scholarship applications. However, if you can sign up for standardized testings such as SAT or ACT, take advantage of the opportunity that is presented to you and take that standardized test.

Don’t be too discouraged when you get a low score since you can always take the same
test more than once. Since there is no limit, you can study using the free materials provided by College Board, and take the SAT or ACT over and over again until you get a high enough score.

You need to get a high score on your standardized test if you want to be considered for
full ride scholarships (which covers the entirety of your college education). In addition, getting a high score on that standardized test will boost your scholarship application since it provides another way to measure your overall academic performance.

3. Asking Early for Letters of Recommendation

If your scholarship application requires recommendation letters, you need to let your
teachers know ahead of time! Since you are asking them a favour, you need to provide them with enough time and information to write your letter of recommendation.

Don’t ask your family members to write your recommendation letters since the
scholarship committee will not take those recommendations very seriously. Instead, try to ask your teachers or your school counsellors who have spent much time with you during school.

4. Taking an English Proficiency Exam (If Applicable)

If you have graduated high school that does not use English as their language of
instruction, you need to prove your English proficiency through official means. Taking TOEFL or other types of English Proficiency Exams will definitely help you when applying for scholarships offered by US institutions.

If you want to apply for undergraduate admissions or a graduate program at an
English-speaking university, you have to show proof of your English proficiency, so if you are an international student who did not attend an English-speaking high school, you need to show proof that you can speak, write and read English fluently.

5. Working on the Actual Application Itself

Due to high competition, many scholarship committees try to evaluate applicants by their
writing capabilities. In order to test your writing skills, many scholarship applications now include an impromptu topic that you have to write an essay about.

When writing that essay, don’t turn in your first draft! After writing the entire essay, ask
your English teacher or one of your parents to proofread the essay for you. This will greatly
improve your essay quality, which can increase your chances of winning that scholarship.

6. Creating a Scholarship Schedule

Since you are not applying for only one scholarship, you need to come up with a timeline
that contains all the deadlines for your scholarship applications. As you will come to find out, different scholarships require different materials.

In order to send all the necessary documents to their respective places, you need to
prepare your scholarship materials ahead of time. Since we don’t want to forget an important submission, make sure to turn in your application as early as possible!

7. Apply, Apply, and Apply!

After improving the quality of your scholarship application, the next step is to increase
the number of scholarship applications. If you have already exhausted your scholarship options, try to spend one hour or two researching new scholarships.