Counselor Edition: Scholarship Applications Are Hard Work. It's Worth It!
Gianna and Derek's Scholarship Stories are different. The Goal is the same.
It is October and Seniors are probably working long hours on their College Applications.
That’s Awesome!
In addition, students should spend an even amount of time Researching and Applying for Scholarships that would help pay for their college.
Here are 2 Stories of students who wanted to make sure that they could pay for college.
They worked hard, but in different ways.
Derek Price - Singular Focus
Gianna Thomas - Wide Net
Derek Price - Singular Focus
Derek Price is at KSU. In his Junior year of high school, Derek realized that he needed to figure out a way to get Scholarships in order to pay for college.
Scholarships
Being in Georgia, he found 2 options:
The Hope Scholarship which provides money to pay for part of the college tuition in a Georgia college.
OR
The Zell Miller Scholarship which pays the entire college tuition.
Derek wanted the Zell-Miller Scholarship.
In order to qualify for the Zell Miller Scholarship, Derek needed to graduate High School with an aggregate GPA of 3.7 or more calculated using the core courses.
Derek’s GPA at that time was 3.3!
The Plan
Derek then created a plan to increase his GPA to 3.7 by the time he graduated from High School.
He would to take 7 Dual Enrollment Core courses,
Plus 4 Core classes in his HIgh School
With a plan to ace all of them to get to a GPA of 3.7!
The Execution
To execute on this plan, in addition to practicing good study habits:
He took 3 dual enrollment classes over the summer,
Remaining 2 per term during the school year in addition to his high school courses
He got all A's, something he’d never done before!
He was able to raise his GPA to 3.8, and qualified for the Zell Miller Scholarship!
Gianna Thomas - Casting a Wide Net
Gianna Thomas is a Freshman at Yale. Gianna’s approach to scholarship was to
Research and apply to lots of them,
Do it regularly.
So if you know you need a full ride to attend college,
Ensure that there are enough safety colleges on your list that are full ride; and
Never stop applying for scholarships.
One a Day
When Gianna was in her senior year, she made it a goal to apply to one scholarship a day:
It was a pretty loose goal with the scholarship amounts varying each week;
But having a goal like that really kept her motivated to keep seeking them out and really ensure that her college education would be covered.
Fruits of Labor
You might be able to get a number of scholarships with smaller amounts, or
In May, you might win your first scholarship like the Reagan Scholarship worth $40,000!
Or you may win just smaller amounts during the year, and then win the Coke Scholarship in March and the Reagan Scholarship in May like Gianna!
If you see other students winning all kinds scholarships, and you just got your financial aid package, you don't, you don't have enough money, you never know, because the biggest one might be waiting for you.
So your paths may be totally different, But what’s common is that you have to Apply for Scholarships!
Hope these stories are useful and inspire you to apply for Scholarships.
Listen to the Podcast with Derek Price of KSU Goldwater Scholar. (50-Minute Listen).
Listen to the Podcast with Gianna Thomas, Coke Scholar. (36-Minute Listen).
All the Best!
Have a Scholarship Story to share? Go ahead and do so here.
Thanks!
Thank You to All for supporting the Podcast and this Newsletter, and to all My Guests who have been generous with their time and counsel on my podcasts.
Have a Wonderful October!
Venkat