It’s summer! For the next three months, you have your freedom from school. You don’t have class deadlines to read books, write essays or study for tests. With this new found freedom, many students just want to go out and have fun. Going out and having fun is a great thing to do during the summer because you deserve it. However, in some of that free time, you should take the opportunity to start or continue your scholarship search.

There are millions of dollars of scholarships available – why shouldn’t some of it become yours to use for college? There are scholarships available for almost everything! You don’t have to have perfect grades. You don’t have to have a talent. Did you know there are scholarships out there for people that are left-handed, a twin or have red hair? There are scholarships like this and many others that are described as unusual.

Where Do You Start?
There are many great scholarship websites that you can use for free:

• Fastweb.com
• Scholarships.com
• Zinch.com
• ScholarshipExperts.com

Create free accounts at one or all of the above websites and start the scholarship search. The websites will allow you to provide information about yourself and as new scholarships become available, they’ll email you the details.

Get Organized

1. Organize scholarships in order of due date and set reminders to make sure you’ve submitted them on time.
2. Prepare a Resume/Brag Sheet
   • Include information about your academic achievements, extracurricular activities, jobs, internships, volunteer activities, talents and anything else that might set you apart from other applicants.
   • This resume/brag sheet is great to give individuals that will write recommendation letters for you.
3. Determine individuals that can write recommendation letters for you
   • Always ask people that know you more than just your name.
   • Always give them sufficient notice before you need the letter.
   • Give the letter writer your resume/brag sheet. It will help them to write a great recommendation.
   • See if you can get general recommendation letters from writers. This is helpful for scholarships with summer deadlines, or scholarships that you only find out about it a few days before it’s due.
   • Give the letter writer a copy of the scholarships information, even for scholarships you send in the general letter.
   • Always thank them for their help!
4. Gather required documents. Many scholarships require more than just an application and essay.
   • Request multiple official transcripts. The transcripts be ready to include in scholarship mailings.
   • Copy of SAT or ACT Scores.
   • Recommendation Letters

There are many scholarships available. Keep your eye out for them, prepare and apply. College is expensive and any amount will help!

Dedicate a little time each day to your scholarship search. Just a little bit of time can turn in to a lot of money that can help towards the cost of your college education.

Good luck with your scholarship search. And, don’t forget to follow my blog. Every Saturday I share a list of scholarships with upcoming deadlines.

Photo Credit: "Learning and socializing on the beach" by Ingo Bernhardt using cc by 2.0 - text added to original