Common Frustrations Students Encounter
Finding and applying for scholarships can be frustrating for many students of any age.
I’ve coached thousands of people to find and apply for scholarships. I’ve seen students succeed and students fail to receive the scholarship money they desired. I’ve seen changes occur in the types of scholarships offered and what committees seek to reward. My observations confirm the system we share for obtaining scholarships (at any age). I have also seen both successful and unsuccessful students become frustrated with the process.
Frustrations Finding and Applying for Decent Scholarships
Discovering decent scholarships became increasingly difficult in the past two years. On the one hand, it seems that more scholarships exist than ever before. On the other hand, it seems that most of the scholarships being offered qualified as scams and frauds just three years ago. As a result, identifying scholarships that you will apply to receive became frustrating. Here are a few of the issues that frustrate students.
I keep hearing from people about places to find scholarships, then discover that they no longer exist, or they were bought by some company and don’t offer help anymore.
I go to a source that seems legitimate and complete either their profile or use their filters. They provide me with a list of 100+ scholarships. However, only 4-10 of them apply to me when I spend hours exploring the scholarships on the list.
I get frustrated trying to describe why scholarship committees should give me their money. Sometimes I feel foolish even applying because my achievements aren’t that impressive. The fact that nobody gives me any scholarships confirms my feelings of inadequacy.
I apply for lots of scholarships but never hear back on whether my application successfully arrive, whether I won or not, and why didn’t I get any money.
I’ve spent so much time looking, and applying, for scholarships with no success. It’s so frustrating. I never should have even tried.
Possible Solutions to Resolve Frustrations
Nothing will eliminate all of the frustrations you will encounter. The process inherently includes frustrations. The following suggestions may help mitigate some of the frustrations.
Lower your expectations on how many scholarships will match your achievements. I used to teach 14 year old students that they could apply for 155 scholarships between then and their senior year. I reduced that significantly in the past 2-3 years to 40-70. More scholarships exist on paper, but many of them don’t seem to reward anything.
Recognize it will take 100 hours. Don’t get discouraged until you have completed at least 100 hours. Remember, if you only get $4,000 for the 100 hours, you still earned $40 an hour.
Don’t try it alone. Isolation enhances the frustrations. Collaborating with others help you get motivated when discouraged, and moving forward when frustrated.
Art courtesy of 123rf.com
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