Winning scholarship money isn't easy, but...

Despite the plethora of scholarships available, it isn't easy to win the contests and bring home the money. Although I continue to be enthusiastic about pursuing these monies, I don't want to give the impression that winning lots of money (or even smaller amounts) is easily done.

It takes a lot of work.

It requires diligence. It requires a continued effort, sometimes on many fronts.

The lesson plans we provide here at Scholarship Prep are really just a beginning. They do a tremendous service to our students, because it gets them into the mindset to offer up their work and their abilities to judges outside of the home and outside the school's boundaries, who will compare their work with that of hundreds - possibly thousands - of other students who also seek to win.

But I don't want you to be ignorant, dear reader, about the odds of winning. Most of the scholarships we have at our disposal are open to any and all students in a country composed of millions of people. In a recent report, the U.S. Census Bureau shows 17.5 million students enrolled in high school (Grades 9-12) in the year 2006. The scholarships we bring to you here are pretty much open to all 17.5 million, dependent only on those who wish to participate.

What ARE the odds in some of these contests?

We try to bring you contests that offer several prizes, so that more than just the top dog actually wins something. The odds of winning these scholarship contests are:

Show us your best facial feature (closed 11/19/2008)
23,676 entries, competing for 5 prizes totalling $ 2,350
Winners must fall in the top 0.02%.

Essay Contest on Second Amendment Rights (closed 12/1/2008)
Over 1100 entries competing for 8 prizes totalling $1,900 in savings bonds
Winners must fall in the top 0.7%.

Of course, none of this takes into account the talent and effort of your student. Those who take a greater effort to do well in a contest are far more likely to succeed and become a finalist, hopefully in the running for a decent prize.

But the odds are steep.

Seeking bigger bucks

This is why I encourage you to also prepare your student for scholarships which are provided by the specific college your student may attend. Often called institutional scholarships, these are doled out by the college to individual students whom the college wishes to attract. For those students who stand out from the crowd, through some type of merit (academic, music, talent, sports), colleges wish to sweeten the pot, so to speak, and woo such students by offering large amounts off regular tuition.

Once your student meets basic eligibility requirements for these scholarships, the odds change tremendously. Only a certain number of students may compete. Many colleges offer several scholarships. The dollar amount of scholarships are fairly high (which is why I call them Big Figure Scholarships).

The best thing we parents can do is to prepare our students to be ready for those big figure scholarships. I believe that working on many contests in the early years does indeed prepare our students to look ahead and to push themselves harder than they otherwise would. But if they rarely win at these smaller scholarships, that doesn't mean they won't win at the bigger contests.

You may have already read of our experience (see Our Story) with our daughter's pursuit of scholarship money. I remember one essay contest she entered with tremendous enthusiasm, spent weeks digging and pursuing her research, and went through several drafts and rewrites until her essay was in tip-top shape.

The result? She competed against 800 contestants and was one of 50 finalists - in the top 6% of the participants! Yet only the top 4 finalists received a prize: that's 0.5% of the contestants. The largest prize was $2000. Was it a wasted experience? I think not.

First of all, she never would have worked this hard for a simple grade on a standard project in the regular classroom. She pushed herself far more for this contest. She learned to do her very best.

Second, her name on the list of honorable mentions gave her something to list on her resume of accomplishments and recognitions.

Third, being a finalist helped her see herself as good enough to keep trying.

Seeking better odds

And try she did. But we sought better odds and fewer competitors. When she was invited to scholarship competition at one selective private school, she competed against approximately 240 students. That year, the school was offering a minimum of 40 big figure scholarships. Suddenly, the odds were far better: 16% of the students would win. She walked away with $68,000 in scholarship money.

So perhaps you can see why I encourage you to look beyond these smaller scholarships and to seek the big money. (That's what our online program is about.)

Wherever you look, and whatever sources you use, I wish you well in your search as you seek the best for your student!

Don't waste another day wondering how to get your student competition ready! Purchase our online program today! -- satisfaction guaranteed, fully refundable up to 60 days after purchase. What have you got to lose? Purchase now.