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Hello my name's Amanda. I'm a senior majoring in education at Western Oregon University.
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We're going to start by discussing why you should apply for scholarships
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and where to look for scholarship opportunities.
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Later I'll share some great tips on making the application process easier.
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So why should you apply for scholarships? There are many reasons.
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The most important one is that receiving scholarships can offset your loan borrowing and save you money.
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Also if you received a scholarship that's an achievement you can add to your resume.
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And don't forget, while you're working to meet all the requirements of your scholarship application
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you're learning skills that will be useful after graduation when applying for jobs.
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One of the places you can look for scholarships is the Oregon Office of Student Access and Completion or OSAC.
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On this website there are $18 million worth of scholarships available
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and you may qualify for many of them.
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The great thing about OSAC is you can apply for multiple scholarships with a single application.
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Check out your options at oregonstudentaid.gov.
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Another great resource is community scholarships.
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Community scholarships may carry smaller dollar amounts but there will be less competition for them.
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Be sure to discuss scholarships opportunities with your high school counselor.
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He or she might know of some community scholarships
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or scholarships that previous students have been awarded.
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The internet will be your best resource for discovering national scholarships.
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There are thousands of different opportunities out there but you have to be persistent in looking for them.
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And of course admitted students can try for WOU scholarships
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using the general scholarship application.
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With one form you can apply to more than 80 scholarships available to WOU students.
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When searching for scholarships there are lots of free scholarship sites you can go to
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such as fastweb.com, unigo.com, and cappex.com.
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On these search sites you'll fill out your information and be matched with all of the external scholarships you qualify for.
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Hopefully you'll end up with a very long list of possible scholarships
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and you'll have to take time to sort through them.
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It's all part of the process of finding free money so stay focused and really learn from the experience.
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It will likely get easier as you sift through all the information.
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Before you start applying for external scholarships
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you should know that you're going to run into a lot of advertisements and a lot of forms asking for personal information.
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And once you submit your personal information you'll get even more ads.
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It's kind of annoying but it's part of the process.
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You have to give information to get information.
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Just be prepared to provide what's required on the scholarship application.
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There's going to be a lot of sorting through scholarships that don't apply to you.
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You'll have to spend a lot of time going through and reading all of the requirements
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to see if you actually qualify for each scholarship.
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You might even run into sites trying to get you to pay for scholarship listings.
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We recommend you do not go that route.
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Scholarships and scholarship search sites should all be free.
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Also don't forget the resources we talked about earlier.
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Community-based scholarships and your high school counselor.
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Community-based scholarship opportunities might not come up in your online searches.
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So you'll have to find them in a different way.
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Your high school counselor might know about them
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or you might hear about them if you're out in the community doing volunteer work or other application building activities.
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It's great to put your face out there to community members
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who are going to be the people awarding these scholarships.
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Your odds of receiving one is higher if people know who you are
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and see that you're out in the community doing good.
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Also some scholarships are only available to students who graduate from a certain local high school
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or whose parents work for a specific employer.
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Those are types of opportunities you need to be on the look out for.
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Here are some pro tips for applying for scholarships online.
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First create a separate email address you can use specifically for scholarship emails.
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That way you're not getting bombarded on your personal email account with lots of spam and ads.
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Second be prepared to find scholarships offered by corporations.
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These are usually legit scholarships
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but the application pool is probably very large.
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And if you win one the company might ask you to appear in ads on the company website or in press releases.
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We're not suggesting you don't apply for these opportunities.
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Just know how they might be used.
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Make sure to set aside time to do scholarship searches and fill out applications
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just like you would for studying.
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Many scholarship opportunities require similar materials
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such as an essay question or letters of recommendation.
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You'll find the application process much easier if you gather all this info ahead of time
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so you don't have to search for it while filling out the forms.
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Create a list of the awards you've won, the accomplishments you've achieved, and the volunteer work you've done.
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Save all your essays.
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Have pdfs of your recommendation letters ready to attach to applications.
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Finally you might want to partner up with a friend to sort through scholarship opportunities.
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That way you don't have to read through all of them on your own.
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You'll be able to screen a lot more opportunities and figure out which ones are the best fit.
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As you can see from this graph February through April is when a majority of deadlines for scholarships fall.
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Be sure to stay on top of things
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and remember to start applying before those deadlines are right around the corner.
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When awarding scholarships committees are looking for several different factors.
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One is your academic achievements.
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They'll look at your GPA, your ACT, and SAT scores
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and then any academic awards you might have received.
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They'll also want to see that you've done some volunteer work in the community
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or you've participated in after-school activities or clubs.
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Make sure to include any leadership positions you've held and whether you played sports in school.
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Typically scholarship applications include an essay portion.
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Committees expect it to address the prompt given and for the essay to be well-written.
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You want your essay to really stand out.
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Scholarship committees read thousands of essays so yours must be memorable.
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Of course selection committees want applicants who meet their ideal candidate profile.
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Don't waste your time and theirs by applying for scholarships where you don't meet the requirements.
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Some scholarship awards are made based on the candidates financial need.
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Be prepared to provide income info for yourself, your parents, and FAFSA information if asked.
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Now I'm going to finish up with some tips to make your scholarship application shine.
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Your job on these forms is to sell yourself.
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You need to show you're a great person who's worthy of their investment.
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Some ways to make yourself an ideal candidate are to get involved with your community and your school.
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Put your name and face out there in the community.
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A lot of applications want you to talk about your community involvement or your leadership experience.
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Make sure to keep your grades up.
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Fill out your FAFSA and have that information on hand when applying for scholarships.
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Take the time to give your essay the thoughtfulness it deserves.
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Donors love experience that is unique, impactful, longer term,
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self-initiated, cross-cultural, or related to your specific field of study.
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Before you begin writing understand the purpose of the writing and the motivation of what they're asking from you.
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Why have the donors asked you to write about this topic?
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What do they want to know about you?
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Analyze the organization. Why does it exist?
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What is this scholarship about for this organization?
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Why are they providing these funds?
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Put yourself in the shoes of the person who will be reading your scholarship essay
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and cater that essay towards them.
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Remember writing a scholarship essay is totally different than writing a school paper.
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In the essay you are trying to sell yourself.
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You are telling them why you are deserving of this scholarship.
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Be unique and interesting.
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Make sure your writing mechanisms are flawless and stay within the given word count.
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Don't stray from the prompt.
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Writing good essays is like a job, so treat it as such.
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Hopefully you're going to get paid for it in the end.
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Well that about covers this presentation on scholarships.
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I hope you've gotten some good ideas for how to find and apply for scholarship opportunities
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and I look forward to meeting you when you join us on the WOU campus.
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