How to Increase Your Odds of Earning Scholarships with ScholarshipOwl

If you’re trying to figure out how you’ll be able to pay for college, you’re not alone. The cost of college has continued to rise, and despite the launch of the new FAFSA, the vast majority of students end up having to take out student loans to help pay for college. But what most of those students don’t know is that scholarships can make a huge dent in your need for student loans – and you might be able to avoid taking out loans altogether. If you are applying for scholarships with the ScholarshipOwl platform, you’ll find that it’s actually pretty easy to apply for scholarships. But you’ll still want to leverage some key strategies to ensure your success.

Be proactive and persistent with your scholarship efforts

This is one of the most important strategies for applying for scholarships. So many students don’t apply to any scholarships at all, or they give up after applying to just a few. But only students who apply actually have a chance of winning – and students who put in the most time and effort year-round will significantly boost their odds of winning.

Know what it takes to boost your odds of winning

Everyone wonders what their chances are of earning a scholarship, and they are especially focused on the idea of receiving a “guaranteed” scholarship simply because they are applying. Their thought goes something like, “I’m trying, and I really need a scholarship, so I should be selected as the winner.” But your chances of earning a scholarship depend on a variety of factors – and in many cases, you yourself are in control of those factors:

• The number of scholarships you are applying to
• The types of scholarships you’re choosing to apply for
• The quality of your actual applications
• The number of other students who apply for those same scholarships

Let’s look at this in a bit more detail. Scholarships are, by and large, a numbers game. The more you apply for, the greater your chances of earning a scholarship. But your chances of earning certain kinds of scholarships will be higher than others:

• Students love to apply for super easy, short survey scholarships and one-button-apply no requirement scholarships. You can and should apply to these kinds of scholarships, since they take literally moments to apply to, and someone will win – and that someone could be you. But of course, lots of other students will apply for these easy scholarships as well. As a result, your chances of winning these kinds of scholarships will be lower than other types of scholarships.
• Scholarships that require you to do something are always going to have better odds, because fewer students will apply for them. Some scholarships will ask you to write an essay, others will ask you to submit a video or artwork you have created. Some will ask you to create and share a social media post. While like most other students, you might not want to expend the time and effort it would take to apply for these kinds of scholarships, it’s well worth it – because instead of competing against a large pool of applicants, you might well find that you are competing with less than 100 students! And the more scholarships that you apply for that require something of you, the greater your chances of earning at least one of the scholarships you’ve applied for, if not more than one.

But it’s not just about the number of scholarships you apply for, or the types of scholarships you are applying for. It’s also about the quality of your submission. If you take a bit of extra time to thoughtfully put your essay together, or to put the finishing touches on your video, it will be well worth it, because many students will rush through the process without putting in that extra effort. So now your application will rise above most of the other applications, and you’ll have a real shot at being selected for the scholarship.

Utilize ScholarshipOwl to streamline and amplify your scholarship efforts – and to increase your odds of winning

The ScholarshipOwl platform is a game-changer. In fact, more students win scholarships on ScholarshipOwl than on any other platform. The reason for this is that there are a number of powerful tools and technologies that have been built into the platform that really optimize your scholarship application efforts.

Save time and energy

• No need to search for scholarships online. Once you create your profile in the ScholarshipOwl platform, you’ll be matched to scholarships. No more time spent Googling for scholarships because you’ll find plenty in the platform to keep you busy!
• No need to complete application forms. You won’t need to spend time inputting repetitive information over and over again on application forms because ScholarshipOwl automatically ports your profile data into each of the applications.

Dramatically increase the number of scholarship applications you submit

• • ScholarshipOwl takes care of the search and match. All you need to do is apply.
  • Automate applications for “no requirement” scholarships and recurring scholarships. Just access your account settings to opt-in to automatic applications and recurring scholarships. Now you can focus on the scholarships that take more time and effort.
  • Apply for scholarships through email. Keep an eye on emails you receive from ScholarshipOwl, because sometimes we will invite you to apply for scholarships right in your email inbox!

Access AI tools help you to focus on scholarships that are right-fit for you

While it’s awesome that you can increase the number of scholarships you apply for, you’ll also be able to really hone-in on the scholarships that you’re really interested in and that you have a better chance of winning.

• • Recommendation System: Our AI-powered weekly recommendations will suggest scholarships that we know you’ll be interested in based on what you’ve already applied for.
  • Similarity Engine: Each time you apply for a scholarship, our similarity engine will suggest other scholarships similar to what you’ve just applied for. You can re-purpose your essays and documents to quickly apply for those suggested scholarships.
  • Ongoing AI tool product development efforts: We are actively beta-testing some really exciting AI tools that will be launched in the very near future.

Focus on low-competition scholarships to really boost your chances.

• View Number of Applicants: Only ScholarshipOwl will let you know how many other students on our platform have applied to the scholarships in your match list. To increase your odds of winning, apply for scholarships that have only a small number of applicants.

Avoid scholarship scams by applying for vetted scholarships.

• Credibility Scores: Students often worry that scholarships they find online might be scams. ScholarshipOwl has its own credibility scoring system that enables you to apply for vetted scholarships with confidence.

Track your submitted applications.

• Application Status: Check the status of your submitted applications right in the platform – no need to create and maintain a spreadsheet.

Manage your time wisely

It is so important to have strong time management skills when applying for scholarships. One of the best ways to stay on track is to create a scholarship plan for yourself. Figure out how much money you need to make to reach your target. For example, let’s say you want to graduate debt-free. As a college freshman, you can take out up to $5500 in student loans. But what if you could earn that much in scholarships, or through a combination of scholarships and savings from your job? Then you wouldn’t have to take out those loans. And if you could do this for all 4 years of college, you could graduate debt-free. So with that in mind, you can create a doc or spreadsheet for yourself listing the $5500 you need to earn, and then setup a plan for how to achieve that.

• Write down your target of how many scholarships you want to apply for per week – ideally, at least 3 scholarships per week. Now, that may seem like a lot, but remember that with the ScholarshipOwl platform, you can streamline and amplify your scholarship application efforts. So it will take you less time than you might think to apply for 3 scholarships per week!
• Also jot down your monthly earnings from your part-time job, if you already have one. And if you don’t, you should get one!
• Line up a summer job as well, ideally at least 30 hours per week so you can earn and save as much money as you can.
• Then, figure out how much you’ll want to save from your job for college, and how much in scholarships you need to earn to at least make a total of $5500 between the two – and hopefully you can earn even more than that.
• Next, determine how much time you’ll need to apply for scholarships to hit your target of applying to three scholarships per week, and jot that down as well.
• Make a weekly schedule with specific blocks of time set for applying for scholarships.
• As time goes on, you’ll need less time to apply because the more you apply for scholarships, the better you’ll get at it, and it will be faster and easier to apply!

Stay motivated

One of the best ways to stay motivated is simply hitting your targets. So once you setup your plan, do your best to save the amount you planned from your earnings from your job, and also do your best to apply to at least 3 scholarships per week.

• Celebrate when you have hit your targets, and make sure your family knows when you are successful in meeting your weekly goals so that they can celebrate you too!
• Join the ScholarshipOwl community on Discord, where you’ll find over 20,000 students just like you, who can help motivate you, share tips and strategies, celebrate your successes, and commiserate when you have a bad week.
• Before you know it, you’ll get the great news that you’ve earned yourself a scholarship, and that will motivate you to keep going and get more!