Scholarship Dashboard Full of Treats: New Features Have Arrived!

Even though ScholarshipOwl offers streamlined scholarships and an easier way to apply, there’s always room for improvement, right?

Of course, there is. As humans, we adapt to any new thing fairly quickly, and then we start noticing what might have been better. Hey, we are the same in ScholarshipOwl.

Since your experience is important to everyone on the team, we’ve introduced new features so you can apply (and win!) even more easily.

Enter the Scholarship Dashboard, your ultra-modern buddy, and control panel for applying and tracking all things scholarships.

Read on to find out about these precious little nuggets of convenience, and how you can now navigate everything related to scholarships faster and better than ever.

New / Seen Feature Immediately Gives You a Nice Overview of Available Scholarships

Have you ever encountered a scholarship and thought: This scholarship seems kinda familiar. Wait, did I see that one already? Did I want to apply or not? What was it about it…?

Phew… The thoughts and deliberation alone take the time you might have otherwise used to actually apply for a scholarship (and if you’re a serious overthinker, maybe even write a hefty essay).

No worries, cautious one! Satisfy your inner Libra (sorry, not sorry, Libras) by using the New/Seen feature. This feature classifies the scholarships you’ve already viewed and separates them from the new ones.

Simply click on the Scholarship matches tab – the scholarships written in normal letters (no emphasis) are the ones you’ve already seen, whereas the bold ones are brand new and previously unopened. Just like you would see new and read emails in your inbox.

Why is this important? If you want to revisit a scholarship you were thinking about but felt unsure, now you know exactly where to look. The same goes for when you want to view new scholarships – no need to plow through hundreds of those you had already discarded.

New Matches Notification Lets You Know the Number of New Opportunities

Speaking of new scholarships, we also provided you with a number indicating the sum total of new matches. To translate this technical definition – now you can see how many new, unseen matches, i.e. new scholarship opportunities, await you since the last time you logged in.

If you look at the Scholarship matches tab, the number in the orange badge (lower right corner) shows the new scholarships (391 in this case). The number on the right shows the total number of scholarships, i.e. both seen and new combined (402).

Therefore, at any point in time, you will know how many new/unopened scholarship opportunities you have in your Scholarship Matches tab. What you do with that is up to you – but be advised that many scholarships expire daily, so you should check the updates as they appear. You don’t want to miss out on great opportunities!

New Deadline Dual Timer, for Quick Glance and Detailed Overview

With many scholarships, you apply for (the more you apply, higher the chances you’ll win, as we like to say), it’s easy to lose track of all the deadlines, right?

Well, not really. Not anymore. Now, in the scholarships tab, you will see a reminder of the time left to apply – in days, weeks, or months. If you hover over this simplified deadline format, you will see the exact dates for when the applications should be submitted. 

Tick-tock now, but then TikTok when you win that scholarship and get the bragging rights!

Status Update Notification Shows How Many Submitted Applications Got Updates

That’s already quite a number of features, isn’t it?

Yet it’s easy to lose track of all the submitted applications running and, let’s face it, no one has the time nor discipline to check for updates all the time.

That is why we introduced the status update notification.

When you log into your dashboard, if you look at the submitted applications tab, you can see an orange bubble in the lower right corner. The number within this bubble indicates how many submitted applications got an update.

So you will always know what number of submitted applications requires your attention.

Submitted Applications Status Tracker: No More Fretting, You Will Always Know What’s Happening

This is a natural extension to the previous feature and a great way to show transparency in the selection process.

Basically, the status tracker shows you where in the selection process the submitted application is.

When you click on the submitted applications tab, you will see all the applications you sent. Depending on the current stage they’re at, underneath the amount of money awarded, you can see statuses such as “sent”, “accepted”, “choosing winner”, “winner chosen”, etc.

The idea behind this feature is twofold: a) it shows the transparency in selecting scholarships you applied for, and b) it eases the discomfort of not knowing what’s currently happening with your scholarship. Because now you will always know.

Ignore Scholarship – Need We Say More?

Maybe some scholarships just don’t make you feel like a fresh summer breeze rolling over your face in Disneyland, while you are eating candy on a rollercoaster next to your lifelong crush?

We get it. Do what makes you happy.

Other things you can just ignore, including the above-mentioned scholarships.

How do you do that?

Easy. When you open your scholarship tab, within every offered scholarship, there will be two buttons in the lower right corner: a heart and a circle with a line across.

Hearts are for crushes, obviously. And scholarships you don’t like – cross them, i.e. click on the circle with a line across, and they will go into the ignore pile (you can see it at the bottom left of the dashboard).

If you do have a change of heart about these scholarships and decide to give them a second chance, they will wait for you a certain amount of time in the ignore pile. Just don’t wait too long.

Started Applications Requirement Countdown – a Powerful, Simple, Elegant Productivity Buddy

Now here’s a real eye-candy and productivity booster! It will help you with the scholarship applications you started working on, but still haven’t submitted!

What do we mean by this?

First off, on the dashboard, the third tab refers to started scholarships. The number below is the number of applications you currently have open.

When you click on the tab, you will see the open scholarship applications – the ones you’re working on.

Now, in order to better visually represent everything and give you a more realistic sense of what lies ahead, we did several things. First, you can see the amount of award money. Then the number of applicants. And finally, the deadline, which is typically green, unless there isn’t a lot of time left – in which case it turns to red. So you better hurry with those.

All these will motivate you for the last feature within this particular tracker – the number of requirements you have fulfilled and still have to do.

So now you know what it takes.

Claim Scholarship Is the Cherry on Top, for All You Lucky Ones

Ah, the sweetest feature of all! If you get to try out this feature, congratulations! It means you’ve won! Yay, well-deserved!

This feature is reserved only for those applicants who have been chosen to receive a scholarship.

Basically, once your name is drawn, you have 72 hours to claim the prize before it is transferred to the next best winner.

So don’t waste it! Who wouldn’t want that money?

How will you know this happened? First off, in the submitted applications tab you will receive a new notification, signaling that there’s an update for one of your scholarships. We’ll also email you.

Then, next to the scholarship you’ve won, a countdown timer will have appeared! And next to it, there’s a button saying “Claim Your Award”! Your task? Simply click on the button before the timer runs out, and you’ll land on the scholarship provider’s page where you need to fill out a form and provide some additional info before you get the cheddar.

We’re so proud of you!

Bonus: Active and Closed Subtabs, Because We Just Can’t Stop With Good Things

Finally, to further make the overview easier in the submitted applications tab, we’ve split all these scholarships into active and closed. This way, you can easily see which scholarships are yet to be drawn – the active ones – and which ones are completed, i.e. the winner has been drawn – the closed scholarships.

Lots of New Tools to Know, Love, and Play With

ScholarshipOwl website has put on new clothes this spring, and we hope you like it. All the new features were added with you, the end-user, in mind, and how to make the time you spend behind the screen both productive and efficient.

The new features make navigating your applications and their status a breeze, so you can focus more on fulfilling requirements, getting the money, and focusing on your educational goals.

Now that you got to know them, try them out and have fun! Apply for new scholarships today and see all of these live, in action! See you on your scholarship dashboard!