Applying for Scholarships Online
The technology revolution has made the world readily accessible from the comfort of your home computer. With the click of a mouse, you can pay your bills, check the latest scores, and order that pair of shoes you’ve been dying for. Commerce isn’t the only thing that has become more convenient, however. More and more universities are moving towards a paperless system for their admissions process. Today, most colleges give you the opportunity of applying with a paper application or by utilizing the online version of the same application. As colleges are moving towards electronic applications, so are organizations that offer scholarships. Where it used to be that much of a scholarship applicant’s time used to be eaten up going to various universities and private organizations to obtain applications for scholarships, today one can find a myriad of scholarships available with the help of a popular search engine like Google™ of Yahoo™.
Applying for scholarships online has many benefits. First of all, it’s free. Utilizing an online application means you don’t have to pay for postage (or those pesky overnight fees if you’re running behind) nor pay printing costs for essays. Also, applying for scholarships online eradicates the uncertainty of wondering whether or not your application made it to where it is supposed to be in one piece, as most applications either provide you with a confirmation code once your application has been submitted, send you a confirmation code, or both. For many applicants, this piece of mind is invaluable.
Another benefit of utilizing an online application for scholarships is that it usually eradicates the common applicant-error of missing a question. Most online applications alert the applicant of a vital question has been left blank. Some online applications will even let the potential applicant know if they have not met eligibility requirements by factoring the answers provided. This is a great service because many scholarship applications are thrown out for incompleteness or because the applicant thought they were eligible, but were not.
There are, however, a few things to pay attention to when filling out a scholarship application online:
- Make sure you attach your essay appropriately! Most applications have the option for you to cut and paste the body of your essay into a text box or to attach a file. I suggest doing both. That way, if the file you attach cannot be opened for some reason, the reviewer of the application will still have the body of your essay to read. Along these same lines, it is best to save your essay in pdf format. Not every computer uses MSWord or WordPerfect, but every computer can open a pdf file.
- Many online applications still have a component that must be mailed. For instance, most scholarship applications have a signature requirement, and unless there is a PIN set up for each applicant, it is often necessary to print out the signature page and send it in. Also, letters of recommendation still have to be mailed for the most part. The last thing you want is to not have your application reviewed because you forgot to mail in a component.
- Remember that your application is being submitted and tracked through your email address. Therefore, make sure your email address is appropriate for an application. In plain English, that means that you should NOT be using an email address that has the words “HOT”, “XXX”, “69”, or the like anywhere in it. The best suggestion is to set up an email account for application purposes that is a variation on your name through a free server like gmail or yahoo. Also, if you are on MySpace or FaceBook, it is not a bad idea to set your accounts to private.
Are there any drawbacks of applying for scholarships online if you follow the above guidelines? Unfortunately, yes, although these drawbacks tend to be technical in nature and more of an annoyance than an actual con to the pro of online applying. But, seeing as how they do exist, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t at least mention them.
- Your computer could freeze. Basically, if this happens, you have to start all over.
- You hit “submit” and the application doesn’t send. Once again, there really isn’t much you can do about this if it happens. Sometimes there’s a technical support number you can call. Sometimes there isn’t.
- You have no internet. If this is the case, go to your local public library where you can compute for free.
The technology age has made everything more accessible to people from all walks of life. This is true for scholarships as well. As more and more companies and organizations go wireless, the applicant pool widens. So make sure you are prepared!