FIRST Scholarships

[AJ Quick]

Does anyone else find the FIRST scholarships pointless? There are only a few that applied to everyone, most of them are only if you are going to a specific College or University.

Know of any good scholarship sites, other than FastWeb, and FIRST?

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

The idea of many of the scholarships, is that you already know roughly where you want to go. I don't know if you're a junior or senior, but for some schools, getting that scholarship money, could mean the difference between a student going there and not going there.

You may want to ask your guidance office for referrals to state sites.

Good luck

[Yan Wang]

[quote=AJ Quick]Does anyone else find the FIRST scholarships pointless?QUOTE]

No, I definitely don't. Spending a day applying for a scholarship and then getting $5000 from that day's worth of work to help pay for my college education is DEFINITELY something I appreciate. Thanks FIRST for gathering these for us participants.

[Ryan Dognaux]

I applied for Purdue's FIRST Scholarships, but I didn't get anything. I don't think they're pointless, but I do think they're way too specialized - too many engineering only scholarships. Not everyone wants to be an Engineer, although many do - and more power to em. This might be the reason why many don't apply for the FIRST scholarships - they know they will not receive them since they aren't going into an engineering field. I think if the scholarships were for engineering, science, and technology fields, then you'd see many many more people applying.

Just my .02 cents... back to figuring out a way to pay for college.

[Cory]

No, they definitely are not pointless.

They cover a wide variety of top notch universities, and can put a large dent in your tuition if you plan on attending such schools.

I believe last year's figures put the value of all the scholarships at over $5 million. There's no way you can claim that is an insignificant sum.

All that money, and it's still going unclaimed. We need to spread the word about the scholarships and get more people applying for them.

[Kiwi_queen]

I don't think the scholarships are pointless - they *do* help out a lot of FIRSTers, but I also wish that there would be more open scholarships and more scholarships for FIRST alumni already out of high school when needing to apply.

When I graduated in '03, I was heading to a university that did not (and still does not) offer scholarships to FIRST students (I went there 'cuz I couldn't afford any of the other colleges I got accepted to..*hint: that means scholarships from FIRST would have reeeaaaly helped*), and since I wasn't going into a technological field, I didn't qualify for any of the corporate scholarships offered through FIRST. As luck would have it, I later on realized that I would really like to work in a technologocial field and switched to a technological school the next year. But alas, this university only offers a scholarship to FIRST highschoolers, and I only found one corporate sponsor offering a scholarship to FIRSTers already in college.

So while I do think it is marvelous that there are scholarships offered to students in FIRST, I wouldn't mind seeing sponsors/colleges opening their arms a little further to embrace FIRSTers besides juniors/seniors in HS.

[GennyMS]

Originally Posted by Eugenia Gabrielov

The idea of many of the scholarships, is that you already know roughly where you want to go. I don't know if you're a junior or senior, but for some schools, getting that scholarship money, could mean the difference between a student going there and not going there.

If I get the scholarship I applied for I basically have a free ride for 4 years so I think they're great.

[AJ Quick]

My point was, how many of you out there are planning on applying to the schools that give scholarships? Sure there is money out there and that is good, but the reason why I have heard a lot of the scholarships go.. without anyone applying for them.

There are only a few that you can apply for, that don't require you to go to their community college, university or trade school. I have always been told, go check out those scholarships because they help.. but only 1-2 (corporate ones) actually apply to me.. the rest are.. "we'll give you $500 to go to our tech school" type deals.

[Termite233]

try www.fastaid.com i use so many scholarship websites so...and i actually am going to one college from the scholarship list so...

[Cory]

Originally Posted by AJ Quick

My point was, how many of you out there are planning on applying to the schools that give scholarships? Sure there is money out there and that is good, but the reason why I have heard a lot of the scholarships go.. without anyone applying for them.

I applied to at least four schools that offered FIRST scholarships last year.

[Meredith Rice]

I was very lucky that the University of Delaware offered a scholarship for FIRSTers. This was one of my top choices for college to begin with since they have a great program in Chemical Engineering. If it were not for the FIRST scholarship I would not have chosen Delaware most likely, and well, since I love the place so much, now as a freshman, that would have been a mistake. While I am sure it is not so easy for others finding a FIRST scholarship to one of their top choices, I would in no way say they were pointless. The FIRST scholarship was a big chunk of change for me and I am so grateful I received it.

[Raven_Writer]

I don't think these scholarships are pointless. As stated earlier, many of them do target the engineering aspect of FIRST, but that's the main area FIRST is here for...bringing our generation into the field of engineering.

Originally Posted by Eugenia Gabrielov

...for some schools, getting that scholarship money, could mean the difference between a student going there and not going there....

And she's right. If I didn't apply for the ITT scholarhsip FIRST supplies us with, I wouldn't've been able to go there for about a year.

[naskie18]

Originally Posted by AJ Quick

Does anyone else find the FIRST scholarships pointless?

Definately not. Being one of the recipients of the Kettering University's FIRST scholarship in 2001 is a huge part of how I've been able to afford to attend Kettering, without it I don't know if I'd be able to pay the tuition.

Yes, many of the scholarships are very specific to engineering, but that's most of what FIRST was founded for was to get people intersted in engineering and using the sciences and math in their carreers and everyday life. Trying to get students to see the importance and the fun of engineering.

I, for one, would love to see more schools offer scholarships for those people who particicpate in FIRST, regardless of whether they restrict the scholarships to those who are going into engineering.

Originally Posted by AJ Quick

My point was, how many of you out there are planning on applying to the schools that give scholarships?

Kettering was one of two schools I was looking at, the other being the University of Michigan.