As we all know that through FIRST students can apply for scholarships worth 8 million. We i searched a lot and finally found one that suites me, but it was outside the FIRST scholarship window. So i applied and got it (full ride to George Mason University 
). Although it was outside the FIRST circle, still my foundation was FIRST organization and the things I’ve learned and input to wards it.
So my question is that is there anyone out there who got a scholarship outside of FIRST? If yes which one and what was the base of that scholarship?
Mine was from
Bailey Foundation in FL
Interest in Science and Technology,
including the work done to wards it (I mentioned FIRST )
Incoming Juniors, I cannot stress enough that you do well on your PSATs. I’m sure you’ve heard this, but that test is the jump-off point for qualification for National Merit scholarships. They can give you so much money - Purdue University offers close to a full ride and automatic admission to Honors Engineering if you’re a finalist (providing you get into Engineering in the first place).
UT Austin gives you in-state tuition if you’re a finalist.
Most schools give Merit Aid of some sort, and a lot of it can come from that.
When I graduated from Irmo High School two years ago, I received three scholarships:
-Irmo AFJROTC Booster Club Scholarship ($750 one time)
-South Carolina LIFE Scholarship ($5,000 annually)
-USC University Scholars Scholarship ($1,500 annually)
My advice? Check your intended college’s financial aid office for scholarships there. My guidance department left something to be desired, meaning I didn’t know that, for example, the Carolina Alumni Association has a $500 scholarship for children or grandchildren of members. (And don’t sneeze at smaller opportunities, either–$500 buys you books for a semester.)
If there has been one thing I have learned in preparing to go to Clarkson is that school is expensive $37,000/year and increasing every year!] and that EVERY little bit counts.
I got the FIRST Scholarship through Clarkson $6,000/year]
And the Achievement Award it my school which Clarkson honors $9,000/year]
And then I got a local scholarship. [Amount TBD]
I found fastweb to be a good resource, although I do not know if I have recieved any of the 8 scholarships I have applied for. But hey, a little essay that could potentially give you $500 or more towards your education is worth it in my opinion.
And like Billfred said, always check with the financial aid office… they have ways of helping you get to the school you want to go to, you just have to put yourself out there.
I second what Ashley said about college being expensive. I received a Florida bright futures scholarship which is 75% tuition for 4 years plus my parents were smart and put me in the prepaid college program, so I have 2 years paid in the dorm. I got extremely lucky and things all worked out for me.
-Drew
Let me also mention a few financial aid things to keep in mind:
Some state schools offer minimal aid to out of state students, except for certain huge scholarships. U of Michigan, for example, is an excellent school, but I didn’t quality for any of their “Michigan student” financial aid, so I gained no aid.
Also, some schools only do “need-based” aid. What does that mean? It means that they judge how much they give you based on how much your family is capable of contributing. Note: this is usually somewhat flexible, but not always. Let me cite an example, as because of this particular financial aid policy I may have to take out many loans.
My university gives me about $16000 a year straight up need-based scholarship. Let’s say that…I get a $4000 scholarship from my High School for a science achievement. I have to report this to NU, I’m not sure about how all the legality works, but it’s pretty ridiculous. Anyway, my family is now able to contribute 4000 more. This means that my financial aid from the school itself goes from $16000 to $12000. See, if you get outside scholarships…they decrease your package. I ended up not applying for many scholarships at all because I did a cost calculator and realized that would be the aid I’d get. Since then the school offered me a bit more merit, but that’s it.
just some friendly advice…
With scholarships, make sure if they are renewable… know what GPA you need to keep it. A lot of people I know have lost scholarship this way. Be careful and maintain those grades even if means to drop a course just so your GPA is there and even take out time from FIRST. And also make sure you have enough credit hours. Some scholarships in their fine lines make you have so many credit hours. Like I said before, be careful.
There are so many scholarships within your University and Department. You just have ask, you finical aid office and office of your intended major.
Those in Florida that have Bright Futures. Just so you know it is a 2.75 to keep 75% and 3.0 to keep 100%. It is your GPA combined from spring and fall semester. Many of my friends have lost their this scholarship and it’s so great to have. And now they are struggling to get it back and find a way to pay for schooling.
Good luck in school and scholarship hunting.
Just thought that I’d chime in that in looking for non-school-afilliated scholarships, Fastweb was of great help (unlike my school’s guidance dept), pointing me to everything from local service club scholarships to Northrop Grumman and UTC scholarships (and, of course, my new favorite, the apple student scholars program). The site takes some basic data on you to filter the scholarship list (by location and/or intended academic field) and then gives you a list, sortable by deadline date of all applicable scholarships in the database.
I found that scholarship search engines that are very popular also means that it is insanely difficult to get the scholarships that show up. The easiest scholarships (though they are still hard to get) are college-specific ones, and regional/local ones. I found it much more effective to just put “San Diego High School scholarships” than to do ones off of fastweb.
Just would like to remind that although fstweb is a good resource, every county (I’m sure about the east coast) has a career center within the County School Department that gathers information about the future careers and especially scholarships for all kinds of students. Mostly the information can be found on the County Education Site or can be requested through a counselor.
~Imad
PS For those living around Northern Virginia, there are still alot of scholarships available here.