STEM CREW MAGAZINE
Dani’s Declassified Guide: Scholarship Success and Resources By Danielle Schroeder College in the United States is expensive. And while I did receive an annual merit scholarship throughout my five years, there were still additional expenses that I needed to pay out of pocket each year towards tuition, textbooks, and other expenses. As someone who was awarded over $25,000 in scholarships throughout college, I have learned a great deal about scholarship applications. Below are four tips from my personal experience that I hope can help you! 1. Compile list of applicable scholarships There are so many scholarships out there, one of the best tips I can give is cast a wide net to see what scholarships that are applicable to you. Some are based on major, specialty interest within your major, demographics, geographical location currently for school or where you permanent residence is. At the end of this post, I have included links to scholarships that I have applied to as well as further resources. Also for professional societies like SWE and ASCE, search locally, regionally, and society-wide as you being awarded locally does not mean that you cannot apply on the Society level.
2. Prioritize securing letters of recommendation. There are many parts to some scholarship applications, but one of the most crucial is the letter of recommendation typically by a professional or faculty member. If they require a letter of recommendation, I recommend prioritizing this first as to give your letter writer ample time to write this letter and
2016 WTS Awards Dinner where I was awarded the Suzanne Axworthy Undergraduate Scholarship
submit! As someone who has written many letters of recommendations, I am always happy to help and honored when I am asked! A good practice is to give at least 3 weeks of a heads up before it is due to respect the time of whoever you are asking. We are busy but want to help you succeed! To help you with this ask in the future, I have included a draft email template below: SUBJECT: YOUR NAME Letter of Recommendation Request deadline DATE Hello NAME, I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I would like to apply for SCHOLARSHIP NAME which requires a letter of recommendation and WHY YOU ARE APPLYING. As a past president of Drexel SWE who is also someone I constantly look up to (OR WHY THIS SPECIFIC PERSON), I would like to know if you could write this letter of recommendation for me. For reference, I have also attached my current resume, more information about this scholarship, and how to submit the letter of recommendation. This letter is due DATE AND TIME. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you, Danielle
Also, don’t forget to send the person who took the time to write you a letter of recommendation a thank you email / note after you receive the scholarship!
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