Last night, David Cook took away the title: he was crowned this year's American Idol. This win came as a surprise to me. Personally, I thought that Cook's competitor, David Archuleta sang better on finals night. The question is: why, then, did David Cook win? And what can he teach us about winning college scholarships?
If you watched the show from the early stages, Cook stood out as someone different: he was innovative, original, and most of all, memorable. People started labeling him as "the rocker." If you want to win scholarships, you need to be memorable, too. You need to be labeled. (I know this is a somewhat disturbing prospect, labels are so superficial.) However, labels help people remember who you are because you own a category in their brain. An association. I would argue that Cook won because he was better positioned as a rocker--a definite label--for a longer period of time. He was more memorable in the minds of the audience. Archuleta, while a beautiful singer and captivating performer, did not own a significant label in the audience's brain. Only recently did he become the "prodigy" or "phenom," and too late to capitalize.
Like Cook, as scholarship applicants, you must own a place in the scholarship committee's brain in order to stand out from the crowd and increase the likelihood you win an award. What is your niche? What is your unique talent or ability? How will you stand out?
Today, literally everyone participates in everything (student council, NHS, sports, music, drama, etc.). Participation in a variety of activities is good, but not a way to stand out anymore. It is the depth, rather than breadth of your experiences that helps you stand apart. To find out how you can better package yourself (be remembered like "David the Rocker"), it is important to take stock of your activities. Are there any over-arching themes?
For example, let's say you play football. What other ways did football manifest itself in your activity list? Did you coach a youth team? Volunteer for the special olympics as a coach? Work as a ref. for a part-time job? On student council did you organize a fundraising event around a football game? If this were the case, you did a variety of volunteer, work, and extra-curricular activities, and football was the theme that tied them all together--making you "Joe the football star" instead of Joe: Application 276.
Pam Proctor, author of The College Hook: Packaging Yourself to Win the College Admissions Game, identifies the top 10 "college hooks," or areas that people position themselves to increase their odds of gaining admission into top schools. These "hooks" translate easily into the scholarship application process as well:
1. The Athletic Hook
2. The International Hook
3. The Music Hook
4. The Political Hook
5. The Technology Hook
6. The Humanitarian Hook
7. The Science Hook
8. The Writing Hook
9. The Drama Hook
10. The Multicultural Hook
Do you have significant expertise, ability, or talent in any of these areas? Do you have significant skill in another area not listed? Take a look over your activities list: try to find a over-arching theme that can tie your activities together. If you do, you have the potential, like David Cook, to captivate scholarship committees, become memorable, and win awards that pay off huge.
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