The short answer? Nope. I know this might be hard to hear, but there are certain characteristics that make up scholarship winners. Some people haven't developed these skills.
The long answer? With the right mentality, work-ethic, and planning scholarships are within anyone's reach.
Here are six characteristics of scholarship winners. If you want to win awards, start by developing these skills:
1. Creativity.
Most scholarship winners are creative thinkers. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to be the next Mozart, but you have to be able to think outside the box. You look for scholarships off the beaten path, thus increasing the odds you win because there are less people to compete with.
2. Work Ethic.
There is no quick fix when it comes to paying for college. If a deal seems to good to be true, it is. Scholarship winners know that it takes some work to search for, find, apply, and then win scholarships. If it sounds like to much work for you, you're not going to win a dime.
3. Planning.
Scholarship winners plan ahead. They know that if they start looking for awards early, they can develop a plan of attack. Based on the scholarships they've found, they develop the skills required for these awards, earn the grades necessary to qualify, or join clubs related to their interests.
4. Interpersonal Skills.
Applying for scholarships is more than an individual effort. Most require recommendations of some sort, and scholarship winners know that their relationship skills directly impact the quality of those recommendations. Developing genuinely good relationships with your teachers, coaches, friend's parents, and community leaders will help set you apart from other applicants through the stellar recommendations you'll get.
5. Leadership.
Now, this is cliche, I know. However, being a leader is more than being the captain of your sport's team. It's an attitude toward living. Most scholarship winners are self-starters that motivate themselves and in so doing motivate others. When you develop or possess this quality, it is evident in your essay or interview and manifests itself as confidence. When you inspire confidence in scholarship committees, they feel confident giving you money for college.
6. Resiliency.
Most scholarship winners apply to many awards with no luck. They receive numerous rejection letters. However, the people that win scholarships are the ones that keep trying and are resilient in their efforts: they don't give up.
Notice, none of the traits of scholarship winners include straight A's, awesome athlete, or musical genius. Why? Because these things just aren't necessary to win awards. In fact, academic achievement, athletic ability, or musical skill are often the result of the characteristics listed above. The fact is, you (or anyone) can win awards if you spend time cultivating the skills I just listed. It worked for me.
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