What it really takes to get a scholarship

Applying for scholarships gives seniors even more work after finally filling out their final college applications.

Emily Gelinas, Staff Writer

There is so much seniors think about: prom, college applications and scholarships. With college applications come acceptances and with acceptances come scholarship hunting.

School guidance counselor Carl Lamb sees a lot of students that come in with questions about where to start with applying to colleges, scholarships and financial aid.

“I mean, its a big financial decision going to college, you’re 17-18 years old and you’re about to make one of the biggest financial decisions of your life this far, “ Lamb said.

It all doesn’t just start when you are a senior or even a junior. Students focus on their grades all throughout high school to hopefully help later on when they send in their college or scholarship applications.

“It [GPA] really varies,” Lamb said. “I’d shoot for above a 3.0 which increases your chances. Its just a rough estimate, nothing concrete. Although not all scholarships are entirely based on grades, for example some are sports-related.“

Students such as Carissa Gelinas say that the scholarship process doesn’t take over their schedule, as long as they plan out times to work on them.

“Applying to scholarships hasn’t taken over my schedule at all.” said Gelinas. “I do leave time to work on certain scholarships every night right after I finish my homework. The more I do each night, the earlier I will get the application process done which in the end will be a lot less stressful come the day of the deadlines!”

Students like senior Connor Bouffard think that it’s just part of the college experience and it will help pay for college later on.

“It is very time consuming. However if you spend 2 hours applying for a single $500 scholarship, and you get it…then it’s like working at Hannaford for $250/hour, it’s a great payoff,” Bouffard said.

Scholarships can be about students majors or it can even be about a hobby they loved or loved to do. They can be about pretty much anything, from religion and family history to some awesome talent you may have.

“It’s important to me that I’m at a college that has a good medical program along with the environment I’m comfortable with and a school I can financially afford.” said Gelinas. “After receiving merit scholarships from multiple schools that I’ve applied to, it alleviated some stress knowing the cost was already smaller than the original cost, but depending on what other scholarships I receive could definitely sway where I chose to go.“

There are many parts to getting into college and getting a scholarship. There is a lot of research on what types of options there are out there.

“Honestly, applying to scholarships is almost a stress reliever during this process.” said Gelinas. “I feel like I’m in a game of process of elimination, I’m trying to figure out what schools I can financially afford along with what school has the best program.”