Over the last two academic years, I have been a recipient of over $8660 in scholarships for nursing school, plus another $500 while I was completing my prerequisites at a community college. I wanted to share some of my tips and favorite links for nursing scholarships to hopefully inspire some of you to make the effort towards obtaining some free money to get you ever closer to your dreams.
I had a toddler at home and had been out of school for five years when I decided I wanted to become a nurse. That's when I found out there weren't federal grants available for a second bachelor's degree - I was crushed! I was terrified by the idea of loans. The thought of obtaining a scholarship seemed to help cushion the blow just a bit. So, I started searching, but to be honest, I was intimidated by all the available scholarship information that is out there and I became overwhelmed.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that scholarships are difficult to get because that is what I thought at first. Scholarships are free money. FREE money, but not necessarily easy money. If you invest just a reasonable amount of time and effort into your searching, essays and submissions, I think you will be blown away by what is available and what you can actually receive.
Always Utilize Your School's Scholarship Office
Even if you aren't yet enrolled, this is undoubtedly the best resource available. Most colleges have a General Application that you fill out once per year. These school-based general applications are where I have had my greatest success! You typically only have to fill out a couple demographic, GPA, and volunteer/work experience questions followed by answering one or 2 essay questions after which you become eligible for hundreds of scholarships (depending on the size of your school). You definitely get the most bang for your buck this way.
Make sure you find out immediately when the general application period is open, so that you don't miss the deadline. There are always additional scholarship opportunities that are available at other times of the year through the school, so don't overlook these either. The best way to get access to those is to use the trusted website links on your school's Scholarship Office webpage. Better yet, especially for those overwhelmed or intimidated by this process, schedule an appointment with the scholarship office for specialized resources and one-on-one support from an expert.
To reiterate, as you can see from the comparison of scholarship money that I have received, from school-based scholarships ($6660) versus outside scholarships ($2500), the majority of money was obtained through my school via the general scholarship application process. Therefore, in my opinion, this is where you should invest the most amount of time and energy during your scholarship search experience.
Writing a Stellar Scholarship Essay
Most essays can be reorganized or simply tweaked to meet most scholarship essay requirements. However, you must have a solid essay to begin with in order to get away with this. Then, you can easily edit your essay template to meet the needs of other scholarships.
The simplest efforts are what seemed to be overlooked:
Do Not Forget to Proof Read
If you don't do anything else, you must at a minimum do this. First, read it aloud in private to make sure your writing has fluidity. Next, have friends, family members, coworkers, etc. take a look. Use their feedback to enhance your essay. Finally, if your school has a writing center (which most do), you most defiantly should use it. I think using the writing center at school is what helped me the most.
Paint a Picture with your words or Tell a Story
Share your passion with others and illustrate what has inspired you to enter the field of nursing. Preferably start your essay with this to grab the reader's attention, before you go on to talk about other subjects. Create a memorable essay title that echos the essence of the story/visualization that you are sharing. If there is a specific sponsor to the scholarship, do some simple research and try to incorporate what is important to the sponsor into your essay.
Organize
Write out on paper or audio record yourself describing: Barriers you have overcome, Insight into your own strengths and weaknesses, Short and long term educational and personal goals, How you will utilize your education in the service of others (this makes for a strong closing). Sometimes it is difficult to come up with these on your own and people often feel like they are bragging about themselves, so having a friend or family member around is helpful in brainstorming. You do need to be specific and provide examples to be effective. Also, do not neglect to address the specific essay question that is asked.
Improve your Style
I always have a printed list of transition words and an online thesaurus open when writing. The list of transition words will help you connect written ideas and the thesaurus will help you find the correct expression without sounding like a broken record. I use Transition Words & Phrases and Thesaurus.com | Find Synonyms and Antonyms of Words at Thesaurus.com.
Scholarship search engines and Websites
- allnurses.com's Nursing Scholarships directory
- Fastweb
- Johnson & Johnson Discover Nursing
- Other great nursing scholarship finds:
Make a Scholarship Application Spreadsheet & Calendar
If you can use Excel or a similar program to get yourself organized, make a spreadsheet that lists scholarship names, deadlines, requirements, website links, and your application status (eg., Will apply, Applied, Do not meet requirements yet, etc.).
Use the alarm setting in the calendar section of your cell phone to go off one month and also one week before important deadlines, to keep yourself notified (or if you like to use a planner, write multiple reminders in for yourself well ahead of the deadline).
Sounding Board
I would like to hear back from other students who have had success in obtaining scholarships. Please share your valuable advice with other students in need.
Questions are also encouraged.
Also, check out my other article on Study Tips for Nursing Students at From One Student To Another - Student Tips
