This document provides tips on how to win scholarships and go to college debt-free. It recommends telling your personal story, getting strong letters of recommendation, continually improving scholarship applications, tracking progress, and embracing rejection. The key steps are to write compelling essays, obtain 3 recommendation letters, spend 5+ hours per week on applications, apply to 100+ scholarships using a provided tracker, and apply to more scholarships for every rejection.

1. HOW TO WIN
SCHOLARSHIPS AND GO TO
COLLEGE DEBT FREE
By ScholarshipGalore

2. Content
 Tell Your Story
 Letters of Recommendation
 Apply, Improve, Apply
 Track Your Progress
 The Art of Rejection

3. TELL YOUR STORY

4. telling yourstory:
yourstory is
worthbeing
heard
Even if you don't realize it now, there are millions of
dollars in scholarships that fit your profile. Are you a
first-generation student? Are you an immigrant? Do you
have a leadership role in an organization? Do you work
part-time and attend school? Do you volunteer for a
charity? Are you left-handed? Are you above a certain
height? Are you an athlete? Are you an only child? Check
out this link for more silly scholarships.
There are people who want to financially support your
education based on every part of who you are.
Everyone has a story worth telling. More importantly,
you have a story worth listening to.
 5 minute exercise to write down your personal
narrative. 2-3 volunteers to share

5. tellingyour
story:example
 “I am a first generation Mexican-American speaker who is
passionate about empowering underrepresented students by
sharing powerful and relatable experiences. I was born in the
small town of Minatitlán, Veracruz in 1996. Shortly after, my
family immigrated to the United States in 2004 to pursue a better
life. Through my K-12 education, I was seemingly a shy and
reserved student. My mom would beg to differ, I wasn't shy, I just
lacked confidence in my ability to speak English. After putting
myself through uncomfortable speaking situations such as joining
the debate team in high school, I found my voice, which gave me
the confidence to work towards my goals. I graduated from
Challenge Early College High School with a High School diploma
and an Associate's Degree from HCC simultaneously at the age of
17. My primary goal was straightforward: attend and graduate
from college without being a financial burden to my parents. By
applying (and being denied) to over 100+ scholarships, I was
fortunate to receive over $110,000+ in scholarship funds that fully
funded my college education.”

6. Letters of recommendation

7. lettersof
recommendation
The heroes that we call teachers want to see you succeed. Think of 3-
5 teachers, club sponsors, or staff that would be able to write about
your tenacity, teamwork, leadership, and commitment to academic
success. Talk to those 3-5 heroes and ask them if they would be
willing to write a letter of recommendation for you. Make sure it's
someone that has witnessed you be an exemplary student. Give them
at least a month in advance of a deadline. Ask them for permission to
be able to use their letter of recommendation for other scholarship
applications. Write them a handwritten thank you card. You should
have at least 3 letters of recommendation.
Who you should ask:
• Teacher – a teacher that has seen your classroom improvement
and growth
• Administrator – club sponsor, sports coach, homeroom teacher to
write about your commitment to extracurriculars and learning
• Manager – if you work part-time, ask your manager to write
about your work ethic

8. Apply, Improve, apply

9. apply,improve,
apply
 Spend at least 5 hours every weekend working on
scholarships. Apply, improve your application,
apply. Every application you send should be better
than the last one. Continue to improve your essays and
personal statements. After a while, you will notice that
most applications have similar prompt questions. This
is exactly why you need to spend hours during class
and after class working on your essay with your
English teacher or College counselor.
 Think of it this way: this is one of the few times in your
life where people and organizations will give you free
sponsorship for your education.

10. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

11. trackyour
progress-
#100Scholarships
Challenge
 I am a huge Excel Spreadsheet fan. I use it for nearly
everything. Under Resources of this presentation, you
can a download a template I made just for you (yes,
you!). It is important that you track your applications.
It will help motivate you and keep track of deadlines.
When I applied to 100+ scholarships, I wrote down
every single one on a spreadsheet. Looking at it now is
extremely humbling.
 #100ScholarshipsChallenge
 Scholarship Tracker

12. ART OF REJECTION

13. theartof
rejection
I would SPRINT to the mailbox as soon as I heard the
"clink" from the mailman dropping the day's mail. More
often than not, I would find letters addressed to me that
started with, "Thank you for your application.
Unfortunately, we received a great number of quality
candidates this year and regret to inform you that you
were not selected. We wish you the best".
 Rejection. No one likes it, yet it is a common theme in
our lives. It's normal to feel discouraged. After
countless hours and intense effort, you deserve better. I
agree. But now is not the time to stop trying. I need
you to retaliate. For every rejection, I dare you to apply
to five more scholarships. You will think of rejection as
a means to improve and go 2x harder. You are not
defined by rejection, but by how you handle it. Keep
pushing, it gets better.

14. how towinscholarships
andgo to collegedebt
free:checklist
IT IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE

15. Write your Personal Statement, Resume, and additional essays and have 2-3 teachers
/counselors review it
Have at least 3 Letters of Recommendation from a teacher, coach, school administrator,
manager, etc.
Spend minimum 5 hours every weekend improving your applications and applying to
scholarships
Apply to at least 100 scholarships and track it using Scholarship Tracker Template
#100ScholarshipsChallenge
Embrace rejection letters for every rejection, apply to 2x more scholarships
how to win scholarships and go to
college debt free: checklist

16. Questions?
Feel free to contact me for any questions!
ScholarshipGalore
scholarshipgalore@gmail.com
“It's not about how hard you hit. It's about how
hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
How much you can take and keep moving
forward.” – Rocky Balboa

17. resources
Download Scholarship Tracking Sheet
Resources:
Ask your college counselor/financial aid office for
local scholarships!
https://www.scholarships.com/
https://www.fastweb.com/
https://www.unigo.com/scholarships/high-school-
students
https://www.free-
4u.com/scholarships_for_high_school_students.htm
https://www.nshss.org/
https://collegeboard.org
https://niche.com
https://cheg.com
https://www.mycollegeoptions.org/TX/0/Texas/searc
h-results-scholarship-search-by-location.aspx

18. download
scholarship
trackingsheet
Step 1. Open the file by clicking here
Step 2. On the top left hand corner, click “File” > “Download as”
> “Microsoft Excel”
Note: if you do not have Microsoft Excel, create a Gmail
account, then open the file and instead select “File” > “Make a
copy” and save it to your Google Drive.