I applied to many scholarships, over 20 but closer to 30. I’m enrolling as a Journalism major. I was a semi-finalist for a $6,000 scholarship that involved a work-study with a major media company. This money would have been really substantial for helping me afford school at Temple University. I’ve received other scholarship rejections but this hurt worse than the others because I wanted this most of all. To be honest, I have a lot of money. I have money for tuition but no money for housing which adds up to $13,000 with the meal plan. After my first year, I’ll be living off campus in an apartment, and the rent is about $3,000. But my family wouldn’t let me live in an apartment for the first year so they won’t sign a lease so I’m stuck even though they have no money for the bill so whatever isn’t paid for, I will have to pay.
So anyway I am up for this scholarship that is $6,000/year for four years and they have a lot of mentoring and networking opportunities available. I really want/need this scholarship. I am one of 140 semi-finalists and they are choosing 60 of us. It’s shocking that I made it this far. Some of their recipients go to state universities or private universities that are ranked slightly lower than Temple but they also have kids who attend NYU, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Duke, etc. Sure, I’ve been pretty successful with journalism - I must have something because they’ve picked me as a semi-finalist. But I am NOT Harvard material and that’s also who I’m up against. I’ve been close to getting a lot of scholarships, I’ve won academic awards (participant with National Achievement as opposed to semi-finalist, silver as opposed to gold, etc.,) I made it to the second round of admissions for a summer program at Princeton and was then rejected. I feel like there are so many brilliant kids out there and I’m close to being on par with them but I’m not there.
What I have is that we had to write several essays and I think they were very good, English is my strong point. I’m also a good communicator, interviews are kind of my thing. I can be charismatic, funny, and speak articulately. Service is important to the foundation and I’ve done a lot of it but they also value innovation, several winners started their own charities and I haven’t done anything like that.
Does anyone have any tips for me before the interview in a few weeks? I can only do best and I don’t choke under pressure but I know I have to really wow the people in that room and even then, and maximize everything I have going for me, and there’s still a good chance I won’t get it.