Advice on Building a Successful Scholarship Application Process
American Preparatory Academy (APA) has been a partner of the USU STARS! GEAR UP program at Utah State University since 2012. GEAR UP partners are committed to increasing high school graduation rates while guiding academically prepared students to enroll and succeed in college.
Logan High School seniors Junsung Lee and Gary Zhan earned scholarships for their efforts.
Utah landscape photo by Jungsung Lee was awarded a $5,000 scholarship.
APA shared some advice on how they built a successful scholarship process at their school. They have a dedicated college advisor at their school that helps students find and research scholarships. Beatriz Trejo, a college access advisor at APA, said that finding scholarships takes time and research. These three essential components show her school's commitment to helping their students find money for college.
- Help students learn what scholarships are and why they are important. By explaining the different types of scholarships, students begin to understand the work that goes into applying for a scholarship. She helps them realize that applying for scholarships is like applying for a job. Applying is the first step even though it doesn't mean that they will get a scholarship. While time and dedication help students stand out, the research and perseverance skills will serve them well throughout their lives.
- Get to know each student by finding out their interests, intended majors, and schools they want to attend at the beginning of the year. This information helps narrow down and identify scholarships for students. For example, many of her first-generation students are translators for their families, and this leadership skill is helpful in a scholarship essay.
- Provide continued support by suggesting at least five scholarships to each student each month. Reviewing and talking through essays with students helps them to prepare. She also works with a classroom of students, going through the application process together. Doing a weekly check-in with each student helps them by answering questions, doubts, and concerns about the process, while giving them helpful suggestions.
This approach to the scholarship application process has certainly paid off for the students and the school. APA tracks scholarships awarded to their students and the school consistently receives well over $2 million in scholarships in total per school year.
Other schools in our program have followed APA’s lead. This year, two Logan High School seniors Junsung Lee and Gary Zhan received scholarships relating to their interests. Junsung’s stunning photo of the Utah landscape received a Utah Senate Award valued at $5,000. The photo is now part of the permanent collection at the Utah State Capitol Building.
Gary Zhan participated in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition for high school seniors. Named as a top 300 scholar in the competition, Gary earned a $2,000 scholarship and his school received $2,000 to use toward STEM-related activities.
We have many scholarship resources available for students and schools on our website. Our program has compiled a list, searchable by name or deadline of upcoming scholarships. The page also includes a fillable brag sheet, recommendation requests, tracking forms, and other online scholarship banks.