Blog – Bettye Reed Scholarship Foundation

The most important factor that the scholarship committee looks at is work ethic. Use your resume, essay, and letters of recommendation to highlight your work ethic. If you have held part-time or full-time jobs while going to school be sure and list all of those. If you are a student that has to work twice as hard as your classmates to achieve the same grades be sure to have your teacher say that in a letter of recommendation. The statement of financial need carries a good bit of weight as well. This is your prime opportunity to share why you need financial aid and what impact the scholarship would have for you. This vehicle gives you the opportunity to share a very personal account of your financial need and quite possibly pull on some heart strings. The transcript is a key piece in the application packet. We not only look at what type of grades you may have made but also how many hours you are taking in a semester. If your grades are not what you would like them to be, or maybe you had a bad semester then be sure and address the causes of in your essay. The essay topic of the role that hard work, academics, and philanthropy play in your life should be your opportunity to shine at each of the three points we base our decision on. It is highly suggested that you have a professor or some other trusted person proofread your application before you submit it. Grammar mistakes are not looked upon favorably. In order to apply for this scholarship for college, it means that you have graduated from high school and are no longer considered a child. For some applicants who are older and are returning to school later in life have much experience in adulthood. Others who may be applying during their senior year in high school are just beginning to take the first steps toward adulthood. In either case, as an adult, you should be the one emailing or calling with questions and not your parents. We are looking for hardworking students to award with scholarships. A student that has to be constantly prompted by their parents, or worse the parent just does the work for their child is not who we are looking to award. Lastly be cautious in using quotes from famous individuals. You may hit a home run by choosing someone in lockstep with the scholarship committee or you may have chosen incorrectly and picked the person that gets on an individual's last nerve. We have many good applicants apply each year. Some are extremely easy decisions to either award or decline a scholarship offer to. For applicants on the bubble something as small as using an unfortunate quote might make the difference in whether or not you are chosen for an award.