Tips to Get Money for College 5: Add Sparkle to Your Master Application

Saturdays we share tips or cautions to facilitate getting scholarships or avoid problems

Beverly attended our workshop. She contacted us nine months later complaining that she had applied for 178 scholarships. She received absolutely no money for her efforts. She said she did everything we asked and did not earn any money. She felt she wasted her time. We asked her to let us review her master application. We noticed that she had not followed every instruction. She did not include any #s, $s, or %s (numbers, dollars, or percentages).

Compare What Stands Out to You

Read the following comments:

• As chair of our school’s Sub-for-Santa program, I supervised a committee that raised money to provide Christmas to disadvantaged families
• Our marching band competed against other bands and won an award at the El Cajon parade
• I maintained all A’s for math in high school including AP and concurrent classes

What you remember about each of the sentences?

Now read these comments:

• As chair of our school’s Sub-for-Santa program, I supervised 26 students. We raised $12,000 and provided Christmas to 255 disadvantaged families
• Our marching band competed against 45 other bands and won 1st place at the El Cajon parade
• I maintained a 4.0 GPA for 32 credit hours of math in high school including 2 AP classes in geometry and calculus and 6 hours of concurrent college math courses

What impressed you the most about the second set of phrases?

• The alpha-numeric numbers, dollars, and percentages draw the eye
• The exact, or estimated numbers, glitter better implied numbers
• Multiple numbers in each sentence enhance the reader’s attention
• The mind remembers precise numbers rather than words

Violate the Rules of Written English

Home run statements do not follow the rules of written English. They follow rules of design sense and influence. For example, home run statements may

• Begin sentences with a number
• Use alpha-numeric numbers in all cases not just numbers over the number 15
• Use the $ and % instead of dollars and percentages
• Use incomplete sentences

Tuesday we review the Institute of International Education source of funding