Scholarship Overview
Two Types of Scholarships
(1) those offered by colleges and universities
(2) those offered by independent organizations
Collegiate Scholarships
Most colleges offer two forms of scholarships: Merit Scholarships and other Scholarships.
Merit Scholarships are awarded upon acceptance to a college and are generally based on a student's academic record. Each college does this differently and you can look on their website to see how they award Merit Scholarships. Applicants do not need to submit additional applications for Merit Scholarships - they are awarded automatically.
Some colleges, such as the University of Colorado Boulder, also offer OTHER Scholarships, for which applicants need to submit a separate application. You will need to research, for each college, what other scholarships they offer.
Learn about the three forms of aid colleges provide: merit scholarships, financial aid, and discounts - here's a good article (a little cynical but realistic): Inside College Merit Aid - and the manipulative, lucrative system that keeps it running, NBC News, February 4, 2021.
One excellent example of an independent scholarship organization is Bootstraps Scholarships. Bootstraps is a local scholarship fund which is reserved only for Evergreen and Conifer students - so a large pool of money for a small pool of applicants. Students apply by January 31 of their senior year and can be awarded one or several scholarships.
There are thousands of independent scholarship organizations. Application deadlines are throughout the calendar year (so, even the summer before your senior year). These organizations offer scholarships for just about everything to include a person's height, their heritage, their residency, their academic interests, their gender, and many more areas of interest. Take some time to review the Scholarships page of The Road Ahead to learn about these scholarships.
Unfortunately, it takes of a lot of work to find and apply to all these scholarships. A good general personal essay may be tweaked for different applications. The good news is that many scholarships go unspent because of a lack of applicants, so there is potential to receive money in smaller increments that adds up to a substantial help.