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Overview
Worried about how to pay for college? Afraid of drowning in a sea of student debt? Sure, Ben Kaplan once felt that way too. But that was before he discovered that there are billions of scholarship dollars out there for students with all types of interests, skills, and backgrounds. After winning enough college cash to cover virtually the entire cost of his dream school, he's written an indispensable guide that shows you how to stake your own scholarship claim.
Now in this fully revised and updated edition, Ben distills his proven step-by-step game plan that positions you to win big money for college — regardless of your age, GPA, financial situation, or family background. With humor and insight, he reveals insider secrets for successfully finding, applying for, and winning lucrative scholarship awards — empowering you with the information, inspiration, and know-how to afford the college of your choice and realize your educational dreams.
Special Note: As a valued reader of this book, you also receive access to the Coach's Locker Room at Ben Kaplan's ScholarshipCoach.com website. The Coach's Locker Room provides a wealth of bonus material, updates to information contained in How to Go to College Almost for Free, question and answer postings, and other helpful resources.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780060937652 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 09/18/2001 |
| Series: | How to Go to College Almost for Free: The Secrets of Winning Scholarship Money |
| Edition description: | REV |
| Pages: | 400 |
| Sales rank: | 168,319 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
In addition to writing The Scholarship Scouting Report, Kaplan is the author of How to Go to College Almost for Free and Scholarship Seeker’s Toolbox — the three books forming an essential paying-for-college trilogy for students of all ages. Kaplan has also written numerous articles on winning scholarships, including columns for The New York Times and U.S. News & World Report, that have been syndicated in publications nationwide. He has been featured on hundreds of television and radio programs, including appearances on Oprah, NBC, CBS, and National Public Radio.
Known internationally as "The Scholarship Coach," Kaplan has served as the resident scholarship adviser at some of the Internet’s most popular scholarship search websites, and is the founder of ScholarshipCoach.com, the leading online scholarship advice portal.
Kaplan currently resides in Portland, Oregon, and can be contacted at Ben@ScholarshipCoach.com via e-mail.
Read an Excerpt
Let The Games Begin
In the twentysomething movie Reality Bites, a jobless and penniless college valedictorian named Lelaina Pierce (played by the charming Winona Ryder) discovers, among other things, just how much mini-mart food she can buy on her father's gas card. And back in early 1994, when the movie was in theaters, I found myself in a related predicament. No, it wasn't that I shopped at the corner gas station. Nor did I regularly eat Chevron cuisine.
Rather, it was that, as a junior in high school, reality had just bitten me -- and bitten me hard. It happened one day, as I was leafing through glossy college catalogs with dreams of wild collegiate adventures dancing in my head. All of a sudden, I felt the reality of having to pay for my undergraduate education sink its ugly teeth. I hoped to attend a top university, but how would I ever pay the sixfigure tab at the college of my choice? Even if I could somehow cover the cost, was I destined to be buried alive beneath a mountain of student debt?
Granted, this wasn't a memorable scene from a slick Hollywood movie, but still, it was my life. And unlike Lelaina, I didn't have my father's gas card... and even if I did, the corner Chevron station didn't have any diplomas for sale.
Reality Bites... But It Doesn't Have To
A magical gas card never did come to my rescue. But I suppose, in a strange way, a benevolent credit card did save the day. You see, one day at my high school's career center, I came across an application for a nationwide scholarship contest sponsored by the Discover Card corporation. As I held the application in my hands, my mind raced withquestions. Were there a lot of merit-based scholarships like this one? Could I win them? Did a kid from a public high school in Eugene, Oregon actually have a chance? There was probably some child prodigy out there who had mastered calculus at age 5, been an Olympian by 9, and discovered a cure for cancer before hitting puberty.
Despite my doubts, I decided to enter the contest. I diligently filled out the forms, rounded up several letters of recommendation, and crafted some essays. And to my amazement, I actually won! And I won BIG -- to the tune of $17,500. Then I made another fantastic discovery: Plenty of other organizations can't wait to give money away!
So I entered other scholarship contests. I won again! And again! Now don't get me wrong: it wasn't as if I had Just written a couple of essays and suddenly money began magically falling from the sky. In fact, it was a lot of hard work, and I lost my share of scholarship competitions, too.
But through a process of trial and error, I formulated winning strategies, developed foolproof procedures, and concocted "guerrilla tactics." When the dust finally settled, I had amassed nearly $90,000 and had paid for virtually the entire cost of my Harvard education.
Biting Back
So is entering scholarship contests worth the effort? Most definitely! I'm living proof of it. Can you win these contests? You bet! All it takes is a little knowledge and a bit of elbow grease. What's the best way to get started? Read this book!
A few years ago, when I faced the daunting task of trying to pay for my college education, there wasn't anyone out there to show me the ropes. But when I discovered that thousands of organizations give away hundreds of millions of dollars in scholarship prizes, I saw rays of financial hope beckoning meto take up the quest anyway.
Now I can't guarantee that you'll pay for all of your college expenses by winning scholarship contests (for to do so also takes a bit of good luck), but with my guidance plus your hard work and determination I know that we can make a significant dent 1 your financial burden.
Reality may indeed bite, but winning college scholarships can help enterprising students bite back.
I may not have a Ph.D. in Scholarship Science hanging on my wall, but through the process of accumulating my own pot of gold, I have become somewhat of an expertat winning the college scholarship game. And, as you read a few pages ago, winning money for higher education is indeed a game. To succeed you must learn the rules and understand the players. You must internalize the principles, strategies, and guerrilla tactics that lead to victory. It then becomes a matter of preparing, practicing, and perfecting: enhancing your record in key areas, strengthening your self-promotional skills, and refining your application materials. The book you are now holding teaches you how to master this important game.
There is, however, a very odd thing about this particular game: As important as the game is, the referee never even bothers to explain the rules. Sure, scholarship administrators publish formal Judging criteria, but this only scratches the surface of what it really takes to win. There's another entire set of "hidden rules" that govern the outcomes of these contests. So how do you succeed in a game when you're not even sure how to play?
Like any other game, you could try to teach yourself through experimentation. But why "reinvent the wheel" when you don't have to? You can save yourself plenty of time, energy, and grief by learning from the high scorers -- the students who have played the game well. Of course, tracking down enough of these students on your own and convincing them to let you "pick their brains" would be a daunting task in its own right. So I've made it much easier by doing all of the work for you.
As a result, this book not only distills the core secrets learned from my own scholarship quest, but also adds to the mix many valuable insights from dozens of other scholarship winners I've interviewed. (As simple as it sounds, surveying top winners is a task that has never been done before by an author in the field.) By following the advice contained in these pages, you can avoid many of the mistakes these scholarship winners (including myself) have made, and can learn from our greatest successes. Winning scholarships may be a game, but it's a game that can be learned -- and learned quickly, too.
How To Go To College Almost for Free. Copyright © by Ben Kaplan. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.Table of Contents
- Introduction: Let the Games Begin...
- PART I: THE RULES OF THE GAME
- Chapter 1: The Playing Field
- PART I: THE RULES OF THE GAME
- Knowing the Lingo
- Sizing Up the Game
- Chapter 1 Summary
- Sizing Up the Game
- Chapter 2: Players & Principles
- Who Can Apply?
- The Other Players
- Exploding 7 Myths
- Chapter 2 Summary
- The Other Players
- Intermission #1: What Parents Can Do To Help
- PART II: GETTING READY TO PLAY
- Chapter 3: "Show Me The Money!"
- PART II: GETTING READY TO PLAY
- Finding Your Pot of Gold
- Searching Internet Databases
- Using School Resources
- More Web Surfing Secrets
- Books & Directories
- Community Canvassing
- Widening Your Net
- Requesting Materials
- Chapter 3 Summary
- Searching Internet Databases
- Chapter 4: A Winning Game Plan
- Maximizing Your Chances
- Setting a Schedule
- Chapter 4 Summary
- Setting a Schedule
- Intermission #2: The Unforgiving Minute (Time Management)
- PART III: STRATEGIES THAT GIVE YOU THE EDGE
- Chapter 5: Painting Your Own Portrait
- PART III: STRATEGIES THAT GIVE YOU THE EDGE
- Knowing the Person
- The Painter's Touch
- Employing Your Theme
- 9 Winning Themes
- Chapter 5 Summary
- The Painter's Touch
- Chapter 6: "Hidden" Judging Criteria
- The Unseen Evaluators
- Ten Golden Virtues
- Chapter 6 Summary
- Ten Golden Virtues
- Chapter 7: Scoring Points
- Content Strategies
- Packaging Strategies
- Putting It All Together
- Chapter 7 Summary
- Packaging Strategies
- Intermission #3: Creating Opportunities
- PART IV: WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS...
- Chapter 8: Essay Excellence
- PART IV: WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS...
- Principles of Winning Essays
- Recycling Essays
- Getting in the Flow
- Honing Your Essay
- Tips for Specific Topics
- Short-Answer Questions
- Chapter 8 Summary
- Recycling Essays
- Chapter 9: Glowing Support Letters
- Star Witnesses
- Qualities of a Great Letter
- Chapter 9 Summary
- Qualities of a Great Letter
- Chapter 10: Filling In The Blanks
- Paperwork Prowess
- The Stat Sheet
- Activity Lists
- Awards & Honors Lists
- The Transcript
- Additional Materials
- Mailing Your Application
- Chapter 10 Summary
- The Stat Sheet
- Chapter 11: Acing the Interview
- Interview Mastery
- Preparing for the Interview
- The Big Day
- The Main Event
- Chapter 11 Summary
- Preparing for the Interview
- Intermission #4: Being Smart About Your Studies
- PART V: WHEN THE BUZZER SOUNDS
- Chapter 12: Parting Shots
- PART V: WHEN THE BUZZER SOUNDS
- The Home Stretch
- Keeping Track of Your Winnings
- Slashing Your College Costs
- What We've Learned
- Keeping Track of Your Winnings
- APPENDIX A: DIRECTORY OF SCHOLARSHIPS
- APPENDIX B: LIBRARY OF SAMPLE MATERIALS
- APPENDIX C: STATE SCHOLARSHIP AGENCIES
- APPENDIX B: LIBRARY OF SAMPLE MATERIALS
What People are Saying About This
College offers the keys to the kingdom, and Ben's brilliant book offers the keys to winning college scholarships--and even going to college for free! This is a must-read book.— (Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series)
Interviews
Greetings from Oregon! My name is Benjamin Kaplan, and I'm the author of How To Go To College Almost For Free. In writing the book, I've tried to make it the comprehensive guidebook that I wish I'd had when I embarked on my own scholarship quest. The book details the proven strategies, powerful principles, and guerrilla tactics that all scholarship seekers need to know. I've also included plenty of examples, anecdotes, and sample materials to make the book especially useful. And for you parents out there, I've developed special sections that show you how to best help your children win college scholarships (including some insights from my parents, too).
So best of luck on your scholarship quest! Remember, a college education is far too important to settle for the cheapest path. Rebel against those who say that financial constraints make it impossible for you or your child to attend this or that school. Fight back against college budget offices that habitually increase tuition bills, while their financial aid allocations fail to keep up. Steer clear of that dreaded student debt. Winning scholarships changed my life. And it can for you too!
— Benjamin Kaplan
Introduction
How To Go To College Almost For Free is for any student in search of scholarship money for higher education--including students currently enrolled in high school, vocational school, two- and four-year colleges, and graduate school. The book is also ideal for returning students, interested parents, and younger students wanting to get an early start. Furthermore, the topics covered in this book are of special importance to families caught in the "middle-income financial aid crunch"--the dilemma families face when they have too much income to qualify for substantial need-based financial aid, but not enough money to comfortably pay off high-priced college tuition bills. This book will teach you how to win unrestricted merit-based scholarships--funds awarded on the basis of merit that you can use at the institution of your choice.
If you're a junior or senior in high school, applying the material in this book will help you stake your claim to the cornucopia of scholarships available to you in the next year or two. Indeed, the greatest share of scholarship money is available to students who are about to embark on their college careers.
Likewise, if you're already enrolled in college, but could still benefit from additional funds, then this book is also for you. I'll show you how to stake your claim to the huge amount of scholarship money targeted at college freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Furthermore, the tactics detailed in this book are essential strategies to employ when applying for fellowships, grants, and scholarships for graduate-level work.
And for younger students--high school freshmen and sophomores, as well as middle school students--this book can help provide what could be the most dramatic monetary results. A surprisingly large number of scholarship contests are geared toward younger students. But more important than the immediate scholarship options is the chance for younger students to prepare early and position themselves for scholarship winnings (and other exciting opportunities) in later years. Determined students who, years in advance, make a point of preparing themselves to win future scholarships become favorites to win a bounty of valuable awards. Although I didn't begin my search until late in my junior year, if I could do it all over again, I would start preparing for scholarships as early as my seventh- or eighth-grade year.
The scope of this book is also designed to appeal to students who exhibit a broad range of backgrounds, achievements, and interests. If you've had a rocky academic history, special sections show you how to distinguish yourself in other ways. If you have particular vocational or career goals, the book details creative methods for demonstrating passion and talent in a field. If you've been confronted with significant obstacles in your life, the book shows you how to use these challenges to demonstrate courage and determination, and create a powerfully compelling story in the process. If you attend a high school with fewer opportunities and resources than other schools, the book documents ways to create your own opportunities and piggyback on outside resources. If you're a student hoping to attend one of the nation's most competitive colleges (such as an Ivy League school), the book shows you how to round out your resume and turn your best skills into standout talents.
