I applied for scholarships during my senior year of high school and was rejected. I didn’t understand why because I had a great resume, great grades, and great references for teachers. I couldn’t ask my parents to help me because they don’t know how scholarships work here in the United States. They know they are out there and that they are good, but they have no clue about the actual process of obtaining one. I kid you not I believe they think it’s awarded anonymously to people who have the best grades.

However, despite all of this, I still filed my FAFSA, and when I saw I was approved I applied to a scholarship offered by Virginia Tech, but that was pretty much all because I was really unmotivated. Once time got closer to starting my first semester at Tech, I was really nervous and upset because it looked like I was going to have to take out loans. The thing was that my parents could not help me financially, so in order to pay rent I would have had to work a lot more than I probably could as a college student.

Thankfully (*wink wink* ’tis the season to be thankful), a scholarship had just started and was offered to me that fell underneath the other scholarship that I already had. In addition, three days before taking out a loan the school gave me another scholarship because of my high school GPA. I was astonished! I was blessed! I couldn’t believe it. Now, I have applied for more scholarships offered by my college. I realized that even though you may believe nobody is seeing your hard work, just keep trying.

I know sometimes you get unmotivated after being rejected for scholarships, but don’t stop. Keep applying, and keep filling out scholarships all of this will pay off.

P.S. IF YOU HAVE NOT FILED FAFSA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?