The thing about scholarships is that one can apply, apply, and apply, and yet there seems to be no receiving. It is the very epitome of frustration. So my little scheme is that, keeping in mind the fundamentals of statistics, if I apply enough times, the odds cannot deny me at least some money.
The other thing about scholarships is that it seems to me that unless I am downright penniless, I do not qualify. My goal of paying for college seems to be crumbling. But I have never been one to give up easily.
This week I made two major strides in the scholarship department. The first was that I finally sent in a scholarship application I have been working on for a prolonged period of time. A local women's club sponsors this particular scholarship of at least $1,000, for a female graduate attending an in-state institution. I figured, hey, why not? Well, three teacher recommendations, one transcript, one essay, and a typed resume later, I was able to tape up the manila envelope and send it on it's merry little way. However, I never realized how hard it is to acquire a certified transcript, which simply means that a guidance counselor / school official has to stamp your transcript and seal it. Even though I had to wait almost a week for the school to print it out, and even after there was a mix up in my records, a little ray of light shone through the clouds. I got the opportunity to look over my transcript and discovered that I had moved up a spot in our class ranking! I climbed from 12th to 11th place: probably the most frustrating, ironic, whatever-a-neurotic-person-would-label it, ranking in the entire world. I have always secretly wanted to be among the top ten of my class, just to prove that a person, who is not necessarily exceptionally smart, could make it on pure work ethic. We'll see.
The other stride I took towards winning scholarship money was taking the ACT for the first time yesterday. If I can get a 28 or better, I will be eligible for a Bright Futures scholarship from the state of Florida covering 100% of tuition and fees, so I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed. I wish I had been more prepared, but life got in the way, what can I say? In my opinion, the ACT is so much less stressful than the SAT... I honestly wish I had the opportunity to do this whole standardized test thing over again. I would take the ACT over the SAT any day of the week and twice on Saturday.
Maybe these two acts will allow me to grace the world with some good news sometime soon. Maybe not. But I can always hope; at least know that I am doing my part.