Finding Scholarships Average Student Scholarship Contest: College Scholarship Dollars for the “Average” Student Written by Zaragoza Guerraon January 31st, 2013 Prior to joining College Coach, I spent part of my career as director of admissions for the Boston Conservatory, where I oversaw overall recruitment and auditions for students interested in music, theater, and dance. I spent most of my admissions career, however, as an admissions officer for two institutes of technology. As an associate director of admissions at MIT, I directed overall recruitment and yield activities as well as international, transfer, and special student admissions. I also served as an assistant director of admissions for Caltech, where I handled specialized student recruitment and reviewed domestic and international student files. Learn More About Zaragoza scholarship search, scholarships, “Average” college students in search of scholarship dollars received a bit of good news last week when the website, College Humor, announced the start of their $5,000 “Average Student Scholarship Contest.” While humorous in nature, the scholarship is, indeed, real — no laughing matter for students in search of ways to finance a college education. But the scholarship is only one of many geared towards students who might not necessarily find themselves at the top of their class. Here to weigh in on other sources of aid for the “average” student are a few of our college finance experts: You don’t need to get straight A’s to win a college scholarship! Shannon Vasconcelos: The new College Humor “Average Student” Scholarship clearly and hilariously illustrates the point that you don’t need to get straight-A’s in order to win a college scholarship. Scholarship qualifications vary widely depending on the priorities of the sponsoring organization, so “average students” should utilize scholarship searches like those available on www.scholarships.com and bigfuture.collegeboard.org to find good scholarship matches, as well as run basic Google searches on any characteristics that may make the student stand out. There are scholarships out there for creative students, vegetarian students, even students who have been treated for acne! Students should also realize that characteristics that may seem very typical at home may be very unique, and potentially rewarded with scholarship funding, at certain colleges — think the Jewish student at a Catholic school, the New Englander at a Mid-Western school, or the engineer at a school known for communications. Keep an open mind about where to apply, as an ordinary student at one college may be an extraordinarily valuable student to another college. Start searching for college scholarships early Beth Feinberg Keenan: There are many scholarship opportunities available to students who look beyond grades and standardized test scores. These scholarships might be a little harder to find, but looking for any type of free money is going to take some time. You will not only have a better idea what is available the earlier you start your search, you could also become a stronger candidate for those scholarships looking beyond academic performance. Community service and civic scholarships may be an option Carl Buck: There are “serious” scholarship opportunities for students who might not be the valedictorian of their class or who did not score a 30 ACT or a 2100 SAT but for whom participation in community service or being the first in a family to attend college might be recognized by many colleges and corporations and scholarship funded as well. Drew University, for example, offers the Drew Civic Scholarship, a community service award offering $20,000 over four years ($5,000 per year), and Coca-Cola has awarded over $14 million in first-generation scholarships in the US for students who are the first in their immediate family to attend college. Related Resources Read | Posted on September 20th, 2023 Full-Ride Scholarships: Effective Strategy or Fairy Tale? Read | Posted on August 4th, 2023 Identity-Based Scholarship Series: Scholarships for Hispanic Students Read | Posted on February 16th, 2023 Identity-Based Scholarship Series: Gold Star Children and Families