10 Things We Wish Everyone Knew About College Scholarships
What we learned after researching college scholarships for 15 weeks
We wrote Scholarship Sunday - a weekly series where we’ve shared resources & upcoming scholarships to help future D3 Athletes pay less for college - for 15 weeks.
Recently, we hit pause on the series for the Summer (we’ll get into why below), but before we do we wanted to share what we’ve learned from 15 straight weeks of digging through college scholarship deadlines, requirements, and fine print.
Here are 10 things we found out that we wish every student knew about applying for college scholarships:
1. The Money Is Out There — But It’s Not Where You Think
People love to focus on the big money college scholarships.
Why? Because they are like a D1 Athletics Scholarship: Only a few people can get them, but they take away a lot of the worry of paying for school.
The only problem? You’re competing against a massive pool of applicants so your chances of getting the golden ticket are extremely low.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t apply and we included numerous big awards over the last 15 weeks of ‘Scholarship Sunday’. We just think you’re better off spending your time elsewhere.
So where should you look?
It’s time to niche down.
2. Niche Down
To begin your college scholarships search process, think about what makes you special or unique compared to other applicants.
Focus less on the massive $100K national awards (unless you’re a unicorn).
The real potential wins? Local, niche, and weirdly specific (to you) scholarships. Here’s a real life example from our client work:
One of our past recruiting consulting clients was a female track & field athlete from Oregon who wanted to study engineering in college.
While researching for our Scholarship newsletter we passed along an award that fit the recruit’s situation perfectly: the Otto Memorial Scholarship.
Here’s the email we sent her:
Now, we are well aware that this award won’t pay for school on its own, but the recruit does have a high chance of winning with her GPA and four awards total granted per year.
This is what we mean when we say “niche down” when looking for college scholarships.
3. Small Awards Add Up
And that brings us to our next point - don’t rule out small dollar awards.
$1000 here. $2,500 there. Stack four to five of those and you’ve got part of a semester covered.
These should be viewed as a supplement to what you’re getting from other sources, not a cure all solution.
The more you can prepare and apply ahead of your application and recruiting decisions, the more flexibility you will have to go wherever you want (aka your best fit).
Ideally, you will be able to find a combination of awards that lowers your cost of school to the point that federal grants and/or state financial aid can fill in the rest. Or at least get your annual college tuition in range of your family’s budget.
For any remaining amount, we suggest appealing your financial aid package. Here’s some advice on how to do just that:
4. Plan Ahead
As the Summer rolls around, we’ve found that the scholarship applications are thinning out. This is why we’re hitting pause on the series as we wait for the number with upcoming deadlines to pick back up in August or September.
The Summer is a time for relaxation and recharging - but we also encourage recruits to view it as an opportunity to get organized for the Fall. Especially when it comes to scholarships.
Numerous financial aid awards and school specific scholarships require you to have your information in by September or October - even if your early application materials aren’t due until November.
Don’t let disorganization prevent you from landing a scholarship or financial aid package that could dramatically decrease your college tuition.
5. Deadlines Are Everywhere (Most of the Time)
Once the Fall rolls around, there is always something that you can be applying for.
We will continue to cut through the noise and bring you quality scholarships when we bring back ‘Scholarship Sunday’ in a few months.
But before then, just remember to carve out a little bit of time each week to research and start thinking about which ones might apply.
For 15 weeks straight we found something new with a deadline ~7–10 days away.
Every. Single. Week.
Translation: This Fall, you don’t wait for scholarships — you go get them.
6. Essays Can Be Recycled
You do NOT have to reinvent the wheel to get money off your college tuition.
Aim to write 2-3 strong (but evergreen) scholarship essays and reuse them.
Most college scholarship prompts are some version of:
“Tell us about yourself”
“Describe a challenge you overcame”
“Why do you need this scholarship?”
Before you sit down to research scholarships, brainstorm a few of these examples so you’ll have a ready made list to pull from.
Having something to work off of can help prevent writers block once you find a college scholarship that fits your situation.
7. Be Aware of Fake “Scholarships”
A lot of scholarship sites promote “No Essay Scholarships”.
But, just like you learned when you were young: “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Instead of creating real scholarships where the applicants are being evaluated or judged on something, companies like Sallie made these de facto sweepstakes instead.
The end goal?
Typically gathering user data, which is especially valuable to companies that want to lend you money for college.
You’ll have a similar chance of winning these types of raffles as you would the state lottery - so it makes more sense to focus your time and energy elsewhere.
8. Current Student-Athletes Can Get Scholarships
Your opportunity to win scholarships and other financial awards doesn’t stop the moment you become a D3 athlete.
In fact, many are open to current college students - and we found some that are specifically for college student athletes.
We included one of them in the 3rd edition of ‘Scholarship Sunday’.
9. Make a Scholarship-Only Email
Set up a dedicated email just for scholarships (ex: [Your Name]scholarships@gmail.com).
Why?
You won’t miss deadlines in a cluttered inbox
You can filter for key words like “congratulations,” “application status,” or “reminder”
It keeps your main inbox stress-free
Treat scholarships like a business — and your inbox like HQ.
10. Apply Like It’s a Side Hustle
The students winning scholarships aren’t always the ones with 4.0 GPAs.
They’re the ones who treat it like a job — 1-2 hours a week, consistently.
More importantly, they’re usually organized.
The best strategies include creating a spreadsheet with key scholarship application dates, award amounts, application links, prompts, or other similar information.
You can even layer in the financial aid deadlines for your state or the schools on your college list.
The key is you make all of the important information easy to find.
Bottom Line:
You don’t have to be perfect to win college scholarships.
You just have to be proactive.
And we’re here to help make it easier for you.
Get in touch today to see how D3Direct can help you in your D3 college recruiting process.