Buick Achievers Scholarship

The GM foundation sponsors this scholarship for high school seniors who will be attending a 4 year institution in the coming academic year.

• Deadline is March 31st
• 1000 awards of $2,000 available for 4 years
• 100 awards of $25,000 available for 4 years

http://www.buickachievers.com/home/

School Profile - Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts school located in Oberlin, Ohio (picture above is Peters Hall and is taken by wikimedia commons user Daderot). Attached to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and it is the only US institution to have be both a top ranked college and a top ranked music conservatory.

• Located in Oberlin, Ohio, a small town of under 10,000 people (as of 2000 census).
• Just under 3,000 students (~600 of which are enrolled in the Conservatory) and around 1,000 faculty and staff.
• Offers B.A. (liberal arts) and B.M. (music) degrees as well as a double degree program for those that are interested in getting both.
• Tuition is currently at $39,686 per year with the total cost of attendance coming to around $50,000 a year.
• Financial aid includes a mix of grants, loans and work-study and Oberlin's website states that the past year saw $49 million dollars in aid to its students, with 2/3 of students receiving aid.
• Alumni include 3 Nobel laureates and 7 MacArthur fellows
• Has an "Experimental College" program where students can teach their own class for a bit of credit.
• Has an art rental program where students can rent original works (including some by very famous artists) to hang in their residences

Oberlin website

Some specialized scholarships

Here are a few scholarship programs that carry some extra requirements.

USTA Serves - The United States Tennis Association offers a number of scholarships for students who participate in organized tennis. http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/USTA-Serves/Information/66422_USTA_Tennis__Education_Foundation_College_Scholarships/

Daughters of the American Revolution Scholarships - DAR runs a number of scholarship programs targeted at various disciplines. You will need to obtain a letter of recommendation from your local DAR chapter who may have their own selection criteria depending on how many students seek them out.
http://www.dar.org/natsociety/edout_scholar.cfm

Tall Clubs International Scholarship - If you are male and over 6'2" or female and over 5'10" you can apply for this scholarship by getting a member of the club to write you a letter of sponsorship and filling out the application materials.
http://www.tall.org/scholarships.cfm?CFID=624032&CFTOKEN=44571157

Tylenol Scholarship Program - Ten $10,000 awards and thirty $5,000 awards. You must be pursuing a healthcare related degree. Applications typically due in May.
http://www.tylenol.com/page.jhtml?id=tylenol/news/subptyschol.inc

Essay Tip - Word Spacing

Most universities will ask for at least one essay with the application and they will generally provide a fairly vague prompt. Here we will discuss the importance of word spacing. Word spacing refers to the frequency that a particular word appears in a section of writing. Rule of thumb is that the lower the frequency the better. Common words like "it" and "of" are generally exempt.

For instance, if my personal essay for a college application has a paragraph where every sentence starts with the word "I" or "My" it will quickly become monotonous and boring for the reader. The same occurs if I write about a job I held and use the same set of adjectives multiple times to describe my experience.

When writing and proofreading your essays, pay attention to the words that you are using and try to mix it up a little bit. It will help keep your essay from getting repetitive and also the reader's attention from wandering.

Test Averages

It is well known that although the SAT and ACT aren't everything, a good score can positively impact your overall application. But what do the scores mean?

The ACT's goal is to test whether a student is "college-ready". The benchmark scores for 2008 were:

• English - 18
• Mathematics - 22
• Reading - 21
• Science - 24

 These numbers were derived from the data of past exam takers and achieving those scores indicate a 50% chance of getting a B or higher in the corresponding college level course. For the high school class of 2008 only 22% of test takers managed to score better than the benchmark in all 4 subject areas. The average composite score was 20.9 in 2005 and rose to 21.1 (out of 36)  in 2008.

The SAT originally stood for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (it now does not stand for anything). The average scores for 2008-2009 were:

• Critical Reading - 501
• Mathematics - 515
• Writing - 493

The statistics released by the college board did show that high school juniors had a higher average score than seniors by 88 points (out of 2400).

When reviewing for these exams don't get frustrated if you can't get a top score on practice tests (only 428 students managed a 36 on the ACT in 2008, out of over 1.4 million who took the test). Instead, just focus on improving your score from when your first start and aim for beating the average.