10 Reasons an Application Will Not Win a Scholarship

Just because you don’t win a scholarship, does not mean you are underqualified. A number of scholarship applications sent are rejected for reasons unrelated to financial need.

Scholarship providers receive tens of hundreds of applications per award. Therefore, judges to not read applications closely. Like job applications, appearance is key. There are many unwritten rules to scholarship applications that will affect your chances of winning.

If your application is not presentable it will be rejected. Before submitting your scholarship application, avoid making these mistakes:

1. Mailing the envelope without the application enclosed
2. Submitting an incomplete application
3. Forgetting to include your name and/or address
4. Submitting an illegible or unintelligible application
5. Sending an application with bad postage (returned as "postage due")
6. Submitting irrelevant or inappropriate documentation
7. Submitting a dirty, torn, wrinkled, or stained application
8. Not meeting the minimum requirements
9. Improper spelling/grammar
10. Being rude to the judges