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Does August seem a bit early? It’s not.

As students start to decide where they’re going to go to school, paying for that starts to take shape and scholarship applications start to become a priority. So, around that time, the competition for scholarships becomes much steeper because of more applicants.

Don’t believe me? Check out the pattern of Google searches for “scholarships” over the past few years:

The blue line designates the amount of searches. Notice how this amount jumps up around January.

As you can see, more searches are done for scholarships in the first few months of the year than any other time. This is generally the time when most kids are hunting around for scholarships.

By getting a start on scholarships early, you’ll have far more opportunities to get money than the average person who procrastinates.

Here are some good tips to help you get more free money:

Local scholarships are your best bet.

Let’s think about it. Online, the scholarship is generally open to everybody. If it’s a very simple scholarship with few restrictions or requirements, then people will flock to it because of how quick it is to fill out. But if “only” 5,000 people apply, then already your chances of winning are 0.02%. That’s not very high. You’ll need to really stand out somehow to have a good shot.With local scholarships though, far fewer people apply. If only 20 or 30 people apply, your chances are far greater than before. It’s much easier to stand out now! I won 3 of the 5 local scholarships I applied for, and zero of the countless online ones I filled out.
Just because the online ones are faster doesn’t mean you’re more likely to win.At my old high school, we had a Career Center where someone would compile a nice list of local scholarships that could be applied for. If your school has a similar service, try to keep a close eye on the list. If your school does not, try asking around to see if you can find a good list somewhere.

FastWeb is a good source.

FastWeb, one of the useful college search sites, is actually best known for listing scholarship opportunities.
Make an account there and fill out the profile completely. For every detail that might apply to you, check it. It never hurts to have more opportunities.
FastWeb does have a lot of advertisements that come up in between pages. Just say “No thank you” to continue browsing.

Obscure might actually be better.

A lot of scholarships ask for the basics — letters of recommendation, transcripts, essays — but some are about rather… odd things. For example, looking on FastWeb right now, I see a scholarship with a weird request:

To enter the contest you must create and submit a video describing the health benefits of tea.

How many people do you think know a lot about tea? How many people are up to making a video about it?

Just because scholarships don’t sound very easy to do doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them. With this tea scholarship, for example, if you spent a couple of hours of research online, you could quickly become fairly educated on tea. Then if you use some charisma to make a good video, you’ll actually have a good chance at winning.
So hunt around, see if there are any obscure scholarships you could gain a quick upper hand with.

Save all of your essays.

A lot of applications ask similar questions:

• “Tell us about your goals.”
• “How will this money help you?”
• “Describe a hobby.”

There’s no sense in writing the same essay five times, so save your old ones. If an essay topic is slightly different than an earlier one, adjust your essay accordingly.

Get letters of recommendation early.

A lot of teachers are bombarded with requests for letters of recommendation around the same time. Ask early on to beat everybody to it. Earlier letters aren’t as painful for them to write, and perhaps yours will be better-written. Asking early also reflects well on you. Ask for a good amount of copies so that you don’t have to ask again. It’s good to have a stock of letters to choose from when needed.

Applying for scholarships is always a challenge, but by striking early and putting effort into your application, you would be surprised what you can win.

Any other helpful tips for winning scholarships?