To win college scholarships, you need to realize that the whole process is a lot like playing a game. There are lots of players all trying to win the prize and some might want it even more than you do. Your strategy needs to involve making your scholarship applications shine so bright that the judges stop and take a second, third, or even fourth look at yours, and forget about all the rest.

Think about it. The judges are sitting at a long table with stacks of scholarship applications packets at their fingertips. The applications are in piles, stapled or paper-clipped together to hold letters of recommendation, high school transcripts, and whatever other materials were required in the scholarship application directions. The judges start passing around the stacks of application packets. Frequently, as an application packet is being read through or passed to another judge, pages of the application slip out of the paperclip and float to the floor. Who wrote this essay? There is no name on it. Throw it out. That's one less application to wade through.

In the middle of reading an essay, one judge looks up and tosses it, and the rest of the application packet, into the trash. Too many words; 500 words or less means 500 words or less. Not 600, not 502, just 500 or less.

Another judge is reading through an application and has to stop and wipe the ink smudges off so that he can make out the student's hand written information. He tries for a split second, shrugs, and then throws the whole scholarship application and all the materials into the trashcan. Now are you starting to get the picture?

Suddenly, one judge feels a black shiny folder, labeled neatly with the students name and the name of the scholarship. He opens up the folder and finds inside a picture of the applicant carefully attached to the inside flap, the required documents printed out on heavy bond paper and labeled on each page with the students name, address, and phone number. In addition to the required documents, which are in the exact same order as they were requested, there is a perfectly typed scholarship resume. It clearly states the student's academic success, community service projects, part-time job responsibilities, and is neatly labeled with his or her name, address, and phone number. The scholarship application packet is not folded, wrinkled, ripped, or falling apart.

It is obvious that this student want to win this scholarship and has taken the time to show it to the judges. The entire application packet is easy to read, not missing any documents that were required, in the order the rules requested, and looks and feels different from all the others.

This judge stops what he is doing, clears his throat loudly, and proudly tells his fellow judges that he has found the scholarship winner!

Would that be you or your son or daughter? You be the judge. To win the scholarship game, you need to make your application stand out from ALL the rest. Now is the time to find out exactly what you need to do to be a scholarship game winner!