Apr 2016 Some Secrets for Scholarship Success
The following article was written by lady taildragger pilot and LLT Scholarship Committee member, Kelly Jeffries. Kelly flies captain for American Airlines and is a proud RV8 owner.
Kelly Jeffries
Some Secrets for Scholarship Success
This unsolicited article is for all of you out there that have either applied for a LLT scholarship and didn’t get one, or, you are thinking of applying. In fact, what I’m going to say can be used for any scholarship or job application. Let me first qualify this by saying that I have been on the LLT Scholarship board since the beginning and have read some amazing applications. I have also been on other scholarship boards for other organizations. And I have applied for a lot of scholarships and won a few.
First off, this may sound basic, but spelling counts. And spell check doesn’t count. Your words can be spelled correctly but could be the wrong words. Have a real live person read your application. For example, a good friend read over my resume and then asked me, “so how long were you in the Untied States Navy?” Good grief. Glad she caught that.
Second, save emoticons for texts. Really, I have seen this. You can be enthusiastic without a smiley face emoji. Find words to express your enthusiasm and don’t use high brow adjectives that you really don’t understand.
Third, fill in all the blanks. The last block on the LLT scholarship gives you an opportunity to say anything to the panel of judges. Use it.
Fourth, what are you going to do with this scholarship? Please tell me that you are going to use this scholarship not only to improve your personal skills, but to help others. And if you say you are going to fly Girl Scouts or volunteer to fly in Alaska, you better do it. This is your chance to pay it forward. Believe it or not, we are all ambassadors. Think of the little girl that sees a woman flying a plane for the first time. That is powerful stuff.
And finally, toot your own horn, loudly. Women by nature don’t brag on themselves. Moms brag on their kids but not on themselves. An application is not the place to be modest or shy. Don’t exaggerate, just strongly state.
I wish everyone could win a scholarship but LLT doesn’t have an unlimited budget. If you have applied before and didn’t win, there’s nothing preventing you from applying again. I commend all of you that have applied for these scholarships; it isn’t an easy task. I look forward to seeing you at the airport.
Kelly Jeffries
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