Ok, you decided you weren’t going to apply ED or EA anywhere and so now it’s a little over halfway through your winter break and if anyone else in your well meaning family asks where you’ve been admitted, you’re going to scream – LOUDLY in their ear while dropping the figgy pudding right down the front of their embroidered, googly eye holiday tree sweatshirt.

Well, if this is you, there is something constructive you can be doing, instead of biting your nails to the quick. Work on scholarships. A significant number have due dates of 12/31 (ok, you’re cutting these close) through mid-January.

Now, I regularly hear from my students that the effort just isn’t worth it for a mere $500 scholarship. Most require an application, an essay and/or a letter of recommendation.  Now if you’ve probably got the bare bones of an essay to reuse and have already lined up recommendations from your teachers, coaches and bosses; so you’ve got only a couple of hours of work left (at most) to submit that scholarship. 

I remind them that if they worked, they would need 35-55 hours of investment to earn that kind of money.  That is, of course, if they actually have a job and after payroll deductions are taken. 

But, they say, I’m not likely to win the scholarship. Well, I can guarantee that they won’t get them at all if they don’t apply.

And, besides, I remind them, working on scholarship applications is a great away to escape those annoying relative questions about admissions.