For many high school seniors, by the time you have completed your college applications and turned your attention to scholarships, it’s too late for some awards. Whether you delay because of procrastination or because you are preoccupied with college applications, if you snooze, you lose. To make sure you don’t miss out on scholarships, we recommend the following:

Begin your scholarship search at the start of your high school senior year

The number one reason most high school seniors miss scholarship deadlines is because they do not start their scholarship search soon enough. Even if you are not certain what college or university you plan to apply to, start identifying scholarships you can apply for as soon as possible. It is easy to create a 'shortlist' on this website - and remember to include the 'non-specific' awards too which do not specify a particular area of study.

Get organized

If you start off organized, you are less likely to miss an application deadline or forget to ask for a letter of recommendation. Create a spreadsheet of the awards you want to apply for, their criteria (e.g. essay, documents), along with their deadlines. Click here to download a template as an Excel spreadsheet or a pdf.

Start preparing in advance

Make scholarship applications a part of your normal homework routine. Work on them a little every day. This will prevent you from being overwhelmed and ensure that you don’t turn in hastily completed, last-minute applications. Contact your school or college to provide authenticated copies of your grades, and the Government Department of Immigration for a letter stating proof of citizenship if the scholarship requires it. You usually have to pay a fee for these.

Find out what scholarships are available

Your best scholarship research sources include: this website, local newspapers, career fairs and your school guidance counselor.

Find Out What Scholarships Are Available outside Bermuda

Use the links below to find out what scholarships are offered to international students who want to study in the US, Canada and Britain.

For the US:

• http://www.scholarshipexperts.com/
• http://www.usastudyguide.com/Financial_aid.htm
• http://www.edupass.org/finaid/undergraduate.phtml
• http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/scholarships
• https://pgsf.org (Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation)

For Britain:

• https://www.ucas.com/?tile=tile-251

For Canada:

• http://www.studycanada.ca/english/scholarships_canada_international_students.htm#u
• https://erudera.com/canada/

Reuse your college application essays for scholarships

You can often save yourself some time by editing your college admission essays appropriately and reusing them for your scholarship essays.

Submit your application before the deadline

If you have all your required documents uploaded and are not waiting for any transcripts or reference letters, you can go ahead and hit the 'Submit Application' button before the scholarship deadline. If the deadline arrives and your on-line application is not complete, you can submit it but either add a file explaining what is missing and why, or contact the award provider to explain.

Don't despair even if you do miss some application deadlines

Remember that even if you miss some deadlines or don’t receive any awards this year you can reapply next year and for many scholarships you can reapply all the way through college.