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This page provides advice on getting organized in your scholarship hunt. Applying for scholarships, along with college admission, is one of the longest and most complicated tasks you will have undertaken to date. It requires sustained effort over many months involving many interacting pieces. It is best to start the process by getting organized, so that you won't miss any deadlines.

This page is part of the section on maximizing your chances of winning a merit scholarship.

• 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. Put each application's materials in a separate file folder. Attach a checklist to the front listing all the required materials and the date you requested and sent the materials. The checklist should also indicate the deadlines. Keep a photocopy of your entire application, so you can resend it in case it is lost in the mail. (You will also find it helpful to refer to old applications when applying to other scholarships.) Keep a master checklist of all the scholarships to which you are applying, so you can check off the completion of each application.

• Do not miss deadlines. If you miss a deadline, your application is disqualified, regardless of your excuse. Scholarship sponsors never provide extensions. So when you receive the application materials, take note of the deadline and whether it is a postmark or receipt deadline. If the deadline is based on the date your application is received by the sponsor, be sure to mail the application at least a week before the deadline date. Set your own personal deadline at least two weeks prior to that date, so that your application materials are ready well in advance of the official deadline.

  You might want to include a self-addressed stamped postcard with your application that the sponsor can drop in the mail to let you know that your application has been received and whether you are missing any supporting materials. (You could also send the application by certified mail, return receipt requested.)

• Organize the application materials. If an application consists of several loose pages, label each page with your name, and possibly also a purpose and page number. This will help prevent parts of your application from getting lost or out of order.