Somewhere between January and February, I began applying for scholarships. I have been accepted to a five year doctoral program and still have not figured out how I am going to pay for it. While only 22, I have gone through such hardship that I feel as though getting my doctorate is the only way for me to know that I am truly making a difference for my family. My mom and sister are currently homeless and I am supporting them on a job that is paying me just barely above minimum wage. Knowing this, early this year I started applying for giveaways, contests, and scholarships of all kinds.
I initially, only started this blog because it was a requirement for a scholarship. However, I felt that it would be a great place for me to post my personal statement that I used to get into graduate school -it really explains all of the things that I have been through in my life. Because I work a desk job, I am able to apply to scholarships for about 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. After about two weeks of applying to scholarships, I became really curious as to how many I had already applied to. Having been on many scholarship websites already, I noticed that many websites had the same scholarships and I needed to become a member of as many sites as possible. It was at this time that I also started writing down the scholarships that I have applied to. Whether it was 500 dollars or 50,000, I made sure to apply for it as well as I could. The list that I now have is extensive and continues to grow.
In total, I have applied to 106 scholarships- as of this afternoon, and still have not heard of any acceptances. For someone working this hard to pay for their education, its amazing to me that I am unable to find the money I need. This blog serves as both the beginning of telling my scholarship search story but also as a way to make everyone aware of how hard paying for your education can be even when you're putting in enough hours for it to qualify as a full-time job.
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