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In order to begin successfully using Internet scholarship databases, it is important
to know how to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Let’s
start with the basics, shall we?
Scholarship databases are basically collections of college cash awards organized
in a way that allows you to easily search and find them. These databases are designed
to streamline your search by centralizing information about thousands of scholarships
all in one place.
These databases are commonly misused, however, simply because most people don’t
fully understand how they function. To complicate the issue even further, more
and more of these databases have sprung up all over the Internet, each one claiming
to have “the most scholarships” or the “highest dollar value
of awards.” It’s no wonder, then, that using these databases can be
frustrating, to say the least.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Think of each scholarship database as
being divided into two basic parts. One part is the information itself, which
includes the name of the scholarship award and hopefully a general description
of the judging criteria, a list of contact information, and a summary of who can
win the award. The second part is the search mechanism—the system that uses
the information you provide to help you find scholarship listings pertinent to
your interests. Let’s take a look at these search mechanisms in greater
depth.
Internet scholarship databases, by and large, use one or two different search
mechanisms to find scholarships that fit your interests: matching systems and
browsing systems. A matching system provides you with a questionnaire that asks
you to supply information relevant to your scholarship eligibility (like age,
gender, and GPA), while a browsing system requires you to sift through categories
of scholarships that might interest you.
Each system has obvious advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, a matching
system saves you time by showing you only the scholarship listings pertinent to
the information you entered. On the other hand, because you only see the scholarship
listings the systems says fit your profile, you do not know what scholarships
could be missing.
The strength of a browsing system is that by sorting through several scholarship
categories yourself, you are able to get a good feel for the scholarships in the
database. On the flip side, however, browsing systems can suck up a lot of valuable
time, energy, and concentration, since it’s easy to be overwhelmed and confused
by the sheer number of awards.
To learn more about how to best use scholarship databases, including both matching and browsing systems, click
here.
To begin harnessing the full potential of Internet scholarship databases, click
here to deploy our Scholarship Surfer online search tools.
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