August 30, 2009

Exploring Sports Scholarships for College

Playing sports is a common past time, but to do so in high school it takes a great deal of time. The discipline though that comes with being part of a team does carry over to many other areas of your life as well. Being able to balance academics along with sports is a skill that can take some time to master. If you have a passion for playing sports you just might be able to use it to your advantage after high school as well.

There are plenty of fabulous sports scholarships out there for college. By agreeing to play for a given team you will get money for schooling. This can be a great opportunity for you to explore. Not only will you education be possible you will get to continue growing as an athlete. You also won’t have to feel alone at school for long. The amount of time you spend in practice for the sport is going to introduce you to plenty of other people that share a similar interest.

You will often find that there are fewer applicants for sports scholarships than for others. If you are worried about being able to get funding for school then this could be the perfect solution. Of course you are going to have to work hard as they only want the best athletes on the team. They will likely send a recruiter to see what you have to offer them.  Even if you don’t have the best grades you may be able to make up for it with the potential that you can bring their sports team.

Some sports scholarships for college are full and others are only partial. Make sure you fully understand what you get with any you are awarded. You may have to come up with other sources of funding to pay for your college education. With that in mind you should still apply for other types of college scholarships that are offered. That way you will be more likely to get a few of them as well.

Even if you are awarded a sports scholarship for college, you may not get to play very much. This is especially true for the first year or two of school. Don’t allow that to frustrate you though. You will likely get your chance to play more in your last two years. Yet the experiences you will get with the sport are going to help you to be the very best you can.

At the same time you have to remember your overall achievement from a sports scholarship for college needs to be your education. By having a good idea of where you would like to play you can get the ball rolling early. Knowing who is interested in you is important. You don’t want to sign too early with the first team that asks. This could prevent you from being able to accept an offer from someone  you would really like to play for. However, you also don’t want to drag your feet too long or the ability to sign and to get a sports college scholarship can be lost.

When you receive a sports scholarship for college there are some requirements that apply. You must be playing the sport that is attached to your scholarship. If the school  has academic guidelines for eligibility that go along with being able to play, you must also agree to follow them. If you end up on academic probation you can risk losing your sports scholarship for college.

You may also lose it if you get injured and can’t continue to play. This is a very sad set of circumstances that often does happen. You want to do all you can to keep your body healthy enough for participation. Following all rules for workouts and for playing will help ensure that does happen. However, since the risk of sports related injuries is always there you can’t rule out the risk of this possibility.

August 23, 2009

Common Mistakes that can Reduce your Chances of Winning College Scholarships

There are some common mistakes that can reduce your chances of winning college scholarships. By learning what you can about them, you will increase your change of being award money for college. Without such information though you could end up filling out tons of paperwork and not getting any money even though you really deserve to. Here are some great tips to keep you in the running for the funding that is out there.

Deadlines are a key aspect of making sure you are eligible for college scholarships. You may have the best information they have seen but if it is late you don’t get acknowledged. It simply isn’t fair to those that review the applications or to the other applicants. You need to pay close attention to such deadlines as you aren’t going to be slipping through the cracks with this particular concern. By planning well in advance you will be able to avoid this very common mistake.

Don’t apply for only a few college scholarships and then hope you get them. Try to apply for many that you are eligible for. As a result you can increase your odds of getting at least one of them. Of course it is possible that you will be accepted for many of them. That should be your goal so that your cost of attending college is less. Make it a goal to apply for at least 10 college scholarships but it is a good idea to do more than that.

Make sure that you carefully review all of the information that is required for any college scholarship. If you aren’t eligible then pass it up. Don’t fill out what you can and think that nobody is going to notice. You can be assured there are people carefully going through all of the aspects of what you have submitted. You also need to make sure you don’t forget documents. This can be easy to do when you are applying for a college scholarship that asks for something that others didn’t.

Double check to be sure you have your letters of recommendation and your personal essay attached. A quick comparison to the guidelines and what you have in the envelope before you seal it and mail it will prevent this common mistake from happening when you apply for college scholarships. Every single area of the application needs to be completed as well. If you skip it for now then make sure you go back to it.

Even if that section doesn’t apply to you, make it known that you saw it. You can put a line through it, write none, or write N/A in that area. This will indicate that you don’t have any relevant information to share here rather than you forgot to go back to it. You also want to carefully review the entire application for mistakes. Spelling and grammar problems can eliminate your college scholarship application.

Carefully place all of the documents you need into an envelope that is large enough. You don’t want the edges to be bent when they remove it. Avoid using staples or folding your materials to get them into an envelope. If you need to bind information together use a paper clip to hold them securely in place. Make sure you have the right address and print it clearly on the envelope. It is a good idea to use a method of mail that can confirm delivery so that you know for sure it gets there.

With this information you can feel more confident about what you do submit. You definitely want to have all of the requirements covered when it comes to submitting college scholarship applications. You can also feel good knowing plenty of other people out there don’t have this information. As a result you will have less competition to be concerned about when you apply for this type of funding for school.

August 15, 2009

How to Find the Best Business Schools

You are in the workplace and you find that you are working hard for average pay, but you don’t feel that you’re advancing or learning new things; you feel that you are stagnating and are losing your touch on things, or that you are not as fast and as adept, or even as up-to-date on trends as you once were. You are in your final months as an undergraduate, and you have a fairly vague idea of where you want to be in the future: running a business or being part of one, and earning more money thanks to your knowledge and education. In either case, you may want to look for a business school to help you out and make you achieve your dreams – but what are the best business schools?

Despite all the lists and compiled school summaries that you will find both online and offline, the best business schools are really those that will help you succeed in the line of business that you want to get into. There are many different business schools out there with many different specialties, so if you are looking for the best business school to go to as you want to advance your career, or get into the workplace, you will need to know what exactly it is that you want first. Are you going to be doing accounting and auditing? Will you be running a business, managing people, hiring people, handing out salaries or wages, or overseeing processes?

Once you know what it is that you want to do, then you can pick out the best business school for you. True, there are the top tier business schools such as Wharton and Harvard, but consider other smaller business schools that might not be as well known, but are experienced in teaching the business aspects that you want to know more about. In particular, if you can find information on alumni of the school, see if their interests and credentials match yours. You might also want to check if the business school to which you are applying is accredited, as this can be an important benchmark of school and curriculum integrity.

You may also want to consider either a live classroom or distance education as the mode of instruction. If you opt for the live classroom, you will have the convenience of really going back to school and not having a headache over the computer programs and computer-based texts that distance education schools will employ. On the other hand, a distance education program will allow you to go to school even while you are based at home, or while you are still on the job, so that you do not have to go through the inconvenience of having to actually return to school. Look for schools that offer the mode of instruction that you need.

Moreover, look for schools that will offer you financial and job assistance. You can have scholarships or even fellowships to go to business schools, and often, the best business schools receive a lot of funding that will be shunted into their scholarship or fellowship program. Once you graduate, some schools will also offer you job hunting assistance, and others, as they are allied with companies, will actually give you placement.

These are only a few things to watch out for as you look for the best business schools. For more information, look for these schools online, and start planning your future in detail. Once you know what you want, you can find the best business school for you.

Share this post :

August 12, 2009

Business School Long Distance: The Allied Business School

Many people want to start their businesses, earn their own keep, and have their own success story to tell in a couple of years. However, not everyone has the money or the time to actually go back to school and stay in school, especially with a family to raise, children to feed, and many other priorities to meet. This is why many people opt for distance education in order to earn their degrees from reputable institutions, and still get the knowledge they need to get ahead. One such distance education institution is the Allied Business School, which has been providing distance education for over fifteen years.

The Allied Business School boasts of course materials that are up-to-date, and are reviewed regularly in order to keep them current. Because students are largely based at home, the instructions for all course work, homework, and examinations are developed especially to fit the needs of students working in the home environment. The Allied School system also supports its students by being on call to answer questions. When school ends, the Allied Business School also helps its students get jobs by preparing them for the job market. The Allied Business School will give advice on how to write a resume, phrase out a cover letter, network amongst companies, respond well during interviews, and make the best transition from a student, to an employee.

The Allied School also offers education in the medical and real estate fields. There are also different levels of certification. For instance, you can be a licensed broker, or you can start off your career as a property manager. You can also specialize in medical coding, medical billing, or be an assistant in medical administration. You can also be a businessperson who has strong skills in accounting and computers. The Allied Business School also offers program for military members who are on active duty, their spouses, and even veterans.

There are two ways for students to complete their coursework via distance education, and through the Allied Business School. Through a traditional correspondence course, students will receive their course materials via their mail, while in the online course, the students receive the same course materials online. However, with the online course, the students are able to complete all their examinations and homework immediately.

Once students receive their course materials, they are given up to a year to complete their course. At this rate, they work at their own pace as they complete their assignments and do their exams. At the end of the year, they will be awarded a Certificate of Completion. At this point, students can immediately enter the job market if they have a certification for a certain profession, or they can choose to undergo more coursework if they need it for their specific business or organization.

The Allied Business School, as part of the Allied School, is an accredited school. The school also offers payment plans that can make it convenient for students to enroll without worrying about their finances. Students can start with a small down payment, and then follow up for the next six months by installment. There are other financial packages available for students who need such assistance.

The Allied Business School is open for enrollment all year. If you are interested in a course at the Allied Business School, visit http://www.alliedschools.com.

August 08, 2009

College Scholarships Offered by Federal Entities

You may not realize it but there are plenty of college scholarships offered by Federal entities. Many of them you may qualify for so be sure you look at them. Some people assume that the Federal government only offers financial aid in the form of grants based upon financial need. While that is the main area where they assist people with paying for college, it isn’t all that they can offer.

Currently there are approximately 130 different Federal programs you can look into for college scholarship information. All of them can be found online so if you are dedicated to spending some time on research you will find plenty of them that you can look deeper into. This is the perfect way for you to see what types of Federal college scholarships you should apply for. You can search for them by title, but Federal entity, and by eligibility criteria.

You will find them to be offered for both undergraduate and for graduate studies. You will also find that Federal college scholarships can be found in very high dollar amounts. That is often part of the appeal for many people. They would rather focus their attention on applying for those that can cover almost the entire cost of their education. This way they don’t have to continue to worry about how they will pay for the cost. They also don’t want to get half way done and then face the horror that they don’t have the funding to continue.

There are Federal college scholarships offered to pay for many years of schooling as well. For someone with the aspirations to become a doctor, lawyer, or other career field where it takes more than four years this is a great way to go. You don’t want to hit a brick wall after those four years go by as you might with some other forms of college scholarships that are designed to end at that time. If you know your education is going to take five or more years then you definitely want to apply for Federal college scholarships.

Should you decide to apply for Federal college scholarships you need to be aware that they have stricter guidelines in many cases. That means you need to take more time reading all the information. You also want to do double and triple check your work to be sure it is all 100% accurate. Since there will be more people that qualify for Federal scholarships due to the wide coverage area, you may be worried about too much competition. However, a large percentage of these applications for Federal college scholarships will be removed at a glance for failure to comply with all the requirements.

Since many people don’t even know that Federal college scholarships even exist, you will also have that advantage on your side. You want to be sure you learn all you can about them. Some of them are renewable which means as long as you continue to meet the set guidelines you can get it again the following year. Make sure you are fully aware of the deadlines and the items you need to send in with your application though. You don’t want to miss out on your chance to benefit from Federal college scholarship funds.

August 01, 2009

College Scholarship Scams

Since so many people look around for college scholarships, many of them have become easy prey. Instead of helping them as they portray, some are nothing more than scams. They require a person to pay for the application or they attach a processing fee to it. You should never have to pay money to apply for money that is offered as a scholarship. If you find something like that in your search efforts you want to steer clear of it.

There are also companies that claim they will do all the searching for you. All you have to do is give them some basic information. Then they do all the leg work involved for you. This may sound like a worthwhile investment due to the amount of time it can take to find them on your own. However, such businesses are scams as well. They aren’t going to provide you with the information you need to apply for great college scholarships. If you want the financial benefits you are going to have to do the hard work on your own.

A common scam is sending out award letters that you have won a college scholarship. However, it will tell you that there are fees and taxes that have to be paid on it in advance. For those new to the award process, the prospect of getting a $5,000 scholarships when they pay the $500 in fees is worth it. When it never materializes though is when they realize they have been scammed out of that $500 they had.

There should never be a request for social security numbers or credit card numbers when you fill out college scholarship applications. These requests should also be viewed as red flags that you aren’t dealing with a reputable agency. You will find that most college scholarship scams are operated on the internet. Those behind them have less risk involved with being caught this way.

They often will use scholarship names that sound very close to real ones too. This way people are less likely to find out that they are a scam until it is too late. Most people that get scammed like this don’t tell anyone. They are too ashamed and too embarrassed that they fell for it. Yet it is important to realize these con artists are very intelligent. They prey on the emotions of those looking for money for school. They use it to their advantage and never feel bad about what they have done.

If you have never heard of a college scholarship before that doesn’t mean it is a scam. You should take your time though to explore more about it. How long has the entity that offers it been around? What are their goals and why do they offer money for schooling? If you can’t find such information then you should avoid giving them any information that could be compromising for you.

While most college scholarships offered out there are legitimate you do need to be careful. If you are asked for money, a credit card number, or a social security number don’t provide it. You will lose your money and you may be opening up the door for credit card fraud or identity theft to take place. Report any such findings about possible fraud to the proper authorities. The more that consumers are aware of them and report them the less they will be able to take advantage of innocent individuals that are only trying to find a way to pay for college.