You Are 60 Seconds Away from the Trash Bin If you witnessed the judging of a scholarship competition, you'd be surprised at how quickly decisions are made. It's not unusual for scholarship judges to decide in less than 60 seconds whether your application advances to the next round or gets tossed into the rejection pile. With so little time, how do you capture the attention of these discriminating judges and improve your chances of winning? For most competitions the secret is in your essay or interview. These give the judges the insight they need to separate the winners from the runners-up. If you are like the majority of scholarship applicants, you probably aren't sure what makes an essay or interview a "winner." And how would you know? It's unlikely that you have access to dozens of past scholarship winners who can share their experiences and show you their winning essays and interview answers. And it is even more unlikely that you've had the opportunity to speak with actual scholarship judges who can tell you exactly what qualities cause a candidate to stand out as a winner. Obviously, anyone with this kind of access and knowledge has a tremendous advantage for winning a scholarship.

Now you can have this advantage. In this book you will learn about scholarship winners, read their essays and interviews and learn the strategies that they have used to win more than $3 million in awards. (That amount is not a misprint. In fact, one incredible student received over $250,000 in scholarship offers!) You will also have the opportunity to hear from scholarship judges who will take you inside the selection process to reveal what they look for when choosing winners.