poker.

The payout is big here, so unlike smaller
bursaries and scholarships, you will not be
winning by luck. Unlike basic applications,
these applications are hard work. You
need sublime reference letters that ooze
recommendation out of every sentence;
your future goals have to be so altruistic
and admirable, they’d make Mother

Teresa cry; your extracurricular activities
and work experience need to have such
range and commitment, you might as well
give up on the thought of ever sleeping;
and your essay (and yes, there will be an
essay) needs to be succinct and eloquently
written, it should make Mark Twain weep. I
thought I did a lot of activities in my spare
time - hell no! If you look at the bios of
recipients of these big-payout bursaries
and scholarships, you would almost expect
to see they donated their kidney to a
disabled man while feeding the homeless
and coaching children’s soccer within the
span of a day! They’re the kind of people
you want to punch in the face for being so
amazing and likeable, but you also want

to hug and shake their hand for being so
amazing and likeable. Let me be frank -
these people absolutely deserve these kinds
of payouts. They work their ass off to get
to where they are, and that deserves great
recognition. But if you want to apply for the
same big-pay bursaries and scholarships

as them, then you need to step up your
game. So here are some helpful tips to help
you apply for bursaries and scholarships,
whatever kind you may come across:

Tips:

Apply! Practice makes perfect, and soon
you'll be whipping out applications in no
time. Whether you're applying for simple
one-off awards like coins in a slot machine,
or hoping for a royal flush at the big-league
poker table, you have to play to win.

The more difficult the application, the less
likely people will apply. Don’t limit yourself.
It’s like applying for a job; you never know
when you'll land that job out of your
league. That being said...

If you don’t think you can match what the
top-tier applicants are bringing to the table
for large bursaries and scholarships, then
do what it takes so you can! Join a club,
volunteer, save a kitten from a burning tree,
whatever plumps up that academic resume
and makes you look good.

Save everything. Don’t treat every
application with the same “cut and

paste” shortcut, but be aware that similar
questions are asked often on applications.
It can save you a lot of time when you can
reuse a lot of information over again, like a
list of volunteer activities or future
goals.

Apply for niche awards. These are the odd
awards that you've never heard of and
are offered by some obscure group in the

community, but are available to anyone.
The local clown college throwing a few
hundred bucks to any student willing to
write on the merits of juggling? Pick up
those balls and start practicing, there’s
money on the line. These awards are
helpful actually when you need to...

Set yourself apart from the competition.
If you can’t do that through impressive
extracurricular experience or grades, you
better make damn sure you’re a more
skilled and convincing writer or speaker
than the other applicants.

Know the “risks.” I use the word “risk”
here as I still want to reiterate my analogy
of gambling. You are not guaranteed
anything. However, the higher the risks,
the higher the payout. Bursaries and
scholarships
money, only a gain. You do, however,
gamble with the time and effort that comes
from the application process and writing
involved. Okay, there may also be a small
fee for express shipping when hitting those
close deadlines.

are not a risk in losing

The reality is, sometimes you will put a lot
of work into an application and still won’t
be chosen. That sucks, but that’s life. It’s
like a job - just because you're the most
qualified doesn’t always mean you'll get it.
There are numerous reasons to why others
may be chosen over you, and there’s a good
chance you'll never learn why. That’s not
to say you'll walk away empty handed. In
the process of applying for bursaries and
scholarships, you learn time management
for short-notice deadlines; you hone your
short essay writing skills; and you practice
presenting yourself and communicating
your thoughts to complete strangers, all
of which I find to be extremely valuable in
university. Hearing all the nice things your
references said about you tends to leave
you feeling pretty positive too.

The UNBC Process:

You've got the tips and tricks, now you
just need to get started. Although UNBC
has moved their Financial Aid office to the
depths of the Student Registrar’s office
where you can no longer flip through the
big giant binder of awards or visit with
Gloria Benazic (we miss you!) they have

streamlined the application process and put

much of it online, making it much simpler.

Here’s what you do: Sign in to Student
Online Services; click the top-right Awards
and Financial Aid tab; and view your
current awards and financial aid payments,
the awards guide and their criteria, or
begin filling in the application.

Your general awards application requests
basic information and can be filled in fairly
quickly, but obviously the more effort you
put into it, the better. This application acts
as sort of a template which applies to a
range of UNBC awards. If your “template”
fits the requirements, you're good to go,

and don’t need to do anything else but wait
for a response.

If you want to improve your chances for
receiving awards or bigger awards, you
need to provide more information in

your application. If an award requests

a little extra criteria beyond your basic
information, like reference letters or a
short essay, than those need to be provided.
Often these can also work as one-shot
templates which can save you time. For
example: if ten different awards request

a short essay on why you joined your
program or your career goals, you only
need to provide one essay. It will cover

all of the awards and you don’t need to
hand in ten copies of the same essay. Most
important of all, read the criteria. Reading
the fine print can make the difference
between getting an award and not. It’s
these awards that are often recycled back
into circulation, giving students a chance to
apply for them again.

A couple months later, you may receive a
wonderful letter from the UNBC Financial
Office informing you you've been chosen as
a recipient to an award; it’s like winning the
lottery! They will request you respond with
an acceptance of the award. I’m pretty sure
nobody has ever declined an award. “Free
money, no thanks!” Pft, as if. They also ask
you send the award donor a thank you card
if requested. I'll be blunt, this should not be

9

optional. A group or organization gave you
free money; you bloody well write them a
sincere thank you card!

In regards to this coveted letter you may
receive, you best make sure you have your
mailing information correct. Currently,
correspondence for these acceptance
letters does not utilize emails. I’ve been

in the situation where I’ve almost missed
an acceptance deadline because I was
unavoidably between places of stay and
never received the letter. However, the
Financial Aid Office staff is working hard at
improving the awards system in hopes of
fully transitioning the application process -
including notifications - online.

So there you have it, the nitty-gritty

reality of applying for bursaries and
scholarships. The deadline for this year’s
awards application is 1 March 2014, so be
sure to get those reference letters and extra
writings done early. I tell you this now
because I always forget the deadline until

a few days before, until I’m fortunately
reminded by one of my peers. I literally had
to run down the hall one year to get my
application into the office before it closed!
As I’m graduating this year, I won't have to
worry about award deadlines anymore. I
graciously leave those available awards to
the remaining hard-working and dedicated
students of UNBC who deserve them.

95

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