HOW I GOT OVER $107,000 IN COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS - Essay Tips, International Student, NYU

Hey guys! Welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Sineada, and today I'm going to be talking about college scholarships. So a question I get asked a lot is how I got all of my scholarships and how the heck do I pay for NYU because we all know that NYU's tuition is notoriously expensive. Notoriously expensive. So whether you're in high school or college or you just got accepted into NYU, congrats to the class of 2025. I hope that this video is going to be helpful because I'm going to be going through some scholarship resources, how to write the best essays, and how you can get that money because there is so much money out there in scholarships that you can apply for no matter who you are. So keep on watching. So first off, if you're new to this channel, I wanted to give a brief background about myself. I'm a freshman currently studying at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, which is in Tisch, and I'm originally from Toronto, Canada, so I'm an international student. I do not have a U.S. citizenship, and in high school I was pretty active in the music programs. So in high school I was pretty active with music, clubs, I was in debate for a year, I was in Model UN for a year, and then I was head of the AV team and choir in senior year, and I also did the senior school play, I did band, choir, outside of school as well, and then I also did a piano pre-college program at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Besides that, I also started my own music festival called the Youth Showcase Concert Series, which featured musicians below the age of 25 in the greater Toronto area. So yeah, that was kind of what I did in high school. I had a pretty solid GPA, it wasn't like the best, but I was on the honor roll with distinction for all of my years in high school. So that's basically what I used to apply for scholarships, and that's mainly what I wrote about in my essays. Okay, now we're going to talk about the different kinds of scholarships there are, because there's quite a few, and it's good to know the difference. First, there's loans and grants, and it's different for every country, every state, every province, but for me, because I was from Ontario, I applied for the Ontario Student Assistant Program, or OSAP for short, and you can look up your own state's loan program or grant program, and there's usually information on how you can apply on that, and depending on your household income, it'll vary from person to person. The second type is university scholarships. So these are scholarships that are given out by the school, and sometimes they're merit-based, sometimes they're need-based, and sometimes they're like a combination of both. So for NYU, it was a mix of both, and you had to apply for financial aid during your application, and I know for international students, that's through the CSS, which is run by the College Board. If you're applying to university, it's really important to look at the different kinds of scholarships that they have on their website. Usually it'll be under financial aid or scholarships, and you can probably apply to different ones, or they just count it with your application, and if you're already in university, there are still a few chances to get scholarships sometimes. For example, clubs within your school or organizations might be giving out scholarships or grants to students who are currently studying at that institute. And then the third type is private scholarships, which is what the bulk of this video is going to be talking about. Private scholarships are anything that are not university-affiliated or state government-affiliated. Usually these are companies, law firms, not-for-profits that mainly focus on giving scholarships to students, and there are so, so, so many of them out there that you can just go and Google them and you'll come up with hours and hours of results. Private scholarships are usually not as big in amount. The biggest I've seen is around 10k, and that's, like, a lot. Usually they're around 5k or lower, but the more you apply, the more it adds up to become a really large sum. These scholarships usually require some type of application and sometimes an essay, and once you start getting into the groove of it, you'll realize that a lot of the essays ask these same or similar questions, and you can just rephrase or retweak your essay to fit each question. So so far, I've gotten over $107,000 in scholarships, and I'm just going to be going over the scholarships that I got. So the first one I ever applied for was the Notes for the Future Scholarship, and I remember applying to this in my junior year. It was super easy. All you had to do was send in a short video. It was obviously a music scholarship, so it was me performing a piece on piano and then me singing a classical vocal piece, and that scholarship was $1,000, and I also ended up using that to go to Spain to do a summer program at Berkeley Valencia. So when I got into NYU, they also gave me a scholarship, and I got the Tisch Scholarship, which was $24,100, and it was renewable over four years. The other renewable scholarship I got was the Horatio Alger Canadian Scholar, which I got in the fall of my senior year, and that is a total amount of $5,000, and you can renew it every year. So basically, at the end of your four years, you'll have used the $5,000, but they only give you $1,000 per year. The next one I got was the Toronto HACA Conference Scholarship. So when I found out I got this scholarship, there were a list of six people who also got the scholarship, and I think it was $1,000 per person, and then they also announced a special scholarship, the Liu Shui Hab Scholar, which would be $3,000 instead of the $1,000, and I wasn't really expecting to get it, and then when we got to the day of the ceremony, I found out that I was the Liu Shui Hab Scholar, so I ended up getting $3,000 from that scholarship. And then I also applied for the NSHSS Performing Arts Music Scholarship. So the NSHSS is an organization for high school students, and I'll talk a bit about that later, but for this scholarship, I got $2,000, and the application was also a video, I think, and a short essay. The next one I got was the Jean Lum Foundation Arts Award. So Jean Lum was a really famous Chinese-Canadian, and she was inducted into the Order of Canada. So the Jean Lum Foundation started a bunch of scholarships that awarded students in different categories, and the one I got was the Arts Award, and that one was $1,000. And that one required you to submit a portfolio of your works, and also a recommendation letter, and I think there was a short essay as well. The next one I got was through my dad's alumni association, the WYKAO Scholastic Achievement Award, and that one was $250. And I also got $250 from the Ocean Awareness Contest, and this one wasn't so much a scholarship as it was a contest, and basically you have to create a piece of art that promotes sustainability and ocean awareness and protecting our sea creatures. So I wrote a song called Whale Song, which you can watch because it's on my YouTube channel, and I was awarded Honorable Mention. And then the last scholarship that I got recently was the 1,000 Dreams Pallywall Club of 100 Scholarship Fund, and that one I think you had to fill out an application and then write a short essay about what you want to do in the future and your goals and how you're going to achieve them, and that one was $1,000. So those are the scholarships that I've gotten so far, and the trick to applying for scholarships is to start applying early. Like, even if you're a high school freshman, you're a sophomore or a junior or a senior, you can start applying right away because there are tons of scholarships for high school students, especially in your junior and senior year. And also, you just don't really have that much to do in high school, so if you have any free time, just go apply for scholarships, you know? You don't really have anything better to do. And it's free money. There are scholarships throughout the year, and the deadlines vary for each scholarship, so you really should start looking and try to plan a few months ahead. Usually, you want to give yourself at least a few days to work on the essay or the application, especially if it's longer or it requires a portfolio or a video. And the best time to apply is your senior year. When you've gotten your decision or you're about to graduate or the summer right after your senior year, that is where the bulk of the scholarships are. Because a lot of the eligibility requirements need you to be accepted into a school, but then also still be in high school, and that's like the prime time to apply for scholarships. I remember this past summer, I applied for over 140 scholarships because I just didn't really have anything else to do, and there were so many that I could apply for. Now you might be wondering, so how do I find these scholarships? Well, I'm going to be giving you guys a few of my favorite scholarship website and resource links, which I'll leave in the description box below so you can go check out for yourself. The first website that is personally one of my favorite just because of the ease of use and how clear they make everything is findscholarshipsonline.org. So they generally post scholarships that are sent to their specific organization, and you do have to sign up, but it's free. And all of these links are free because why would you pay money for a scholarship website to get more money or not? FindScholarshipsOnline is especially great because they usually post scholarships that are under-applied, which means not a lot of people have applied to them, it's not as competitive, and there's less applicants, so you have a higher chance of getting that scholarship. The next one is the one I mentioned before, the NSHSS, which is the National Society of High School Scholars, and this one is only if you're in high school, but they have so many different scholarships tailored to high school students, whether you're from the U.S. or international, and there's a lot of different categories including leadership, the arts, writing, journalism, and basically anything you can think of. I applied to three of their scholarships, and I was a finalist for one of them, and then I received another one. So it's not super competitive, I think, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're in high school. The next one is one that most of you probably already know. Scholarships.com and ScholarshipsCanada.com are really great resources. This one is a bit harder to navigate because they just show giant lists of scholarships that you can apply for, but there's also a really helpful search function, so you can search by major or by year or by some other category, including your race, ethnicity, or gender. My other favorite is ScholarTree, and this is a Canadian website, but they do have scholarships that are for Canada and the U.S., which is really helpful if you're an international student like me. ScholarTree is super, super great because you can subscribe to their mailing list, and you fill out a short questionnaire, and then every week they're going to send you scholarships that are tailored to you and your academics or your achievements. And they also show you scholarships that have deadlines coming up or scholarships that were just posted, and I still get those emails every week, and I do go check out the different scholarships that they recommend me. Sometimes I don't qualify for them, which is fine, but it's really great to be kept in the loop. Another one that I found recently was Bull.org, and Bull.org is really, really great because you fill out a single application when you're signing up, and then it shows you a bunch of different scholarships that you can apply to with like one click. Obviously, these ones are probably a bit harder to get because there's a lot of people applying, but some of their no-essay scholarships are pretty interesting, and a lot of their applications are really short, so they're like 250 to 500 word essays, which I, in my opinion, is pretty doable. They have a bunch of different scholarships for all kinds of things, including overcoming challenges or facing your fears, photography, graphic design, etc. Another one that's really, really common is Niche.com, and I personally don't really go on Niche.com because it's more tailored towards U.S. students, but if you are in the U.S., I think it's a really great resource to check out. They have a bunch of no-essay scholarships or super easy scholarships, and you can also filter by your major or your area of study or your location. When you're on these sites, there's a lot of different ways to look for scholarships that can be applied to you. For example, I usually search by my major, so I'll type in scholarships for music majors, or I do scholarships for high school juniors or scholarships for high school seniors or scholarships for Asian women, and it really depends on like who you are, so try to identify those factors about yourself, and that can really help you find scholarships quickly. Another important tip that I will note is to always, always check your eligibility before applying. As an international student, my biggest challenge was finding scholarships that I could apply for as an international student without a U.S. citizenship, but also bring to the U.S. because a lot of the scholarships I found were like, oh you're Canadian, and you can only use it in a Canadian university, or it's a U.S. scholarship, but you have to be a citizen or a permanent resident, so I really had to pay close attention to the requirements and the eligibility before applying. The worst thing to do is to fill out the whole application and then realize that you don't qualify for it. So now I'm going to get more in depth into what exactly scholarships look for and how you can get them. First off, the big one is financial aid. So a lot of scholarships do ask for your household income, and you have to fill out some financial information, but there are some that are just merit-based or essay-based. Another thing that they look for is obviously your achievements, whether or not you've shown entrepreneurship, your extracurricular activities, how involved you are with your school community and your outside community. Another theme that I've noticed for a lot of essays is they often ask about overcoming challenges or hardships. So think about times in your life that maybe you faced a challenge and you had to overcome it, and try to write it out, describe it, describe how you got through that. And another big one is community service and community involvement. So a lot of scholarships will ask if you've done volunteer work, if you started like organizations, or you've joined organizations, if you're helping your community in some way, because that's really really important. Another one they ask about is your future goals and aspirations, and how post-secondary education will help you further your career. So that's a really big one to think about because college is expensive, and you have to ask yourself why am I going to college, or why am I studying this thing, and how will it help me in the future. Some essays will ask you to describe your goals, your dreams, and honestly just write as big as you want it to be. I don't think any dream is too unrealistic or unachievable, so go and write to your heart's content. One of the misconceptions about scholarships is that they look at grades, and in my personal experience only a few of the scholarships I've applied for have asked for my grades, and honestly it's not that big of a deal. I think your grades are important, but what's more important is how you've lived your life, and how you've gone and helped people, or started something that could actually make an impact in the world. The last criteria that I want to talk about is recommendation letters, and I think this is the number one most important one because a lot of scholarships will ask you for recommendation letters. I remember when I was in high school, I asked my guidance counselor to write so many scholarship recommendation letters for me, I'm pretty sure she just ended up using the same one for all of them, but I was so scared that I would annoy her, and every single time I sent the email, the subject line would be like, another scholarship letter, and then I'd be like, hi I'm so sorry to bother you, but I'm applying for another scholarship, and honestly in my personal experience, the people I've asked have been super nice about it. I also have two teachers from my high school that I ask to write my recommendation letters. I find that if you ask the same people, they'll usually just resubmit the same letter that they've used, and it won't be as much of a hassle for them, and I was also really close with those teachers, so they were super nice about it. The other person that I asked was my band director because he could write about how I contributed in band, how I played, and just in general how I worked with the other band members. So I want to dedicate this last part of the video to giving you guys some tips. First tip is get organized. I think this was also a tip in my five things nobody ever tells you about applying to college video, and it's really really important because when you're applying to scholarships, there can be so many and it can feel so overwhelming, but I find that if I make a list of all the scholarships that I want to apply for, including the links and the deadlines, it helps me stay on track. You should also make a folder of all of the scholarship applications that you've done, especially the essays, because you will definitely reuse material from your essay. I mean, there's only so much life experience you can have when you're 17, 18, 19 years old, you know? So I have this google folder with all of the scholarship applications I've ever applied for, and within the documents, I also make sure to include the prompt right at the top because that makes it easier for me to find similar essays that I can go back to in the future. As for tips on writing the actual scholarship essay, I'd say try to make it personal. Don't show them that the essay is copy and pasted, even though you probably borrowed material from other essays, and be sure to include that specific scholarship's name within the essay, if you have space for it that is, because that shows them that you are interested in their specific scholarship. Also, remember to answer the questions directly. A lot of the times when I'm reading people's college essays, it'll ask them a question, but then they talk about something completely different, and they just go off on this tangent, so really try to keep it focused and precise. Which brings me to my next point, and that's word limit. Remember to check the word limit on these essays. Usually it's between 500 to 1,000. Some of the longer ones will ask for 1,200 to 1,500 words, but it's not going to be super duper long. A lot of the times it's actually shorter, so you want to make sure that you're able to convey all of the things that you want to say within 250 or 500 words. The other thing is, I usually include a paragraph at the end of the essay talking about how I'll actually use that scholarship. In this case, it's mostly tuition, and I explain why I need the money, why I'm studying here, and why it's so important for me to get that money. Also, don't forget to show your strengths in your essays. Talk about stuff that you're passionate about. Talk about why you're going into this field, why you're studying what you're studying, and again, about your goals and And lastly, do not forget to check for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I use Grammarly, which is super helpful, but you could also just put it through a grammar checker or an essay checker, and that'll just give your essay that extra cherry on top because everyone knows that punctuation and bad grammar can distract from what you're actually trying to say in your essay. God, I sound like an English teacher. And finally, my last tip is to be patient and keep trying because patience is key. Sometimes when you're applying to so many different scholarships, it might feel like you're never going to get them, and it's a complete waste of time, and I totally get it because I applied for 140 scholarships. I've gotten like 10, so it is a lot of work, and it is a lot of time and energy that you spend on it, but if you get that money, it's the best reward in the world, right? Thank you guys so much for watching this video. If you found it helpful, please be sure to leave a like, comment, and subscribe down below. I'll see you guys next time. Bye!