Brainstorming is an important, and often overlooked, part of the writing or creating process. It is easy to just run with the first idea rather than explore a variety of options. This episode outlines six brainstorming strategies, and highlights the Frame Your Future scholarship competition.

This episode discusses five steps to editing essays: reading the content aloud, cutting irrelevant information, analyzing words, evaluating research, and keenly reviewing the introduction and conclusion. This week's feature scholarship is a topic scholarship and it is hosted by expert exchange.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institution and GE host an annual $10,000 scholarship for high school seniors. One component requires applicants to succinctly express career and educational goals. This episode we discuss four steps to conduct in the goal-making process.

Retention rate is an important number for colleges, and applicants for the scholarship hosted by Transtutors must write an 800-word essay on their perspective on why students drop out, and what can be done to prevent it. Retention rates are based on the number of students who return the the university after the first year or first semester.

This scholarship can be tackled using a variety of strategies including highlighting several different reasons students drop out, conducting an in-depth analysis on one reason or looking at common universities or school-types that have lower retention rates.

Take Action:

1.) Improve research skills by finding quality peer-reviewed sources.

2.) If you are in high school, create a college plan to reduce the statistical probability of dropping out.

The deadline for this scholarship is Feb. 15 and the award is $1,000.

Every one has busy seasons, but it is important to keep scholarships a priority. Otherwise, it is easy for one week of not applying to a scholarship to turn into two weeks. The goal of this episode is to encourage you to consistently work toward your scholarship goals even while finals are looming ahead.

There are some fun scholarships out there, and you may be qualified to compete for some pretty interesting ones such as duck calling competitions, dorm waivers for twins, or just writing about how the world would be different without the internet.

This scholarship is hosted by papercheck.com and is a $1,000 award. The scholarship requires a 1,000 word minimum essay convincing others to volunteer in their communities. This episode discusses strategies on how to write a persuasive essay that will keep the judges engaged and that will flow logically. Again, this episode also continues to emphasize the importance of volunteering for scholarship opportunities.

GIVA Scholarship is an experience-focused scholarship due Dec. 1. It requires applicants to discuss their dreams, career goals, personal ambitions and how they plan to change the world. This episode discusses how to tackle this scholarship strategically.

Experience-focused scholarships are all about telling a good story. It is your story that wins scholarships. It doesn't require extensive research like topic scholarships, but it does require reflections and deep thought. This episode features three different experience-focused scholarships all linked with a common theme.

This episode explores three different topic scholarships opportunities to tackle before the end of the Fall semester. Topic scholarships require research, writing, and editing. The purpose of the scholarship marathon is to encourage students to get out there and start applying.

Creative content scholarships include graphic design projects, poetry, photography and video. These scholarships can take many hours to complete, and applicants should pursue creative content scholarships that complete strengths.

The Ultimate Scholarship Book is an annual publication with hundreds of scholarships, but it is worth the time and effort necessary to find scholarships that matter? This episode explores the pros and cons on searching for scholarships in a book format.

Ted Malone, Financial Aid Director at Purdue University, discusses how income-sharing agreements work, and how students can benefit from the opportunity. Income-sharing agreement is an arrangement to dedicate a specific percentage of a student's income to pay for college rather than to take out a traditional loan.

This episode explores some common knowledge students learn while at college that they may not understand or know while in high school. It is always better to learn sooner rather than later.

This episode features Wyatt Hancock who is hosting a cancer care packaging event at his high school. These large events and projects help build resumes and open up new opportunities for high school students and college student. The work also gives young adults experience and stories to share for their scholarship applications and job interviews.

Handling rejection is an important part of the scholarship process. This episodes features some tools and strategies to keep going even when you keep hearing 'no.'

This episode discusses strategies on how to brainstorm and do research quickly and effectively for topic scholarships. Topic scholarship are common, and quality essays are more competitive.

Strategies to reduce college debt can begin in high school by taking college courses or AP courses instead of simply high requirements. Here are the pros and cons of each option.

Continuing to search for scholarships after starting college is important, and there are ways to be more competitive. This episode presents six strategies to increase your scholarship opportunities.

Kierstin and I graduated from the same high school, and she and I both have decided to pursue helping students through higher education decisions. She focuses a lot of college admission. She is a current student at Tulsa University, and she regularly helps students have a competitive college admissions application. She also teaches students how to decide which college is best. College choice has a big impact on student debt, so this episode is full of strategies to further reduce overall student debt.

This episode features Adam Carroll the author of Broke, Busted and Disgusted - a pro-education film that discusses the costs of college. For more than ten years, Adam has encouraged families, students and academic institutions to teach the importance of financial literacy. He hosts a podcast called “Build a Bigger Life”  he has presented Ted Talks and conducted programs related to financial literacy. Adam is the the vision driver for Broke, Busted and Disgusted.

We have discussed personal information with focus on avoiding scams and knowing how to test whether or not a scholarship is legitimate. We have also discussed recommendation letters and transcripts, and how to not let those items make you miss a deadline, and finally we are going to talk about the main content, which could be an essay, video, photography, or maybe even poem. 

Transcripts and recommendation letters are an important part of an application. In many cases, recommendation letters can be a major deciding factor for a scholarship applicant. This episode covers a variety of strategies related to completing the recommendation letters and transcript portion of the application process.

One of the very first questions I encountered when I began my scholarship journey, was is this scholarship legitimate. I didn't want to waste my time or my put my information at risk. This episode covers some good strategies to avoid the scams, and how to report a scam if you come across one.

On request, this episode is a conversation on how to manage feeling average, and winning scholarships even when you think you won't qualify for any. Specifically, students should search for one or two exceptional qualities or skills, focus on topic scholarships if experience-focused scholarships are a weakness and explore possible niche scholarship opportunities.