Set Goals, Stay Focused: A Scholarship Winner Shares Advice

We kicked off the new year with the biggest Fastweb sweepstakes yet, the $2,024 Scholarship Success Sweepstakes. Not only was the award total the biggest, more Fastweb users than ever before entered to win this scholarship! The scholarship sweepstakes started on February 12 and ended on March 19. One Fastweb user put in the work to ensure she came out a scholarship winner: Congratulations to Gillian Tran, Fastweb’s $2,024 Scholarship Success Sweepstakes winner! The Fastweb sweepstakes was open to high school, trade school, college and grad school students. Parents could also enter to win this scholarship! Applicants simply needed to log into their Fastweb account and answer one multiple-choice question: What’s your scholarship application goal? Every response was correct, making it truly a quick-apply scholarship. Logging in each day was encouraged as daily entries helped to boost the odds of becoming a scholarship winner. We asked Gillian, our $2,024 Sweepstakes winner, for any tips that would help Fastweb users stay motivated when applying for scholarships. A college senior at Santa Clara University, here’s what Gillian wanted you to know: Why did you apply for this scholarship? Gillian: I have been given the opportunity to pursue higher education at Santa Clara University, where I am studying marketing and entrepreneurship. However, coming from a low-income and single-parent family, attending such a prestigious school has resulted in me graduating with student debt. I applied for this scholarship because I want to take advantage of any opportunities that can potentially relieve my family and me of money-related stress. How did you stay motivated to apply for the Scholarship Success Sweepstakes? Gillian: I stayed motivated to apply for the Scholarship Success Sweepstakes by setting a goal to log into the Fastweb platform every day. It was a measurable, realistic, and, honestly, extremely easy goal that I knew I could accomplish if I practiced discipline daily. An easy bookmark of the scholarship page to my browser further encouraged me to log into Fastweb every day, since I remembered how accessible and easy submitting an entry was. What scholarship advice do you have for students? Gillian: For those applying for scholarships, my advice is to stay disciplined and follow measurable goals – a goal of applying to one scholarship per week is a much clearer goal than a goal of just applying to scholarships. Set measurable and realistic goals, but, most importantly, follow through with compassion and patience. Not receiving a scholarship is not necessarily a judgment of your skills and accomplishments. At the end of the day, practice gratitude – “I get to apply for scholarships” – and trust that what is meant for you will always find its way to you. Why should students use Fastweb? Gillian: Students should use Fastweb because it is an easy-to-use scholarship platform that not only matches students to both large and small scholarships that they are most qualified for but also allows for easy organization of the scholarships. If you enjoy Fastweb’s scholarship sweepstakes, you’ll be excited to hear we’ll drop our next sweepstakes in just a few weeks. Check back and keep your eye on your email for all the details! In the meantime, consider applying for Fastweb’s $1,000 Invite-a-Friend Sweepstakes. Check out more classic advice from these Fastweb users: AKA scholarship winners! Previous winners have shared helpful tips that can help students win scholarships: “Keep applying, pay attention to deadlines and CHECK YOUR EMAIL! Apply. Apply. Apply. You literally have nothing to lose. The answer is always no if you don't apply. Sometimes, it is yes when you do!” Bryan Whorton, Fastweb’s $1,000 Scholarship Success Sweepstakes Winner: June 2023 “Keep searching for scholarships and keep applying. There is something out there for everyone.” Natalia Nieves, Fastweb’s $1,000 National Scholarship Month Sweepstakes Winner: November 2022 “The best-underrated advice is to keep track of how many scholarships you enter. I have a spreadsheet with one column for deadlines, another for the link, and ones that give the requirements (word count for an essay, letter of recommendation, etc.) This helps me know which deadlines are coming up compared to the effort required for entry.” Jasmin Little, Fastweb’s $1,000 Scholarship Goal Crusher Sweepstakes Winner: June 2022 “Apply, apply, apply! A scholarship you don’t apply for is like throwing away money. Spending just a little bit of time on a scholarship will save you hours of working for that money in the future.” Bianca C., Fastweb’s $1,000 Own Your Scholarship Journey Sweepstakes Winner: November 2021 “I recommend applying to at least four scholarships per month, one for each week. Four may not seem like a lot, but that is four more than you would have had compared to if you started searching closer to the end of the month and applied last minute!” Therese Loise Dy, $1,000 Scholarship Success Sweepstakes Winner: August 2021