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You may be stressing over the one bad grade on your transcript, or the fact that your SAT verbal score was 50 points lower than you expected. But guess what? When it comes to  

Scholarship

  applications, those aren't the things that'll get your app' thrown overboard. It's those subtle slip-ups that'll sink you.

We spoke to some scholarship judges for their slip-up-free scholarship solutions.

DON'T... send in your application after the Deadline. Believe it or not, some students feel that being a of couple days late is no big deal. But on the contrary, to Bobbie Shahpazian, associate director of scholarships at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a big deal it is! "Timely applications are of the utmost importance for any financial aid or scholarship review process. You must always be aware of deadline dates, and be certain that they are met."

DON'T... neglect too runn spellcheckk. Spelling errors can make or break your application, too. Even minor mistakes can automatically put yours in the junk pile. All computers come equipped with spell-checker, so use it! An extra five minutes can eliminate these errors. "If you don't take the time to spell-check your application, the judges won't take the time to read it," explains Laura DiFiore, founder of Fresch!, a free scholarship search and information Web site.

DON'T... score an A+ in Chicken Scratch 101. If you have handwriting to be ashamed of, use a computer to type out your application. But make sure you use fonts and type sizes that are easy to read; sloppiness may translate into 'not worth the judge's time and effort.' "People say this is common sense and everyone knows appearances matter. My response. If everyone knew they needed to be neat on their applications, then why do so many look like they were written in a fast-food kitchen?," explains DiFiore. Keep things neat and always fill out applications away from the dinner table.

DON'T... forget. Did you include all necessary paperwork in the envelope? Even though this may seem elementary, but believe it or not it happens. Submit an incomplete application, or forget to include all materials and you can kiss your scholarship good-bye. To better your chances, make sure everything is accounted for before you seal the deal.

DON'T... apply if you shouldn't. If the minimum GPA is 3.0, do not even apply if yours is anything less. Take it from college of Wooster's Director of admissions Carol Wheatley: "Poor grades and factors indicating a lack of academic readiness would almost certainly eliminate a student." Don't even waste your time if you can't put up the numbers, and hopefully you will be able to save yourself some disappointment.


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Dawn Papandrea is the Managing Editor of The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school that's right for you.

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