Getting a quality education is a dream for most people, but this dream often comes with a heavy price tag. If you’re financially constrained, you may be thinking about applying for multiple jobs or taking out loans to secure extra funds for schooling. These are both valid ways to finance your education, but you can minimize financial burdens substantially by applying for a scholarship program.

That being said, some applicants shy away from pursuing scholarships due to the belief that they do not meet the qualifications. Some scholarships are admittedly competitive, but others are more accessible and have less stringent requirements. Still, it takes knowledge of the right strategies to successfully land a scholarship, regardless of how competitive the pool may be.

If you’re determined to get a scholarship to help you achieve your educational goals, here are some tips you need to follow in order to stand out from the competition and boost your chances of getting selected:

Identify the Right Scholarship for You

The first step to getting a scholarship is to know the one that’s right for you. There’s an abundance of scholarships out there that suit a range of interests and scenarios, from international student exchange programs to sports scholarships. If you belong to a particular ethnic group, you may find specialized programs for funding your education. If you have no issue with paying a portion of your educational expenses, you can go for partially funded scholarships rather than fully funded programs. You can find information on these scholarships through the web and social media, but you can also scour the website of the school you wish to attend or directly contact the institution yourself for more application info.

Singapore is a country that highly values education and promotes efforts to support promising students as well as early-career professionals. In addition to government-sponsored scholarships, there are also diploma courses in Singapore that allow you to pursue a fully funded diploma, gain work experience and earn money through a work-study arrangement. These programmers may also allow you to pursue degree programs in Singapore-based universities after getting your diploma, further boosting your caliber and giving you an edge in the competitive Singapore labor market.

These are only some of the ways to get funding for your education, so it’s up to you to determine the program that perfectly fits your interests, priorities, and merit.

Send Your Application Early

The window for scholarship applications only opens a few times per year, so it’s important to take your shot when you can. Most applicants tend to procrastinate until the deadline, but you can save yourself from the stress and send your application as early as you can. Sending your application early allows you to sufficiently prepare materials such as your application essay, transcript and recommendations way ahead of the deadline. Moreover, early applications give scholarship providers enough time to request follow-up requirements, if necessary. And if an interview is requested, applying early enables you to adequately prepare your responses to the vetting panel’s questions.

Do Research on Your Chosen Field

Some scholarships are specific to one field of study, while others require applicants to be accepted into a degree programmed first. If you’re aiming for a scholarship for undergraduate programs, it would help to have a clear idea of the field you intend to pursue. Doing so will help you be confident and self-assured when answering questions such as why you chose to pursue a particular field of study, what it means to you, and how you plan to make strides in this field in the future. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to follow this advice for non-undergraduate scholarships as well.

Participate in Extracurriculars

Most scholarship providers don’t just look at grades when choosing their beneficiaries. When assessing applicants, the vetting committee also zooms in on extracurricular activities to get a sense of the applicants’ well-roundedness and achievements outside of academics.

To make your application stand out, make sure to join school groups that align with your interests. These groups can be anything, from debate societies and school publications to film clubs and the school band. Showing your active participation in these groups is a chance to prove the range of your talents, especially if some of them are related to your chosen career path. On top of that, participating in many extracurricular activities broadens your network and gives you more connections that can vouch for your character.

Monitor Your Social Media Footprint

Social media has a way of keeping us connected across borders, but it can also make or break your future career. Similar to applying for a job, applying for a scholarship means being prepared for online background checks. As such, you need to put your best foot forward and make sure that your social media accounts don’t cast you in a bad light. You’ve probably heard that everything you put online stays there, so it’s best to exemplify the qualities of a good digital citizen in your social media handles. It’s not a bad thing to show off your personality through jokes and memes, but make sure that you maintain proper decorum, respect, and professionalism when interacting with others online.

Be Yourself and Go for It

Taking all these tips aside, the most important part of applying for a scholarship is to simply go for it with what you’ve got. This means being honest about your strengths as a student, where your passions lie and how circumstances in your life may affect your access to education. Scholarship providers generally value authenticity, and you will stand out more if you have a sense of what makes you different from the rest.

While it’s true that not all applications will succeed, what matters is that you keep trying to access the education that you deserve. Rejection letters are inevitable, but that shouldn’t deter you from submitting the one application that might land the golden ticket. At the end of the day, it’s all about believing in yourself and having the guts to try your luck.