It's Better To Try by Jordan

It's Better To Try by Jordan - September 2022 Scholarship Essay

If I had to give my past self one piece of advice it would be to apply for scholarships sooner. My dad is a single parent of 3 girls. As one could probably guess it is very hard on him. We all participate in different activities and sports, some at different times but a lot within the same hour. Between the 3 of us, he was always spread really thin, driving back and forth and all around town. Raising 3 girls by yourself is not cheap either. Anything from hygienic products to hair appointments was paid for by our dad. When I reached my junior year in high school I got a job to help pay for my expenses and try to lessen his load. But what I didn’t realize was that I needed to be looking further into the future. The best way to help my dad was to help pay for my college was via scholarships. But instead of applying, I convinced myself that I was not good enough to be awarded one. This was problematic as working a job that pays $10/hr was not enough to lessen the burden of college tuition. As many of us know college can be extremely expensive. For one year tuition can cost as little as $20k. My dream college tuition for a year was $50k a year. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend because my family couldn’t afford to take me there. Maybe if I tried harder, or even believe I could win a scholarship contest I could have gathered enough money to attend my top college. If I could go back in time, just a year, I would tell myself that it is better for you to try, by at the very least applying for a scholarship, than to completely give up on the idea.