Common Traits of Students Who Win Athletic Scholarships in America

For the students who have actively participated in sports activities through their school life it is always exciting to get into college with an athletic grant. Getting a part of the college fee covered by the bursary and the opportunities to represent the institution in different tournaments is a good feeling.

An increasing number of students from the UK now apply for golf, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, or soccer scholarship in USA. However, only a few of them actually make it to the list of final recruits. Is there something unique about the ones who get selected? Recruitment agencies have observed the following traits:

These students have resolute persistence

There can be a lot of disappointments in the selection process. Nonetheless, the determined ones keep making efforts. Most of the successful students that recruitment agencies have worked with are the ones who were declined the scholarship offer from more than 10 colleges or coaches but they did not give up.

They kept sending emails to coaches and retained their professional tone. Even if it took time, they got their scholarship offers, leaving behind the candidates who made only half-hearted attempts.

They aim for a scholarship but do not ask ‘for’ it

After reading the first point, this may seem surprising but the students applying for a soccer or golf scholarship in America (or scholarship for any other game) need to understand that asking ‘for’ a bursary is different from asking ‘about’ a bursary. Successful recruits ask ABOUT scholarships and bursaries.

They correspond with their mentors and the coaches to know what it really takes to get a scholarship from their program. And then they show how they fit into the picture painted by the college.

Asking for a scholarship, on the other hand, is a wrong approach – it is about just sending an application and then leaving it up to the coach to determine if they consider you good enough.

Therefore, help the coach to choose you and do not expect them to just consider you.

They get more than one scholarship offer

Getting a better scholarship offer becomes easier for students who already have one in their hand. Coaches from top colleges and universities are more willing to raise the athletic grant amounts when they know that the candidate they are interviewing has already received an offer from another college.

Recruitment agencies encourage their clients to get several colleges involved in the process of selection. This saves the students from losing opportunities and enables them to choose the college and the bursary that they deem the best.

They are willing to follow instructions

The students who successfully get scholarships are well prepared for the questions asked by the coaches, respond to them effectively and confidently ask their own questions too.

At the same time they must be careful about their choice of questions. A frustrating experience for coaches is when they send some details to candidates about their expectations and the students fail to read them properly. If a student then asks something that was clearly answered in the coaches’ communication, they will question the student’s ability to follow instructions.

Scholarship applicants must remember that there will be several tasks that need them to read complex and detailed instructions. They can get their queries answered by the coaches or recruitment agencies when they don’t understand certain things but they must at least care to read everything once – that will prove their genuine interest in the process of selection.

Willing to adopt some of these traits? With sincere efforts and a faith in your own abilities, you will certainly win the scholarship in your chosen sport.

Author Bio: Future Pro USA is a UK based agency helping British students win sports scholarships in America. If you have the skills to excel and sports and want to fund your education in a prestigious American university, apply for an assessment test. To send your details, visit http://www.futureprousa.com/

Michael harley is a writer at Search Engine.