How to Raise $300k for College-And Travel the World

As featured in the Csouffrantntim Life Hack Series. 

What I did with $300,000!

In my ambition to get to college, I completed 37 scholarship applications. In the end, I chose to go to Dartmouth College with 7 local scholarship grants and the Bill Gates Millennium scholarship.

Okay so now I had the money to go to college. Now what?

I decided that I would plan at out my four years of college ahead of time. I researched the whole summer prior to orientation on college success stories and lugged 15 binders worth of research notes to campus. Yes, it sounds like I was a maniac but you have to understand my state of mind at the time. I was the first in my family to go to college so I was determined to make the most of it and make my family proud. Add on top of that the fact that I was about to attend an Ivy League university and you can understand my paranoia in trying to be prepared.

How I planned 4 Years of Crazy Experiences 

My process was simple. Make a goal to apply to at least 20 different experiences per year to ensure that I get accepted to 1-3 phenomenal opportunities each year. Here is how I did my planning:

• Each year I researched any opportunities that fit my year of eligibility. Whether I had an interest in it or not didn’t matter. The point was to make sure I knew everything I could take on for that year. From the list, I read through the requirements, the benefits of the experience etc. College is a place of growth and development. So I wanted to try new experiences and shatter my perceptions. I started with the Dartmouth database to see what oportunties the college had to offer freshmen. Then, I researched top external programs via "Top 10, or Top 20" blog lists.  I completed this research process for each class year through to senior year and kept all of the information on printed charts so that I can add more to it over time through my experiences as a college student.
• Next, I read through all of the program requirements and selected 3-5 programs that suited me best and applied to all of them with my best foot forward. What that did here was guarantee an amazing term no matter what. Out of the 5 applications for sure, one of them will come through. Anyone looking at my resume or college experience each term can tell that I made the most of college. Pretty soon I became the expert on undergraduate experiences and my peers started turning to me for planning their college experiences as well.
• Once accepted to a program, I did a complete deep dive research process on previous alumni, the program benefits and resources. And for the applications that resulted in a “no”, well I sent a thank you letter and a request for feedback. I always stayed in touch with the decision makers of my reject piles because some of them became great opportunities later on.

By the time it was all said in done, I traveled to 22 countries, worked 11 jobs, completed 20+ programs and was an active member of 8 campus groups. My study abroad experiences included programs with Semester at Sea, Universidad de las Puebla, Mexico, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Amy Biehl Foundation Fellowship of South Africa. My job experiences included being an admissions receptionist, Tuck Business School researcher, GreenCorps Alumni donation caller, COSO intern, Commencement & Reunion Head Supervisor, Alumni Reunion bartender, Rockefeller intern, Textbook buyback coordinator and much more. All with $300k worth of funding.

So what’s my take away on all this? Go for multiple opportunities and constantly search for new ones that might suit your interest. In the end, you will look back on your college experience and say- it was an investment (of time) well spent.

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