我怎样为自己赢得了50万奖学金？

　　She wasn’t a top student or star athlete, but Kristina Ellis, 26, managed to earn half a million dollars in college scholarships by the time she graduated high school in 2005. She says you can, too.

　　她不是学校的尖子生，也不是运动明星，但是26岁的克里斯蒂娜埃利斯在2005年高中毕业时却为自己赢得了50万奖学金，并且她坚信你也可以做到。

　　“The first day of freshman year in high school my mom sat me down and basically said, ‘Kristina, I love you and believe in you, but there’s no way I can support you financially once you graduate from high school, so you’re going to have to figure out your own way to pay for college,’” Ellis recounts.

　　“在我进入高中的第一天，妈妈就就让我坐下然后很认真的对我说，‘克里斯蒂娜，妈妈很爱你，也非常信任你。但是你高中毕业后妈妈实在没有办法支付你上大学的费用，所以不得不自己想办法了。’” 埃利斯回忆到。

　　That’s all the then-13-year-old needed to hear to motivate her to find a way to afford her own future. Skipping college was not an option — nor was taking out thousands in student loans. Ellis was determined to go for free, and did she ever. She scored $500,000 in free money that sent her to the prestigious Vanderbilt University for her Bachelor’s degree. With the remaining money, she went on to pursue a Master’s and is now setting her sights on a Ph.D.

　　这就是一个13岁的孩子应该听到的话，从而激励他为自己的将来而努力。她不会选择不上大学的，也不会选择贷几千美元的助学金。埃利斯决定免费去上大学，然后她真的做到了。她获得了50万美元的奖学金将她送到了著名的范德堡大学，她在那里完成了学士学位。之后她又用剩下的钱完成了研究生学位，并且现在正在攻读博士学位。

　　“I wasn’t a perfect student. I wasn’t the star athlete, so I felt really inadequate when I started the [scholarship application] process,” says Ellis. But she made it happen and is sharing her secrets in her new book, “Confessions of a Scholarship Winner

　　“我不是一个完美的学生，我也不是一个明星运动员。所以在我开始申请奖学金时我觉得自己有很多不足，“埃利斯说到。但是她最终做到了，并将她成功的秘诀写成了一本书《奖学金获得者的自白》。”

　　It’s Never Too Early

　　永远都不会太早

　　Ellis’ top lesson is to start preparing early — way early. Even though she couldn’t apply yet for many scholarships, she began learning everything she could about the scholarship process in just the ninth grade.

　　埃利斯第一经验就是提早准备。尽管有很多奖学金她还不能申请，但是她从九年级就开始了解神经奖学金的步骤。

　　Map Out a Plan to Impress

　　指定一个能够给别人留下深刻印象的计划

　　Even if a student’s only interest is, say, video games, it’s important to take a leadership role in that hobby by starting a club, creating a blog or building your own app to impress scholarship committees.

　　就算学生的唯一爱好是打电子游戏，他也可以利用这个爱好成为俱乐部的领导者，创建博客，或者自己开发应用程序来给奖学金委员会留下深刻的印象。

　　“I learned that judges are looking for students that are ultimately going to go on to make a difference and make an impact on the world,” says Ellis. “There are a lot of different ways you can show that.”

　　“我了解到考官喜欢那些能够做出一些不同于常人的事并想要影响世界的人，你可以有很多方法展现这种特质。“埃利斯说。

　　Ellis spent her four years in high school improving her grades and pursuing her passions, like taking over as coach of her old gymnastics team, growing it from two girls to 45 girls. She also created impressive opportunities for herself. “In high school I started a shoe drive where we shipped discarded shoes overseas. That actually only took a few hours a week [to organize] but helped me stand out in my scholarship applications,” she says.

　　埃利斯在高中四年里不断提升自己的分数，发展自己的爱好。例如成为体操队的教练，将体操队从2个人发展为45个人。她同时也为自己创造了很好的机会。“在高中我成立一个旧鞋搬运社，将大家扔掉的鞋子运到海外。组织这个活动一周只需要几个小时的时间，但是却帮助我在申请奖学金时脱颖而出，“她说。

　　On top of everything, she worked her way to being crowned Miss Indiana Teen USA.

　　最重要是是，她努力成为了美国印第安纳州青少年选美冠军。

　　“There was a $995 entry fee, so I held multiple car washes, sold raffle tickets and candy bars, and worked in the local watermelon fields [to pay for it]." These experiences lent themselves to award-winning scholarship essays.

　　“报名参加比赛需要995美元的报名费，所以我平时回去洗车、卖彩票、糖果、在西瓜地里打工。“这些经历在获得奖学金申请材料中也非常有帮助。

　　Cast a Wide Net

　　广撒网

　　And with those essays she cast a wide application net. Ellis's top resources were “The Ultimate Scholarship Book,” the “Kaplan Scholarships,” book, Fastweb.com and Scholarships.com.

　　她将申请材料发送到了很多学校。她首选的资源是《美国大学各类奖学金详解》，《卡普兰奖学金》，Fastweb.com和Scholarships.com。

　　In her senior year she applied for more than 40 scholarships, winning half of them, including the prestigious Coca-Cola and Gates Millennium Scholar awards. “Applying for a scholarship can be like the best job you ever had. If you win $10,000 and it took five hours to apply, that’s a $2,000-an-hour job,” she calculates.

　　在高中第四年她申请量40多份奖学金，并成功获得了一半以上。包括非常著名的可口可乐奖学金和盖兹千禧奖学金。“申请奖学金是最好的工作，如果你获得了10000美元的奖学金只需要5个小时申请，一个小时就能赚到2000美元，“她总结到。

　　It’s Never Too Late

　　永远都不会太晚

　　For seniors who may be getting a late start to the application process, Ellis says to think back to what they’ve already achieved during high school, whether it’s working a job for four years, helping to clean up the neighborhood after a storm or volunteering in the community. Those are the very activities that can shine in a scholarship application. And for the remaining time you have in school, start thinking of ways you can continue to build your resume. “Get involved in clubs and organizations and try to find little ways you can strengthen your application,” she says.

　　对高中最后一年的学生来说，现在开始申请奖学金可能有点晚。埃利斯建议大家回想一下自己高中都获得了那些成就，例如四年都在坚持做一个工作，在暴雨后帮助打扫街区，参加社区志愿者。这些活动都能在申请奖学金时加分。对于剩下的高中时间，想想你可以做哪些事情来丰富自己的简历。“尝试参加俱乐部活动并找出可以为自己申请奖学金加分的方法，“她说。

　　What are some of your secrets to winning a scholarship? Connect with me on Twitter @Farnoosh and use the hashtag #FinFit.

　　你获得奖学金的秘诀是什么呢?可以在twitter上联系我，我的账号是Farnoosh。