It’s the start of the newest Blogging For Scholarship Contest. We’ll suddenly start seeing a lot of activity on the site as bloggers rush to get out as many entries and comments as humanly possible. We’ll also see something else: the pity bargainers.
During every contest there are those who begin things by giving a little information about themselves and then continuing to list the many reasons why they--and not you--deserve this scholarship and you must visit their blog all the time. Maybe I’m biased. Maybe I’m just in a rant-tastic mood, but I don’t think this is right. This is like begging or cheating in my opinion. This is like the person next to you in science class who keeps leaning over and asking for a copy of the homework cuz he was busy milkin’ the cows and bringing an end to world hunger last night and just couldn’t get that worksheet finished…
You’re catching my drift by now. I do not think entries that consist of “why I need this scholarship so badly” are progressive. Heck, they’re just annoying. Entries like these say, “Feel bad for me/Pity me because I’m poor or I got fired from my job or I have bad luck with scholarship applications.” Well guess what Mr. or Mrs. Pity-Party, I have a need for the scholarship as well, and I’m not even going to list those reasons in this entry. Essentially, that would ruin my point.
My point is this: If you want the scholarship, you have to work for it. It isn’t easy, and there’s tons of competition. But there’s also a ton of learning in this process as well, and you get to connect to some pretty amazing people. You get to connect with some jerks too, but hey--we ProgressiveUsers make up a diverse community.
Besides, if you think about it, this $1000 scholarship won’t cover all that much of your college tuition. It’s some help in a positive direction, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nothing like those $5000-$15000 awards you may find on Fastweb.com or other similar scholarship search databases. Try those out for size as well.
I, meanwhile, will try to beat your butt in this competition. Fair and square.
(This blog entry was originally intended to be posted on the Friday that the contest officially started. However, I came home for the weekend that day and suddenly had no Internet access at home. So much for appropriate timing.)
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I'm not even eligible.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Click to send Hate Mail
Choice Picks
...but you are eligible for the mysterious faculty member incentives, right?
Nope. ToS violation. Multiple ones, actually.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Click to send Hate Mail
Choice Picks
why not?
Faculty members cannot win the BfP award. They get a $500 cash reward every four months, though. Well, the potential for.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Click to send Hate Mail
Choice Picks
Interesting, time to weigh my options again.
And true. But I have a feeling that those who can't come up with a better opener than "pity me" will not stay in the running for long.
And in the interest of full disclosure, I did post about my lack of funds earlier today, but only as it relates to classism and affordable housing in my building.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I do think it's okay to talk about not having funds or being able to afford college if it relates to a relevant issue. I've gone a few blogs planned for the future that will need to mention my economic status in order to show my point of view better.
It's really just the ones who outright beg for people to visit their blog that bothers me. And lame posts, but that will have to be another rant! :)
I thought the whole point of this scholarship was to get us all out and blogging about world issues and to have our opinions heard. Anyone who blogs about why they need the scholarship the whole time shouldn't even be in the competition. Even though I probably should, I'm not going to post a blog and comment every single day just to get points. If I have something to say, which I very often do, then I'll blog about it, but people who come on here for the contest and spend hours online making little pointless comments and pity blogs will have the most points by the end of this whole thing, which is unfair.
A wise man once said "I don't know ask a girl."
*Emily*
Here we go again. There is always someone who will come and say the scholarship isn't fair because it's based on points.
Yes, you have to have time to come here and blog. However, people who write those pointless little posts all the time will... not... win. I've seen the numbers, I know how it works. Believe me or not.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
Want the highest rated list to change? RATE those blogs, then!
If this is how you really feel, I urge you to quit and try and find another scholarship. I'm telling you. Users that post maybe once a week, read lots of the blogs when they get on, make meaningful comments on 3-5 posts a week, they'll be the ones to win.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
My Creative Writing
Wow, I like your blog because it encourages people to actually use their potential to win scholarships. People should be more informed about events and grasp this as not only as an opportunity to win scholarship money, but to gain knowledge beyond their capacity to do alone. We should all work together to gain a personal experience that is rewarding, that is what the blogging for progress scholarship is all about (besides the fact at giving people a chance at money).
I don't know if you're new to the site, so excuse my ignorance. However if you are new and originally came here for the scholarship, you should try sticking around for a while after the scholarship is over. You'll see people still posting and commenting on blogs. Not for incentives either. It's nice to read blogs and know for certain that this person really wants this to be read, not just to gain points.
alot of people are at a lack of funds that y they try to apply to scholarships. i think the scholarship money is reasonable, posting blogs and commenting is not very hard to do just extremely time consuming, it would be nice if it was more. =)
It's the "time consuming" part that really tests the people vying for that scholarship!
Too bad the scholarship isn't more, but there are other scholarships around. That's what FastWeb tells me, anyway...
It is even funnier if you envision Donkey jumping up and down while saying that.
I hear you! I write everything out on word then decide later if it is something that can be posted here. I have way more blogs just waiting to be posted. Some may make it here, some may not. I was going to post something today about religion. Good thing I did not, seeing how EVERYONE else did, LOL. But don't worry, my desire to win has been left out all blogs.
Crap - I guess it was not left out of this one :)
Shameless plug
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/almostdone
"A library is a hospital for the mind." Anonymous