Today I sent in my application for another scholarship.  It sounded like something I qualified for, but I’m sure there are plenty of other great PR students applying for it as well.

But I started thinking: Applying for internships and scholarships is a good alternative to lotteries and casinos. At least they are judged on some sort of merit rather than random chance.

Even though I live near a casino, there’s a better chance of me getting this scholarship than winning the jackpot or a Harley Davidson. That’s why I invest the time and the postage costs into applying for internships, scholarships and awards.

I know I’ve spent more than $50 in the past few months on priority mail alone. Fifty bucks doesn’t sound like much…unless you’re a college student and advertising account executive working on commission.

It’s also tough to apply for scholarships because more often than not, you will not get them. Some people won’t bother to write the essay, gather the letters of recommendation and fill out the application unless it’s a sure shot.

So far, I’ve done pretty well “winning the lottery.” But, it really wasn’t luck. I’ve worked pretty hard to get where I am today. I know I wouldn’t have gotten any awards if I wouldn’t have had the guts to apply for them in the first place despite past failures. Sometimes, you need to take action over uncertainty.

For example, I applied for the Edelman Award and the Deveney Communication Summer Scholar Program. I may have lost, but I applied for the next great internship program I heard about, which was the Founder’s Award. I was amazed when I got it (even though I wanted it more than anything and I’m sure it showed in my application). At my own university, I also was given the Allan Schoenberg Award.

Every student has self-doubt. In an old post on Penelope Trunk’s blog, she suggests just pushing through it (with a box of Oreos if you need them).

So if you’re a college student, try the gambling alternative: Apply for scholarships, internships and awards. If you’ve worked hard, you might just hit the jackpot.

Rachel M. Esterline works as an account executive for Central Michigan Life, the nationally award-winning school newspaper at Central Michigan University. She is as an account executive for PR Central, CMU’s student-run public relations firm and as a public relations executive with the Student Government Association. Additionally, Rachel serves on the executive board of the Public Relations Student Society of America at CMU and has completed a seven-month internship with her university’s public relations and marketing department. Rachel will graduate in May 2010 with a degree in public relations with minors in journalism and communication.

Penelope Trunk’s latest post on steps to figuring out your next career move only makes sense because most people don’t want the responsibility of change. They will read what she has to say, feel a bit uncertain, but will nod along anyway.

This is good for those people, most people. Most people either don’t have the balls or are not well-equipped to do what they want.

The can cross off the “career-equivalent of winning the lottery,” because that dream was making them feel anxious anyway. And while they love to write, they can see that it gives them some sort of peace to admit that they may not really love it if they never make time for it. They’re good to go with the cubicle.

This is all okay. It’s called settling. And it’s a viable option. A good one that will make you happy.

Some others, well, they’re not settling. They are different from most people. This is the group that seems to find the prize in the cereal box every time. They’re leaning into the wind and winning, and the book industry is making a good deal off the fact that most people want to be just like them.

Along with the crowd that is Oprah, I’m currently reading, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, in which the author predictably states that the book, “can only awaken those who are ready.”

It is both a shame and a triumph that the most banal statements are always the most obvious, the most difficult, and the most necessary.

The only way you can be ready is if you’re ruthlessly transparent, authentic and honest. In the book The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge argues that a commitment to truth is a “restless willingness to root out the ways we limit or deceive ourselves from seeing what is, and to continually challenge our theories of why things are the way they are.”

This is much different than knowing that you’re afraid to talk to your crush because you have unrealistic expectations of the happy movie ending.

Rather, it’s an advocacy and inquiry that rivals trying to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Or if you’d prefer, finding the one good-looking guy at the bar on a Friday night.

There is a shortcut, the sound of settling. It’s comfortable like a blanket over your shoulders, spaghetti in your stomach, sex in the dark.

Settling leads to mediocrity. It’s the acceptance of the “good enough” status quo.

Successful people know that the gap between our vision and current reality “can make us feel hopeless. But the gap is also a source of energy,” Senge argues. “Truly creative people use the gap between vision and current reality to generate energy for change.”

In encouraging yourself to rely more on your concepts of reality, rather than your observations, and in discarding your dreams and goals in order to be realistic, to settle, you lose this creative tension.

That’s why Generation Y is uniquely positioned to create real change in our next career move. We’re idealistic and yet keenly aware of the world’s scorecard. We understand, as Senge argues, that “the juxtaposition of the two, the dream and the present reality, [is] the real force for change.”

Fall into the gap.