Hi everyone!
I go to a high school were they don’t really offer awards or prizes, but I’m in severe need for contests, awards, AND scholarships that I can apply for. Does anybody know of any good ones? I’m in my sophomore year, so don’t worry, I probably won’t be adding to your competition or anything.
Thanks so much!
No, I don’t know of any good ones. Why do you need money for your sophomore year?
Madison, I think OP is looking for scholarship for senior year - they’re just starting very, very early.
Coca Cola Scholarship
Gates Millenium Scholarship
McDonald’s has one for minorities
Actually, just go here: http://www.fastweb.com/
Excerpt from my scholarship list this year:
National Space Club Keynote Scholarship
Ronald McDonald House Charities Scholarship
Coca-Cola Scholars Scholarship
GoEnnounce “Define Yourself” Scholarship
Elks Most Valuable Student Competition Scholarship
Army Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Scholarship
Jack Kent Cooke College Scholarship
Burger King Scholars program
GE Reagan Scholarship
Buick Achievers Scholarship
Sodexo Stop Hunger Now Scholarship
AXA Achievement Scholarship
AXA Community Scholarship program
SAE International’s various scholarships
Women in Aviation Dassault Falcon Scholarship
Simon Youth Community Scholarship
SanDisk Scholarship
Youth Foundation HADDEN Scholarship
Tall Clubs International Scholarship
Daughter of American Revolution Scholarship
REC Foundation and Texas Instruments Scholarships
Jimmy Rane Scholarship
SAGE Scholars points
Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program
VIP Women in Tech Scholarship
Bruce Lee Scholarship from CelebrAsian
Microsoft Disability Scholarship
Beyond the Boroughs Scholarship
Intertech Scholarship
MENSA Scholarships
And the list goes on. Time is on your side, so it’s definitely not a bad idea to sign up on Fastweb/Z i n c h/Cappex etc and scroll through their lists.
@CourtneyThurston, holy crap! Thanks so much, that’s an awesome list.
and @puremuddle, thanks for the website!
Nordstrom for HS Juniors
@courtneyThurston how many total did you apply for and how many were you awarded?
Well, wait a sec, @LaurieChan . . . WHY do you need all these scholarships? If your concern is paying for college, there are much better uses for your time than writing dozens of scholarship essays:
b Focus on your grades.**
Good grades can get you huge merit awards from the colleges themselves! Wouldn’t you rather get one $20k award than a dozen $500 awards?
b Get a good score on the SAT or ACT.**
For most colleges, high grades alone are not enough - you also need a high score on the SAT or ACT. Figure out which test is a better “fit” for you (there are free sample tests online), and start prepping this summer. Then take your first test next fall. If you don’t do as well as you’d like, you have the rest of your junior year to take it again (and again, if necessary)!
A combination of good grades and a high SAT/ACT score could get you free tuition (or even a free ride) at colleges around the country! (Look at the “pinned” threads at the top of the financial aid forum for information about “competitive” and “automatic” merit awards.)
b Nail the PSAT!**
The one and only scholarship you should be aiming for at this point is the [National Merit Scholarship](http://www.nationalmerit.org/), which is awarded based on your performance on your junior year PSAT score. The PSAT is the test that counts - do well on it, and it could get you full tuition (or even full ride!) scholarships at colleges around the country!
The test is administered next October. Start prepping NOW! If you decide to do the SAT (instead of the ACT), you can prep for both at the same time this summer.
Also, you should know that if you’re low income, there are dozens of colleges around that country that guarantee to meet a student’s financial need and will give you very generous financial aid. But those schools are competitive to get into - so you need to have the best grades and test scores possible!
So focus on your grades and your PSAT and SAT/ACT test prep . . . right now, that is the best possible use of your time. Good luck!!!
I’ll add a fourth – the easiest scholarship money is the money provided by colleges that give merit scholarships to students with your stats and accomplishments. If you’re open to looking widely at schools, you’ll probably be able to find some that have guaranteed merit scholarships or competitive scholarships that might be a fit.
@Madison85 I applied for all the scholarships above and then some (a couple national ones I can’t remember, institutional, local, etc). Most of the scholarships have yet to notify, but so far I’ve won most of the national programs listed above – 10 in all for a total of $280,000 in outside scholarships alone to date.
Awesome! Can you accept all of them or are there restrictions?
There are restrictions. Some only apply to tuition & fees, some will cover indirect expenses, some won’t; it’s gonna be an interesting bit of coordination.
It was nice of you to provide that list. @CourtneyThurston, but as your website reveals, you are a rare bird. It’s highly unlikely (though possible, I suppose) that OP can come close to you in credentials/accomplishments, and for those operating on a less stellar level, spending huge amounts of time applying to a raft of scholarships for which there is intense competition is likely to be a waste of time. As has been stated on CC time and again and in this very thread, the most promising path to merit money is through applying to schools at which one would be a highly desirable catch. Secondarily, applying to local scholarships, for which there is generally only modest competition, can be a way to help defray some first year costs.
Guaranteed merit is the way to go; never said otherwise.
But, if you find yourself with extra time, applying to outside scholarships is unlikely to hurt. It’s more of a law of numbers thing than anything else, especially if you have average-or-above stats (I know plenty of kids with 3.5s and 1700s who have won outside scholarships. Your background story seems to matter more than anything else.)
@CourtneyThurston Congratulations on your academic success and thank you for sharing the list of scholarships. My DS is a junior and I plan to have him take a look and see which he may qualify for.
@CourtneyThurston I admit that when I saw that you were winning multiple major scholarships I was curious about your credentials, so it was very interesting to read your resume. Amazing is an understatement. If you don’t mind answering though, didn’t you get merit/financial aid from Embry Riddle? Won’t most of the 280k and growing end up being forfeited?
@collegemom2boys Good luck!
@ProudMomx3 I did receive substantial merit from Riddle. They stack scholarships, though, so I have a full ride and then some. Not yet sure how the “then some” will be treated – lots of coordination between the school & programs still needs to happen.
The IRS treats all of the ‘then some’ in excess of tuition, fees and books as unearned taxable income subject to kiddie tax rates.
See IRS Publication 970 and IRS Form 8615.
Like I said, we’re still working out where the “then some” goes. It’s likely that most of it will stay with the programs or get refunded back to them by the school.
I’m equipped to pay taxes on what gets refunded to me for expenses beyond books – if that happens. So far, it doesn’t look like any of the programs are comfortable paying for transportation/personal expenses. Unfortunately, I’m not in the lowest tax bracket anymore thanks to my internships, so it’ll hurt a little, but ah well. Not really a problem.