Where to Find Scholarships (That Other Students Are Too Lazy to Look For)
If your scholarship strategy starts and ends with your high school guidance counselor and Fastweb, we need to talk.
Yes, sites like Fastweb and Scholarships.com exist. Yes, they’re fine. Yes, they list a lot of money.
And yes, every other kid in America is applying to the exact same awards.
You do not want to compete with 50,000 applicants for one $10,000 check. You want to compete with 47 applicants for $1,500 that actually has your name on it.
Volume is cute. Precision wins.
Here’s where to actually look.
Bold.org, the “Influencer” of Scholarships
If scholarships had TikTok energy, this would be it.
Bold.org specializes in donor-funded awards created by individuals, families, and small companies. Translation: not giant national competitions blasted to every senior in the country.
This is where you’ll find scholarships for:
Taylor Swift fans
Dungeon Masters
Zombie apocalypse survivalists
Hyper-specific majors
Students from oddly specific backgrounds
Most awards range from $500 to $2,000. Smaller? Yes. Easier to win? Also yes.
Because many are exclusive to the platform, you are not competing against millions of students scraping the same national databases.
Small money adds up. Five $1,500 awards is $7,500. That’s a semester of rent at some schools.
Going Merry, the “Local” Specialist
Going Merry partners with community foundations and local school districts. That means scholarships only open to students in your county, your town, sometimes your literal zip code.
Read that again.
A scholarship open only to students in your specific region has a dramatically higher win rate than a national award.
Pro tip: Use the “Local” filter on your dashboard. Many of these don’t even show up on the big search engines.
If you are not applying local, you are leaving money on the table.
JLV College Counseling, the “Hidden Gem” List
This one is old-school. It’s a blog run by a former admissions officer.
No flashy matching algorithm. No dashboard. Just lists.
Why do I love it? Because it includes obscure awards that AI-driven platforms miss.
Scholarships for:
Left-handed students
Tall students
Redheads
Specific medical conditions
Very particular hobbies
There is no easy “Apply Now” button. You actually have to scroll. Good. Laziness kills your competition. The friction alone lowers the applicant pool.
Scholarship America, the Corporate Connector
This is where many companies manage their private scholarship funds.
Think:
Your local grocery chain
Your parent’s employer
Regional businesses
Industry associations
These scholarships often aren’t heavily advertised on the big search engines. They live quietly inside corporate programs.
Corporate money is real money. And it’s often underutilized.
The Real Strategy No One Tells You
The best scholarships are not on databases. Check the “Scholarships” or “Community” section of:
Your local Rotary Club
Your Lions Club
Your electric or gas company
Your credit union or bank
Your parents’ employers
Professional associations tied to your intended major
And when in doubt: Google your niche interest plus the word “scholarship.”
If you crochet.
If you code in Python.
If you are Armenian-American.
If you raise goats.
If you’re obsessed with environmental justice.
There is money for that.
Stop Chasing the Giant Prize
Everyone wants the $20,000 national award. I would rather see you win ten “boring” $1,000 local scholarships that no one else bothered to apply to.
Scholarship strategy is not about glamour. It’s about positioning. Just like college admissions, the students who win are not necessarily the most impressive. They are the most strategic.
At Top Dog College Admissions, we don’t just say “go look online.” We help students:
Build a targeted scholarship search strategy
Identify niche and local opportunities that match their profile
Craft essays that actually stand out instead of sounding like recycled Common App drafts
Repurpose materials intelligently so you’re not rewriting from scratch every time
Because random searching is exhausting. Strategic searching is profitable. If you want real scholarship money, not just a bookmarked database, we can help you build a plan that actually works.
If your scholarship strategy starts and ends with your high school guidance counselor and Fastweb, we need to talk.
Yes, sites like Fastweb and Scholarships.com exist. Yes, they’re fine. Yes, they list a lot of money.
And yes, every other kid in America is applying to the exact same awards.
You do not want to compete with 50,000 applicants for one $10,000 check. You want to compete with 47 applicants for $1,500 that actually has your name on it.
Volume is cute. Precision wins.
Here’s where to actually look.
Bold.org, the “Influencer” of Scholarships
If scholarships had TikTok energy, this would be it.
Bold.org specializes in donor-funded awards created by individuals, families, and small companies. Translation: not giant national competitions blasted to every senior in the country.
This is where you’ll find scholarships for:
Taylor Swift fans
Dungeon Masters
Zombie apocalypse survivalists
Hyper-specific majors
Students from oddly specific backgrounds
Most awards range from $500 to $2,000. Smaller? Yes. Easier to win? Also yes.
Because many are exclusive to the platform, you are not competing against millions of students scraping the same national databases.
Small money adds up. Five $1,500 awards is $7,500. That’s a semester of rent at some schools.
Going Merry, the “Local” Specialist
Going Merry partners with community foundations and local school districts. That means scholarships only open to students in your county, your town, sometimes your literal zip code.
Read that again.
A scholarship open only to students in your specific region has a dramatically higher win rate than a national award.
Pro tip: Use the “Local” filter on your dashboard. Many of these don’t even show up on the big search engines.
If you are not applying local, you are leaving money on the table.
JLV College Counseling, the “Hidden Gem” List
This one is old-school. It’s a blog run by a former admissions officer.
No flashy matching algorithm. No dashboard. Just lists.
Why do I love it? Because it includes obscure awards that AI-driven platforms miss.
Scholarships for:
Left-handed students
Tall students
Redheads
Specific medical conditions
Very particular hobbies
There is no easy “Apply Now” button. You actually have to scroll. Good. Laziness kills your competition. The friction alone lowers the applicant pool.
Scholarship America, the Corporate Connector
This is where many companies manage their private scholarship funds.
Think:
Your local grocery chain
Your parent’s employer
Regional businesses
Industry associations
These scholarships often aren’t heavily advertised on the big search engines. They live quietly inside corporate programs.
Corporate money is real money. And it’s often underutilized.
The Real Strategy No One Tells You
The best scholarships are not on databases. Check the “Scholarships” or “Community” section of:
Your local Rotary Club
Your Lions Club
Your electric or gas company
Your credit union or bank
Your parents’ employers
Professional associations tied to your intended major
And when in doubt: Google your niche interest plus the word “scholarship.”
If you crochet.
If you code in Python.
If you are Armenian-American.
If you raise goats.
If you’re obsessed with environmental justice.
There is money for that.
Stop Chasing the Giant Prize
Everyone wants the $20,000 national award. I would rather see you win ten “boring” $1,000 local scholarships that no one else bothered to apply to.
Scholarship strategy is not about glamour. It’s about positioning. Just like college admissions, the students who win are not necessarily the most impressive. They are the most strategic.
At Top Dog College Admissions, we don’t just say “go look online.” We help students:
Build a targeted scholarship search strategy
Identify niche and local opportunities that match their profile
Craft essays that actually stand out instead of sounding like recycled Common App drafts
Repurpose materials intelligently so you’re not rewriting from scratch every time
Because random searching is exhausting. Strategic searching is profitable. If you want real scholarship money, not just a bookmarked database, we can help you build a plan that actually works.
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