Earning a Bold.org Scholarship
Dear Reader,
Like many high school and college students, I needed to finance my higher education. One method was to apply for scholarships. I have tried several scholarship websites, including Niche, ScholarshipOwl, Unigo, and StudentScholarships. However, Bold.org remains superior because the process is quick and easy. While the other sites usually send you to another link to apply, Bold lets you apply directly, so there is no middleman.
The first and fastest way I find scholarships on Bold is through the Notifications tab at the top right corner. There, I can see scholarships that have just been published. At a glance, I can tell which scholarship will apply to me based on the title.
If I want to look deeper, I can go through the Scholarships tab in the top middle section. Then, I go to All Scholarships and narrow my searches to Undergraduate for Education Level, Education for Category (select your major), Open for Status, and Newest for the Sort by option. When I click search, I can see a list of scholarships and a brief description of the intended population (type of student, major, career, etc). I can even check the box for No-Essay Only because sometimes, I do not want to write an essay for a scholarship. Fortunately, not all scholarships require an essay. For other sites, no-essay scholarships are luck-dependent. When you apply on Bold, you must also submit your profile. Hence, donors can see your biography, essays and awards, education, career goals, sports, research, arts, public services, and future interests. Therefore, you have a higher chance of winning!
If I want to browse through more lists, I can scroll down on the same page and find scholarships by state, demographics, year, major, and other types of scholarships. There are also lists for undergraduate students, high school students, graduate students, international students, minority students, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) students, local students, women, athletes, and more. There is definitely a scholarship out there that pertains to you because some scholarships are available for any kind of student (but that means the competition will be higher)!
Applying for scholarships is a numbers game. I have applied to over 200 scholarships on this platform, winning one scholarship and becoming a finalist for four scholarships (another benefit of using Bold is knowing whether you were close to winning because most sites do not provide this information!). Winning another scholarship would mean that all my hard has paid off, and quitting after submitting 100 applications would not have led me to this victory. Getting chosen as a winner would also mean that I am one step closer to graduating from college debt-free. Most importantly, being awarded the money would mean that I can invest in my future students' education. Maybe one day, I can return the favor and support a fellow aspiring teacher financially.
Sincerely, Kayla (https://bold.org/students/kayla/#application-to-great-education-grants-rewards-for-all-close-deadlines)
