Stop Clicking to Nowhere in Your College Scholarship Search

The college scholarship search is so frustrating when you land on outdated awards, irrelevant links, and SPAM.

Use this easy tip to FIND scholarships now!

[2023 Edition]

For example, your student is planning on becoming a doctor and needs scholarships to help pay for college.

How do you find scholarships that he or she can apply for?

Searching online for “scholarships” can result in an overwhelming list of websites that could take months to wade through, not to mention the sites that are just plain spam. (Make sure you know how to spot fake scholarships and scams!)

There is a better and more time-saving way to search for and find college scholarships.

If you are searching for scholarships online, the more specific you are in your use of search terms will result in more scholarships you will find that pertain to your student’s college major. Your student can apply for general scholarships such as the award offered by Coca-Cola, of course, but the more the scholarship matches your student’s interests, the better chance they have of being awarded the scholarship.

If you were a scholarship judge for a hospital or medical-related company, would you award the scholarship money to an aspiring doctor or a future farmer? It just makes sense to steer your scholarship search towards those scholarships that are awarded from companies that relate to your student’s college major.

Do a college scholarship search the SMART way!

Using the example of a student who is an aspiring doctor, instead of searching for “scholarships”, type in “medical scholarships 2023 2024” into your search box. You will get a list of scholarships that are specifically for students who are going into a medical career. (Ignore the first few sites that come up at the top with “ad”, “promoted” or “sponsored” near the title.)

If you come up with links that take you to applications that are for the previous year, make a note of the application due date, and check back at least two months before that date to see if the application for the current year is now available.

I highly recommend using the Scholarship Toolkit Organizer to enter and save detailed information for each scholarship that you find, regardless of whether your student qualifies for it at this point.

(For example, if they meet all of the qualifications except the year in school, it will be saved for when they have reached that level in school.)

If you get to a website that offers a scholarship, but cannot find a link to the requirements or application, don’t give up! Search the whole site and if you still can’t find the scholarship information, go to the “contact us” page and have your student send a polite email inquiring about where to find the information needed to apply for their scholarship.

Open to High School Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors! APPLY NOW HERE

This happened when my son was applying for scholarships, but I took it a step further and in the email had him give a brief, yet informational, description of who he was and his accomplishments in the chance that his name would be remembered by the person reading and responding to the email.

You never know who the scholarship judges are and every little step that is taken to impress the judges could be the difference between winning the scholarship money or NOT.

Searching online is only ONE way of finding scholarships. When my son was a senior in high school, we used several methods and were able to find scholarships that weren’t even listed on scholarship search sites or in scholarship listing books like this one.

As a result, my son won enough scholarship money to go to college for FREE. You can find out exactly what we did in my ebooks, How to Win College Scholarships:  Guides for Parents and Students in 10 Easy Steps. 

What are parents saying about the ebooks?

“We are SO excited! We used the ideas in your scholarship guide ebooks and THEY WORK! At a dinner we had to attend to pick up one scholarship check, one of the judges told me that it was the way my son’s scholarship application was put together and presented that made it stand out and get chosen among the many that they had narrowed the stack down to. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas!” Happy Mom

Monica Matthews

Monica Matthews is the author of How to Win College Scholarships. She helped her own son win over $100,000 in college scholarships and now shares her expertise with other parents and their students. She truly has “been there, done that” in regard to helping parents and students navigate the scholarship process.

Her method of helping students in finding college scholarships, writing unique and compelling scholarship essays, creating amazing scholarship application packets, and more have taught desperate parents to help their own students win thousands of scholarship dollars. She teaches them how to apply S.M.A.R.T. with outstanding results.

Monica’s scholarship tips have been featured on many prominent websites, and she has been dubbed the “Go-To” expert on college scholarships.