As a student seeking to submit applications for scholarships in different schools, do you even know the types of scholarships there are? In this article, we have outlined and explained the major types of scholarships you can consider. Each of these scholarship categories has its respective qualification criteria and factors to consider.
Hopefully, you’ll find the scholarship type that best suits your specific needs in this article.
1. Academic scholarships
This category of scholarships is given to students with outstanding grades and remarkable academic records. An academic scholarship may be the best option for you if your grades are really impressive and you have a detailed school transcript to show for it. A lot of scholarship opportunities are based on merits.
2. Individual Scholarships
Individual scholarships are often awarded by individuals, nonprofit organizations, or companies, and their focus is on accomplishments, beliefs, and goals. Examples of an individual scholarship can be a scholarship awarded out for committed volunteer service or a scholarship given for community work.
Are you a volunteer in your community? Then you can take advantage of the several opportunities that aren’t exclusively reserved for the top students in class. For example, you can apply for the Equitable Excellence Scholarship, which grants as much as $25,000 to legal residents and U.S. citizens who have contributed positively to their communities.
The scholarship is for students who “demonstrate courage, strength, and wisdom as shown by community impact through volunteer service”. Are you an international student? Not to worry, you can as well apply for the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, as they are available to both international and domestic students.
3. Niche scholarships
Niche scholarships are handed out to a specific group(s) of students who possess certain immutable characteristics. We call them niche scholarships because they’re given to, for example, people from a particular region or country.
Other examples include scholarships for minority ethnic groups, need-based scholarships, and scholarships for women in STEM. These scholarships tend to be relatively less competitive than other scholarship types.
4. Activity and Athletic Scholarships
The primary target of athletic scholarships is prospective students or college students who demonstrate a remarkable performance in their athletic or sports activities. If you’re a student who has a flair for sports, then you should consider pursuing and applying for athletic scholarships.
Athletic scholarships may be segmented into the particular sports supported by a college. Hence, some institutions will allow you to narrow down the selections by a specific sport, whether it’s a relay race, football, martial arts, or basketball.
While activity scholarships are quite related, they are however awarded for impressive output levels in activities like the performing arts. You can leverage your extracurricular activities, like your involvement in musicals, plays, and clubs, to win these scholarships for college.
As a prospective student looking forward to winning a scholarship, we recommend that you apply to as many as possible or permitted, as the case may be. The reason for this is simple: the more scholarships you apply to, the greater your chances of actually getting the scholarship fund. Imagine receiving a scholarship of just $300 in 5 or 6 places. Doesn’t that add up to something tangible? We hope this article has been helpful to you.
