6 Types Of College Scholarships You Probably Haven't Heard Of But Should Definitely Apply For
The good news is that you can avoid a lot of this debt by applying for scholarships beyond those offered by your college, grabbing a share of an estimated $3 billion given out each year through private scholarships. The bad news is that many of these scholarships, like the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, are highly competitive, mainly because everyone has heard of them.
To improve your odds, consider veering off the beaten path and applying for some of the more exotic scholarships out there, such as those dedicated to the zombie apocalypse or the sheep industry, which receive far fewer entries but still dole out thousands of dollars to students each year.
We teamed up with State Farm® to bring you the most unusual scholarships you should take advantage of to keep loan officers at bay, from graduation and beyond.
1. A-maize-ing Opportunities
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in food science or horticulture, you’re in luck. There are a number of professional organizations like the National Corn Growers Association or the National Potato Council that award thousands of dollars to students whose degrees are related to agriculture. One of the bigger organizations, the Future Farmers of America, gives out over $2 million each year, and by their own estimates, one in four applicants are awarded scholarships.
2. Tap Your Creative Muse
A concentration in creative writing has long been considered a risky decision for college students, especially when demand for employees with a strong STEM background continues to define the jobs market. Be that as it may, cultivating your creative writing chops is a great way to foster and develop your imagination, which is an invaluable asset for any would-be innovator.
There are a number of creative writing scholarships and contests that are open to college students, including a $2,500 award from the Horror Writers Association as well as a non-genre-specific contest for college-bound seniors sponsored by the Alliance For Young Writers And Artists that gives out significant scholarships. Those with a passion for writing science fiction should consider entering the Writers of the Future contest, organized in honor of the late L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, where they have a chance to win $5,000 each year.
3. Being Different Is A Good Thing
The nice thing about private scholarships is that, unlike those funded by grants or not-for-profit institutions, anyone can put up money for just about anything, as long as that money goes toward paying college tuition. The often-wealthy individuals and organizations that put up private scholarships often do so because they want to inspire solidarity with the recipients and to show they’re not alone.
This helps explain why there’s a scholarship for left-handed students at Juniata College, which was founded by an alumna who met her husband after being paired with him during tennis lessons as a result of, you guessed it, their mutual left-handedness. Other scholarships based on physical characteristics include those for especially tall people, little people, and people with red hair.
4. What's In A Name?
Having a deep interest in a specific field of study is the foundation for many private scholarships, but sometimes all it takes is having the right last name to qualify for one -- you don’t even need to be related to the donor.
If you’re applying to Harvard and your last name is one of the following, you’re in luck: Thayer, Baxendale, Hudson, Bright, Downer. For those applying to Hamilton College, the magic name is Leavenworth. More difficult is the Zolp Scholarship awarded by Loyola University in Chicago, where, in addition to having the last name “Zolp,” aspiring awardees should also be Roman Catholic with the (baptism) papers to prove it.
Arguably the best last name to have is that of Gatling (or Gatlin); those who share that name can receive up to $15,000 a year from North Carolina State University for up to four years, which comes very close to a full-ride scholarship.
5. The Scholarship Of Things
Private scholarships don’t necessarily need to come from organizations dedicated to people or academic subjects, they can also apply to inanimate objects like fire sprinklers, peanut butter, duct tape and candy.
Among the more unusual scholarships dedicated to objects is one for vacuum coaters, which are industrial machines that apply a coating to objects, like solar cells or telescope mirrors, at the atomic level. The organizing body in charge, The Society of Vacuum Coaters, gives out an average donation of $6,000 to anyone whose studies relate to the advancement of vacuum coating technology.
6. Revenge Of The Nerds
Everyone knows that students who demonstrate remarkable ability on the field are privy to athletic scholarships, but you’d be surprised to know that there are many non-athletic hobbies in which excellence equals dollars. In addition to those you might expect, such as chess, cooking and pottery, there are also scholarships for knitting and numismatics (coin collecting).
In perhaps the most ironic development, scholarships for students who want to play video games competitively have started to pop up, including those for competitive Pokémon and fighting games like Super Smash Bros. and Street Fighter. Several colleges, like Columbia College in Missouri, have also started offering big scholarships for e-sports athletes to play League of Legends, the world’s most competitive e-sports video game.
Now that you have the tools to embrace your future with confidence, let State Farm® help you to protect it.
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