Just one example of many… Today we receive an email announcing a possible $10,000 scholarship. Woo hoo! Right? Get in there an apply right now! Right? So you click on the link and first they try to get you to sign up for click dollars “InboxDollars pays cash for reading emails or taking surveys online.” Well - whatever. Every site has to make money some how. Click No. On to the “Anthony A. Martino Memorial Scholarship” - what will they be looking for? A kid who’s excelled in science and shows a passion for it? A budding artist? Future Senator?? Nope: “The Anthony A. Martino Memorial Scholarship is a scholarship of $10,000 for the 2015-2016 academic year awarded to a senior in high school who graduated from The Goddard School®.” It’s THE GODDARD SCHOOL! Wow - thank you so much Cappex for calling this to our attention. Since we had no mention of Goddard School on the profile - there must have been - what - a one in hundred thousand chance that we had attended the Goddard School. /RANT OVER/
If you find being registered on Cappex is a waste of time, de-register. No one’s making you deal with them, and if you read this forum regularly, you’d know that the consensus of opinion is that chasing these scholarships is not a good use of time even if you do theoretically qualify.
Is there any scholarship site that is legitimate?
Yes, your local public high school’s guidance office.
They are all legit, they just aren’t selective as to who they send the emails. There was a guy on Shark Tank the other night who is making millions selling an app called Scholy. for $.99, you can get an app that lists scholarships. The ones on the internet are free. For 99 cents, you aren’t going to get a customized search, just a list of scholarships.
They’re all legitimate, but here’s the thing - any scholarship that everyone can apply to will be applied to by everyone.
So already the yield for generally-available scholarships is going to be low just because everyone and their dogs will be scrolling down the list clicking ‘Apply’ to each one because, well, why not? Free money! The scholarship sites can’t really change that (well, except by going out of business I guess).
The scholarships that are limited or restricted in some way to specific schools, programs, etc. are more achievable but that only applies if you meet the requirements (such as the case with the GODDARD scholarship…) It’s kind of a catch-22 but it’s not really the fault of scholarship websites per se and more a fault in the thinking of people who pursue outside scholarships from Internet sites instead of looking locally or seeking merit aid from colleges.
I feel the claim of Cappex is false. “Simply fill out a free profile to discover which ones match you best.” Unless they actually do meaningful filtering based on the data you provide - it’s just click bait. False and misleading.
Best way to get scholarship: Study hard. Period.
Except very few highly selective scholarships programs like Questbridge or Jack Kent Cooke, 99% of private scholarships are waste of times.
Eh. I wouldn’t underestimate the value of “small”/“uncompetitive” scholarships: each $1k is $1k you don’t have to pay.
^^ But where do you find them? Fastweb? Cappex?
Mostly just through Googling around. Most schools have lists of scholarships, and many schools publish those lists online – they’re curated, which cuts through a lot of the internet noise, and you don’t just have to rely on your own district.