Scholarships.com Site Review

Scholarships_dot_com copyScholarships.com

http://www.scholarships.com

This site is well worth a visit. You’ll find information on colleges and scholarships as well as scholarship application strategies, information on financial aid, campus life, study skills, and more. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select “Scholarship Search” from the left-hand column. You can also click on any specific scholarship link in the second column. These include Scholarships Trending Now, Scholarships by Grade Level, Scholarships by Major, Scholarships by State, Scholarships by Type, Scholarships for Women, Sports Scholarships, Minority Scholarships, and Unusual Scholarships. This is a nice option as it brings you directly to a list of scholarships without completing the registration/Profile process. However, you will be required to register in order to get the link to the actual scholarship. The work-around solution here is to copy the name of the scholarship and Google it to get to the actual scholarship application. The left-hand sidebar contains other scholarship categories that you can review without registering.

So let’s get started with the registration process. Click on the GET STARTED NOW! button. Begin by completing information about your current student status, your residence, zip code, birth date, email address, and choose a password. Select “No, thank you” when asked if you wish to have your information shared with their marketing partners. Click CONTINUE button.

Now you begin the 6-part process of entering your personal information. The first step is to complete the “Student Information” page including your student standing, GPA, name, gender, marital status, citizenship, permanent home address, religion, disabilities, and ethnicity. Under the “We can help you pay for college” and “MyView Research Community” select “No, thank you.” Click the CONTINUE button.

The second step, “College Choices” asks about your school preferences, phone number, and a brief list of activities under the “Tell us about yourself” section. When completing this question, think in terms of keywords relevant to you. Only the “Current College/Colleges of Interest” question is required. You can choose to leave the rest of the page blank. Read this page carefully so you can make informed decisions as to whether you wish to give permission to be contacted by phone, text, or email by college recruiters. The “My Links” section asks for your social media addresses (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and others). We suggest you leave this section blank. If you wish to connect to a scholarship search engine, you can easily search for them through your social media account. This allows YOU to choose to connect rather than the search engine.

Step 3, “Academic Information,” asks about your test scores and class rank, high school, and intended major. Everything below that is just an ad for a school or service. Unless you’re interested, select the “No, thank you” option and click CONTINUE.

The fourth step, “Artistic/Athletic Information,” asks you to select your artistic abilities in arts, music, and theater. Select all that apply. Then choose up to 5 athletic abilities. Once again, the rest of this page contains ads. We suggest you opt-out by selecting “No, thank you” for each ad. Click CONTINUE.

The fifth step examines “Background Information,” with numerous questions about your family. Complete the sections you wish to be factored into your scholarship results. We recommend that you thoroughly review the “Parent or Student Employer/Occupation Information” and “Other Attributes, Interests & Circumstances” and complete these sections to maximize your return results. Below this section is yet another ad. Select “No, thank you” and click CONTINUE.

The last step, “Organization Information,” asks you to list your “Honors Organizations” and “Student Organizations.” You can click on the “View All Honors Organizations” and “View All Student Organizations” to help complete these two questions. The rest of the page is yet another ad. Select “No, thank you” and click CONTINUE.

The first page presented lists information about the college you said you were interested (way back in Step 2) and provides a list of similar colleges. You can add them if you wish, apply to the colleges, or ignore this page. Click CONTINUE. The next page that comes up is your Profile based on the answers you completed in the 6 steps. This is a nice feature not provided by other search engines as it allows you to review your information for accuracy and edit each section. Once you’ve double-checked your information, scroll past the ad, select “No, thank you,” and click CONTINUE.

You’re almost there…just one more ad, this time a pop-up suggesting colleges you might be interested. You can close this window by clicking on the X. We were presented with a list of 50 matching scholarships. Each scholarship has a link that provides you with the scholarship details, contact information, deadline, award amount, website address, and eligibility requirements. You can mark it as a “Favorite” or “Remove Scholarship” from your list if you don’t meet the eligibility requirements. It also allows you to post comments about the scholarship. Be sure to scroll down the “Scholarship Details” page, as the top of the page is blank.

A word of caution about your “Scholarship Matches” is to avoid the advertiser links that are listed after each block of 5 scholarships. We noticed that many of the matching scholarships were not a good match. For example, we registered as a college freshman yet were matched with a fellowship (reserved for Graduate students) and internships—neither of which are scholarships. We also found “contests” and “sweepstakes” listings that we feel are best avoided. Overall, we feel that the amount of time needed to complete the Profile did not warrant the investment based on the scholarship matches.

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