Niche (formerly College Prowler)
http://www.niche.com
You can use the College Prowler site as a scholarship search engine or as a web portal. If you elect to create a Student Profile, you can use the search engine feature. However, it has an easy-to-use web portal that does not require disclosing your personal information in order to be matched with scholarships. The search feature also allows for a number of ways to find scholarships that you may qualify for.
General Web Portal Search:
- Click on the “Find Scholarships” tab at the top of the page
- Select “Scholarship Search” from the drop-down menu
Clicking on “Scholarship Search” will take you directly to the General category of the web portal search. We were immediately presented with 99 general scholarships with an award amount column. Clicking on a scholarship link expands the listing to indicate deadline, whether or not it’s renewable, the contact information for the sponsoring organization, and eligibility requirements. The listing includes an APPLY button that takes you directly to the funding organization’s web page. Note that you may need to explore the organization’s website to locate the scholarship application.
Searching by category might be a quick way to discover new scholarships not listed at other search engines.
Web Portal Search by Category:
- Click on the “Find Scholarships” tab at the top of the page
- Select “Scholarship Search” from the drop-down menu
- Select one of the following categories from the left sidebar: General, Career, Interest, Major, Military, Race, Religion, Sports, or State
- Select a subcategory from the left sidebar
Most of the subcategories in this search will bring up less than 10 scholarships, but they are targeted scholarships, and there are so many categories to choose from, you might find some gems that are just right for you.
General Search Engine Search:
- Click on the “Find Scholarships” tab at the top of the page
- Select “Scholarship Matcher” from the drop-down menu
- Enter your personal information in the left sidebar: Current GPA, High School Grad Year, State of Residence, Interests/Hobbies, and Major
- Click on GET MATCHES
With the general search engine search, we were initially presented with 11 scholarships but were told, “Registered users have more search criteria and unlimited results available to them.” After we entered our GPA, high school graduation year, state of residence, interests/hobbies, and major, we also got 11 results and a new button, REGISTER FOR MORE MATCHES. In fact, no matter how we altered the information in the sidebar search boxes, we got the same 11 scholarships over and over again.
Registered Search Engine Search:
- Click on the “Find Scholarships” tab at the top of the page
- Select “Scholarship Matcher” from the drop-down menu
- Click on “Register for more matches”
- Enter your information to register for a free account
- Uncheck the box for email offers and check the terms and conditions box
- Click on SUBMIT
- Enter your information in the About You section (name, gender, race, birth date, and zip code)
- Enter your information in the Academic Info section (intended major, intended degree type, current school, college graduation year, your high school, GPA, and your SAT/ACT scores if you have them). Note: You must complete all fields except your test scores in order to continue creating your Student Profile.
- Skip the “Schools Interested in You” page (unless you want to be contacted by these schools) survey page
- Click the SAVE AND CONTINUE button or the “Go Straight to My Account” link
Both the SAVE AND CONTINUE button and “Go Straight to My Account” link take you to the same place with a series of tabs running below the College Prowler banner. You can review and research information on your school selection, your major or set preferences, and manage your Student Profile. We clicked on the “My Scholarships” tab and had a dismal 25 results including those we got just by conducting a simple search instead of building a Student Profile. This list gives you scholarship links, deadline, and award amount along with the ability to indicate if you’ve applied or to remove the listing. If you click on a scholarship name, you’ll be provided with additional information including eligibility requirements and an APPLY button.
All in all, none of the four searches yielded anything more than mediocre results. The web portal searches are your best bet on this site since they don’t require you to spend seemingly useless time building a Student Profile for no better results.
We give College Prowler 3 out of 5:
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Niche (formerly College Prowler)