How to know which scholarships are real or fake? Answered
Hi! I’m an international student from Mexico interested in Biology(Pre-med) and have been looking for scholarships or grants, but I’ve seen a lot of scholarships where not a lot of required information is required. I’m worried that those scholarships are scams. How do I distinguish real scholarships from fake ones?
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3 answers
Hey Jiaayu! Pre-Med lets goooo (I’m also interested in medicine).
So, first of all, there are three main types of scholarships:
-FAFSA Financial Aid
-Universities/Colleges Financial Aid
-External Organizations Financial Aid
FAFSA:
So, FAFSA Financial Aid is just for U.S. Permanent Residents. This is 100% real financial Aid (is from the government).
Universities:
Most universities provide financial aid to their admitted students: a sport-related scholarship, an academic scholarship, merit-based financial-aid, or an International scholarship. If you're applying to Top or Competitive universities (or really well known safety universities), you can assume that most of those scholarships are real. Therefore, I guess you should not worry a lot about university’s scholarships being fake.
External Organizations:
What I mean with “external organizations” is some sort of company or group not related to a specific college/university. Like, for instance, a religious organization, a company, or a single-person who is apparently providing financial aid. So, this is where things might get a little bit sketchy. Though is not common, there might be some "organizations" who provide fake scholarships. The easiest way to learn about this types of organization is by making a research: you can look up for their reputation online, search them up on YouTube, maybe ask on a forum on reddit, or just google them. You’ll be surprised by the amount of Info that’s online.
Here are some YouTube videos that might help you out:
have a nice day, mate.
The biggest sign of a scam is if they say you have to pay or give your Social Security number, or an international equivalent
Hey! There's a lot of trusted sites to get scholarships! One being the one you're on right now, shoutout to College Vine, lol!
Personally, I get my trusted scholarships from:
- Here! I click the Scholarships tag under school and read the articles provided, some are even targeted for international students like yourself!
- I use https://bold.org/scholarships/
- I also use https://www.niche.com/colleges/scholarships/
There's a lot of money out there for school and for some you aren't even required to write anything, though sometimes you might be asked to answer a 5-minute questionnaire that's provided. Good luck to you and congrats if you get the scholarships you apply to!
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Thank you! This was so helpful because when I was searching for scholarships I kept mixing the Universities/Colleges Financial Aid and External Organizations Financial Aid that you mentioned. I'll definitely check those videos out!