What are the best sites to search for scholarships?

Hello! I'm a junior in high school beginning my college search and, of course, the quest for scholarships. I'm curious about which sites are the most reliable and up-to-date for finding scholarship opportunities. There are so many search engines out there that it's hard to know where to start. If anyone has any tips on the best sites to find scholarships that have worked well for them, I'd appreciate it. Also, any advice on avoiding scams or irrelevant results would be great!

There are indeed many scholarship search platforms available, each with its own approach and features. CollegeBoard's Big Future website, for instance, provides a scholarship search tool with a filter feature allowing you to narrow down the scholarships by your specific needs, such as your intended major, ethnicity, GPA, and more.

Another site to consider is Scholarships.com which has a vast directory of scholarships. It allows you to build a profile and will match you with scholarships that could be a good fit.

Fastweb is another reliable scholarship search tool. It's particularly thorough in matching scholarships to your profile and shows a wide range of scholarships from academic-based to those tied with personal characteristics or unique talents.

Appily (formerly Cappex) is known for having a large scholarship database and it also shows the level of competition for each scholarship.

One crucial thing to note while using these platforms is care in avoiding scams. Some red flags include requiring payment to access scholarships, guaranteeing a scholarship, or asking for sensitive information like your social security number or bank account.

Lastly, don't forget to look for scholarships within your local community, high school, and the colleges you're interested in. Institutional scholarships and local scholarships often have less competition, increasing your chances of landing the award.

Hope this helps and happy hunting!