When you think of Halloween, you think of awesome customs, scary movies, pumpkin carving, or haunted places. But how about you trick or treat for scholarships instead of candy? From the unusual to downright awesome weird, these scholarships leave you hanging on every word and wondering: how many people apply for these?

Check out these scholarships for inspiration for your Halloweekend fun.

If you hate gore movies wasting blood scholarship: 

Leaders Save Lives Scholarship Program American Red Cross
Amount awarded: Up to $2,500 each to six recipients
Deadline: January 15, 2022

If you love doing good, host a blood drive through the American Red Cross. Hosting it between the dates of December 15 and January 15 through the scholarship program will award you with a $50–$100 gift card depending on how many pints of blood you collect, plus the chance to win a $1,000–$2,500 scholarship, also depending on the amount of blood collected. 

If you are fascinated with death

Scholarship: Foundation 45 Scholarship

Amount awarded: Up to $5,000
Deadline: November 1, 2021

If you are passionate about death and mortuary, there is a scholarship for you. The Foundation 45 Scholarship is open to full-time or part-time students in good standing who are enrolled in ABFSE. You must be attending classes and actively pursuing a degree in mortuary science to be considered for this award.

If you have a passion for underwater treasures

Scholarship: Cecelia Connelly Underwater Archaeology Scholarship
Amount awarded: 2,000
Deadline: Varies

One $2,000 scholarship will be awarded to a deserving woman graduate student who is enrolled in an accredited graduate level course of study leading to a career in the field of underwater archaeology. The applicant must have a GPA of 3.0 or better and be in good standing with her academic institution.

If you need more information to help you win big scholarships read the following article.

A Latina is working to create a pipeline of diversity in STEM

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, collectively known as STEM make up the fastest-growing and highest paid fields in the U.S. with diverse job opportunities in careers ranging from aerospace engineers, programmer to operations director, yet Latinas only account for 3% of the industry.

Unfortunately, many Latinas are discouraged from pursuing STEM careers and loose interest in these disciplines as early as middle school. This is why early intervention curriculums like the ones provided by XYLO Academy are key to increasing the representation of Latinas in the STEM workforce.

Getting to college is another challenge as underrepresented students face steep costs and challenges to higher education. According to a recent study published in the journal Education Researcher Latino college students drop out of STEM programs at higher rates (37%) that their white peers (27%). Continual increases in tuition and fees have pushed the cost of college education beyond the means of most minority and underrepresented students. This is why IO Scholarships offers free access to scholarships and financial education so high school, undergraduate and graduate students can find life-changing scholarships where their diverse background is valued.

María Fernanda determination and hard work paid off as she won grants and scholarships to pay for her entire education. In realizing how time consuming and complicated the process of finding scholarships for STEM diverse students was, María Fernanda created IO Scholarships to make things much easier. She learned first-hand to find, apply for and win scholarships and became an advocate promoting scholarships nationwide.

“IOScholarships was inspired by my own experience as I was very fortunate to access scholarships to attend prestigious universities and realized that more could be done to support minority students especially now as STEM education becomes more important to workforce opportunities,” said María Fernanda Trochimezuk, Founder of IO Scholarships. “IO Scholarships will not only help underrepresented students find scholarships, but level the playing field so all students have the opportunity to achieve their education goals.”

ABOUT IO SCHOLARSHIPS

The majority of the scholarships featured on the IOScholarships website come directly from corporations and organizations, rather than solely from competitive national pools – thereby maximizing the number of opportunities students have to earn funding for their education. Each month IO Scholarships adds hundreds of new curated scholarships to its database and posts “The Scholarship of the Week” on its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram social media accounts (@IOScholarships), making it easy to find new scholarship opportunities.

In addition to providing scholarships, IO Scholarships website offers a free scholarship organizer, news articles designed to provide guidance on how to apply for scholarships, and money saving tips. The platform also offers a Career Aptitude Quiz designed to help students identify the degrees and professions that best fit their skills.

For more information about IOScholarships visit www.ioscholarships.com or for weekly STEM scholarships email [email protected].  

Founder of IOScholarships Shares Her Tips on Getting Free College Money

Below is some advice to help you win scholarships. However, winning them takes time, dedication and hard work.

Customize each essay
Scholarship judges can tell if you’ve adapted a previously written essay to meet their criteria.  I customized each application and use the beginning of my essay to showcase my unique skills. Remember, the time you are spending to tailor your essay can be rewarded with a college debt free future. Also, details are very important. Your essay might be very appealing but grammar mistakes and spelling errors can stand between you and a $100,000 award as careless mistakes can been seen as lack of dedication.

Submit scholarship applications early
Meet the deadlines and don’t wait until the due date. I followed the organizations’ application criteria. If the organization asks you to mail the application, don’t try to email it and if there is a maximum word count limit, don’t go over it. Most scholarship providers receive more qualified applications than available funds, so reduce your chances of being disqualified because you didn’t follow their requirements.

Treat the application process as a part-time job
The more applications you submit, the greater your chances are of winning scholarships.  I treated the application process as a part-time job dedicating 15-25 hours per week. I figured if I spent two hours applying for a scholarship and won $1000, that was like making $500 per hour; an AMAZING part-time job!

It was difficult at first, because I was putting in hours and hours in the application process before winning scholarships but it got easier as time went on. I wrestled with self-doubt. But don’t let the competition discourage you. IOScholarships help narrow your search. Results are generated based on your ethnic background and interests. Don’t wait, apply today!