10 Exclusive Scholarships for Female Undergraduates

About Merit-based scholarships

The rising costs of college have made financial aid essential for the average student. Along with need-based financial aid, academic and merit based scholarships are great resources to help you with tuition and other education-related costs.

Best merit-based scholarships

There are many different types of merit scholarships that seek to help talented, hardworking students afford the costs of a college education. The amount varies for each merit award, ranging from $500 to $75,000, but even small awards can make a difference and are worth considering.

If you're looking for higher-value scholarships, you can sort the scholarship list to see scholarships with the highest amount. These types of merit scholarships include the $75,000 BTL Athletes Scholarship.

This merit scholarship is open to low-income high school upperclassmen who are varsity athletes and undergraduate student-athletes. You can apply by clicking on the link above, making your profile, and submitting a short video about yourself as well as clips of you playing your sport.

Another top merit scholarship is the Terry Crews "Creative Courage" Scholarship of $20,000 which is geared towards talented artists. You can apply by submitting a piece of original artwork as well as a short essay about your artistic goals for the future.

While the scholarships above are high in value, you should also consider smaller scholarships. Scholarships with more eligibility requirements may be worth less money, but they will have fewer eligible applicants and will give you a better chance of winning.

The Peter T. Buecher Memorial Scholarship is an example of a smaller, more restrictive scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship is smaller than the opportunities above, but it has multiple winners and a smaller application pool since it is only open to high school seniors or undergraduate students in Minnesota who play sports.

Academic merit scholarships

Many merit-based scholarships are rewarded based on demonstrated academic excellence. Academic achievement can be demonstrated in several ways, including your grade point average or your test scores.

Scholarships based on GPA

One way you can demonstrate academic excellence is through your GPA. For high school students who haven't yet taken any standardized test scores, leveraging an impressive GPA can be critical in earning merit scholarships.

There are many scholarship opportunities with GPA requirements on Bold.org, some with more competitive requirements, such as 3.5, and others with more lenient criteria, such as requiring a 2.5 GPA.

Scholarships with GPA requirements include the My Brother's Keeper Scholarship and the Desiree Jeana Wapples Scholarship for Young Women.