The Best No-Essay Scholarships to Apply for in 2025

Writing is a time-consuming endeavor. But that alone shouldn't stop you from applying for scholarships—and more importantly, writing essays shouldn't be an obstacle to securing funding. Many scholarships require students to write a personal statement as part of the application. In this article, we'll provide a list of scholarships that don't require essays.

While the advantage of essay scholarships is that you have a better opportunity to showcase your personality and talents, the academic year gets busy fast, and you don't always have time to spend on scholarship applications. You can apply to no-essay scholarships in literal minutes, saving huge chunks of time and reducing the effort needed to apply for financial aid.

High school seniors, college students, and graduate students alike can find no-essay scholarships that work for them. There are several types of scholarships. The no-essay scholarship category just refers to any type of financial aid application that doesn't ask for a personal statement.

As a result, you'll be able to find no-essay scholarships for any grade level, academic concentration, and demographic. It's always a good idea to apply to several types of scholarships to increase your chances of winning, so even if you are inclined to writing, everyone should consider adding some no-essay applications to their list.

Apply for a free Bold.org profile today to find no-essay scholarships!

Other Scholarships to Apply For

Below we'll explain why you should apply for more than just one type of scholarship. Here are some other broad scholarship categories that you should consider applying to:

Scholarships for Minorities

College Scholarships

High School Scholarships

Students can also easily find scholarships that fit their academic interests. This is one of the most reliable ways to find relevant scholarships for your credentials, so be sure to look for scholarships that only allow students from your major to apply. Not all majors are listed below, but here are some popular concentrations:

Biology Scholarships

Art Scholarships

Engineering Scholarships

Psychology Scholarships

Business Scholarships

Check out the full range of scholarships on Bold.org to find your academic discipline!

Why No-Essay Scholarships Matter

So many students want to apply for financial aid opportunities but find themselves running out of time. That's where no-essay scholarships can come in handy. The applications are so time-saving that no-essay scholarships worth even a few hundred dollars are a good profit for the time spent.

Student Loan Debt and No-Essay Scholarships

Student loans continue to present complications for students pursuing postsecondary education. Rising costs of college, scholarship scams, and other factors contribute to the difficulty of finding adequate and credible forms of financial aid. At the end of 2024, the total student loan debt in the United States of America was $1.753 trillion.

However, various forms of aid are gradually helping to reduce the burden of debt on students. In 2023, we saw the first-ever decline in student loan debt. Taking advantage of scholarships and other forms of aid can help make college a reality.

Student aid packages awarded by institutions like universities are often the most effective way to receive a large chunk of financial aid at once. However, entering scholarship sweepstakes can also supplement your budget for higher education. Find no-essay scholarships and other types of awards for qualified high school and college students on Bold.org.

Diversifying Your Scholarship Portfolio

That's not to say that no-essay scholarships are the best type of scholarship—the key to winning scholarships is diversity. The scholarship sweepstakes game can be a numbers game. Students should apply to both essay scholarships and no-essay scholarships.

Other ways to diversify the scholarships you apply to include sorting by academic area of interest, grade level, and other factors. Don't just apply to one type of scholarship! For example, qualified high school students should look for scholarships based on their GPAs as well, as this will help them find relevant opportunities with less competition.

Every type of scholarship has its merits. Obviously with no-essay scholarships, they save time. However, if you find a relevant essay scholarship offered to you, strongly consider applying. Essay scholarships provide the best chance for you to persuade the donor that you're a deserving winner, as personal statements are often more convincing than grades and resumes. A scholarship that asks for a portfolio or a video scholarship offers similar benefits.

Aside from essay or no-essay scholarships, financial aid awards can also be divided into areas of academic interest. Applying only to generalized no-essay scholarships may be difficult to win as there will be an extremely high volume of applicants—it's free money, after all.

All this to say, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Applying to several different types of scholarships will help you win more money.

How No-Essay Scholarships Work

No-essay scholarships are any scholarships that don't require an essay to apply! Some no-essay scholarships require alternative application materials, such as a video, picture, or other creative project, while others have no application requirements at all.

No essay needed

As you can probably guess, no-essay scholarships stand out due to not requiring an essay in order to apply. These simple scholarships seek to make the application process as easy as possible so high school and college students can pursue higher education.

Quick and simple application

No-essay scholarships are also known for being some of the easiest to apply for since you don't need to spend the time and effort necessary to write an essay. Since no-essay scholarships are so effortless to apply for, you can apply for many scholarships with ease!

Eligibility Requirements for No-Essay Scholarships

No matter what level of education you're in, Bold.org has no-essay scholarship opportunities for you. Many scholarships are even open to high school students, so don't wait to apply!

High school students

You can start applying for scholarships on Bold.org as early as your freshman year of high school. Some scholarships are open to high school students of all grades, but there are some exclusively for high school seniors.

College students

Many no-essay scholarships seek to help college students complete their degrees by easing the burden of tuition. Undergraduate students and graduate students alike can apply for no-essay scholarships. For example, undergraduate students budgeting for grad school might want to start applying more as a college junior or senior to prepare for application season.

How to Apply for No-Essay Scholarships

The great thing about applying to no-essay scholarships is that it's really easy. The most difficult step is always writing the personal statement, which you don't have to do. So really it just boils down to these simple steps:

Finding Relevant Scholarships

First, put together a list of scholarships you're interested in applying to. Whether that's opportunities from our list of top no-essay scholarships or private financial aid opportunities, it's a good idea to use more than one avenue to look for scholarships.

Online scholarship platforms are the most obvious choice; nonprofits like Bold.org allow you to sift though hundreds of scholarships and search exclusively for no-essay scholarships.

You should also exhaust any local resources near you like schools and community organizations. Whether you're in high school, college, or graduate school, be sure to ask your financial aid office if your institution offers any scholarships exclusively to attending students. Oftentimes, there will be at least a few scholarships that only you and your classmates can apply for, which is a lot less competition than scholarships that are open to any student.

Take a look at any local community organizations as well. Ask your extracurricular clubs, volunteer centers, and other offices you associate with if there are any financial aid opportunities offered to participating members. Similar to school-offered scholarships, these applications will have a lower volume of applicants, meaning you'll hopefully have a better chance at winning.

Make sure to also look at scholarships for your grade level or academic concentration. Within these categories, you'll be able to find certain no-essay scholarships. For example, if you're a biology major, try searching for biology + no-essay scholarships to get more specific results. When you sort by two categories like this, you'll narrow the applicant pool and find opportunities that align more directly to your specific experiences and goals.

Gather Necessary Documents

The scholarship application will vary slightly depending on the criteria for the opportunity you apply to, but they'll all require certain documentation from you. This could be letters of recommendation, transcripts and grades, or even a portfolio of some sort.

Make sure you budget enough time to get these documents in order. With letters of recommendation, you'll need to let recommenders know ahead of time so they have time to write a good response. Everyone's busy, so give them more than enough time.

Even with documents that already exist, like your transcripts, be aware that school offices may take a few business days to transfer any records. Regardless of if the application is asking for an electronic or paper copy, be generous with how much time you budget for the documents to arrive.

Basically, scrambling to put everything together a few nights before the deadline usually doesn't win scholarships. Take note of deadlines and plan ahead!

Tips for Winning No-Essay Scholarships

Seek out more restrictive scholarships

Scholarships with less broad eligibility will have fewer applicants as a result, increasing your chances of winning one. Find scholarships relating to your field of study, hobbies, or identity.

Apply early and often

An additional way to increase your chances of winning a no-essay scholarship is to apply as early as possible. You can check your notifications to find out about the newest scholarships added to the site. Applying for multiple scholarships can also make you more likely to win, so apply for as many as possible to maximize your chances.

Make your profile unique

Since no-essay scholarships don't give you the chance to show off your personality with creative writing, making your Bold.org profile as complete and unique as possible can help you stand out and make the most of your one entry. You can demonstrate your personality by adding personal information to your profile, such as your passions and goals for the future.

Education can be confusing. Check out our scholarship blog for more free resources on student life and finances. If you're looking for more scholarships, sign up with Bold.org and start applying now!