Career-Specific Scholarships: Search Quickly and Efficiently

One of the best tactics around for pinpointing scholarships that fit your educational and career goals is focusing the scholarship lens more clearly on subject and career.

Under-Represented Subjects and Scholarships for Diversity: STEM

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—STEM subjects—have been the focus of intense diversification efforts in the last decade. Seems these fields of study have been traditionally dominated by white males. But the business world wants and needs diversity among its ranks. To these ends you can expect to find ABUNDANT scholarships in any of these fields, particularly those designed for women and ethnic minorities.

Sources eager to dole out STEM scholarship cash include the federal and state governments—National SMART Grant is a good example, as are the scholarships and internships annually offered by the National Science Foundation and . Less obvious, but just as excellent are the couple dozen scholarships and paid internships sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. Don’t be fooled, the DHS scholarships aim to attract students both undergraduate and graduate, with very specialized skills. If you study chemical engineering, computer or IT security, forensic science, cryptography, or any of a number of other fields that relate to the DHS’s needs, you could qualify for a killer scholarship.

Subject-Specific Scholarships Draw Students in High-Need Career Fields: Nursing, Teaching

Nursing and Teaching are two of the leading subject-specific scholarship areas that aim BIG at students studying in these fields. Undergraduate and graduate awards are plentiful.

A primary go-to source for the Nursing and Teaching scholarships? Your own state government. Many have implemented financial incentives in the form of scholarships for service or loan repayment and forgiveness programs. Nursing and teaching scholarships for service incent-ivize scholarship money with agreeable terms: you get X amount of dollars per year of study in return for X amount of years working within the state for a school or hospital that needs help desperately, usually in disadvantaged urban or rural areas. Many of these programs are excellent money sources if you are willing to meet the terms. Tip: Some of these programs also expand to attract minority candidates.

Tips:

Rural Healthcare offices in many states are less visible online and offline, so search carefully—many also offer very attractive scholarships for service in nursing AND teaching.
Graduate level RNs studying Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Midwifery, and Nursing Anesthesia may also have access to expanded scholarships particularly in the military, from the federal government and state governments (esp. Rural offices of health).
Teachers studying to teach any of the STEM subjects, as well as Special Education and foreign language may also find expanded scholarships.
Graduate level nurses studying for degrees in Nursing Education can almost write their own scholarship ticket, the demand is so great.

Find out more about digging deeper into Nursing Scholarships and Teaching Scholarships.

Scholarships in Healthcare Fields Offer Incentives for All Students

The demand for new blood in healthcare never waivers, in fact, it seems to grow more urgent.

Nursing—especially entry-level RNs, as well as graduates studying toward a Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Midwife, and Nursing Anesthesia degree are all heavily recruited with scholarships. Scholarships for service from the federal and state governments, including offices of rural healthcare are popular and competitive.

Also scholarships aimed at Physician’s Assistants, radiology students, nursing specialties (oncology, neonatal nursing, mental health, community health), and physical therapists and occupational therapists are all many and varied. Extra opportunities exist for minorities, and for men studying in the nursing field.

Scholarships in Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Fields

Perennially popular among students are the related fields of criminal justice and law enforcement. Between traditional educational pursuits and cutting edge the options in this sector are massive.

Shop for scholarships for Law students, court reporters and paralegals. Forensic Sciences students interested in becoming next gen CSIs look to attract talent, as well as minorities and women. Specialized studies in security management, cryptography, computer forensics and security, are increasingly popular and scholarships are available from federal to private sources.

Scholarships in the Arts: Focus. Find Awards

The arts are always popular, but finding the scholarships in a world targeting STEM students is THE number one challenge.

Two primary go-to sources for scholarships in arts-specific studies include:

Colleges and universities
Non-profits
Private sources

Shop for your particular area of passion—creative writing, film, acting, fashion design, theater, graphic arts and game design, photography, music and dance, and more.

The Strategy

The idea is to narrow down your scholarship prospects. You can’t qualify for everything. And without a solid search strategy you are taking aim at the broadside of a barn—you risk qualifying for no scholarships at all.

Guaranteed, if you slash, up-front, the types of scholarships for which you qualify—type of student you are and by subject—you start to see real scholarship opportunities emerge for which you really could ably compete with others.