The Most Unusual and Weird Scholarships

By: Courtney Ramirez,

When you're looking for money for school, try finding weird scholarships that fit your interests, lifestyle, intended major and even your last name. People and organizations offer scholarships for some pretty strange reasons. If you fit their criteria, you could be able to offset part of the costs of college. Since weird college scholarships aren't easy to find, they may be less competitive than other types of scholarships.

Special Projects: Weird scholarships come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the most unusual have to do with completing a unique project or paper. For example, The Duck Brand Duct Tape Stuck on Prom Contest awards a $6,000 scholarship to a couple who makes their entire prom look from duct tape. The National Make It Yourself With Wool offers a small scholarship for garments made of wool or wool blends.

Essays: Essays are also a popular way to distribute money for school. You can put your pen to paper and earn some money with the Calgon Take Me Away to College Contest, which awards $8,000 for two short essays. The Ayn Rand Institute offers $10,000 to the first-place essay about The Fountainhead. The National Christmas Tree Association's Help Santa Find the Perfect Real Christmas Tree contest awards scholarships between $5,000 and $10,000.

Hobbies: If you have a hobby or special talent, you may be able to qualify for a scholarship for it. The Patrick Kerr Skateboard Scholarship awards $5,000 to $1,000 scholarships to skateboarding fanatics. If you can bake a great apple pie, you can win the Culinary Institute of America's All-American Apple Pie Recipe Contest. First place gets $25,000.

Finding a Weird Scholarship: As you can see, weird scholarships can take many different forms. When you start looking for scholarships, you should make a list of all of your qualifications. List as many things about yourself that you can think of so you can search for scholarships based on those things. Don't leave anything out. Considering that there are scholarships for height, those who love Star Trek and people into parapsychology, your odd little hobby may earn you some funds for college.
You may also be able to find databases of weird and unusual scholarships online. Once you've compiled your list, start hunting. You'll be very surprised about what you may find. Keep a list of the scholarships you want to apply for, and then mark down their due dates so you can be sure to apply in time. Weird and unusual scholarships are definitely worth a look if you need money for college.