scholarship essay psychology

20 Scholarships for Psychology Students to Apply for in 2024

According to the American Psychology Association ( APA), in 2013 , almost 90% of PsyD (Doctor of Psychology) graduate students were in debt upon graduating from school, and over 60% of Ph.D. (psychology doctoral students) were graduate students.

The median average for PsyD graduate students’ debt was $120,000, which was over twice as significant as the median average for Ph.D. graduate students. This places psychology graduate students at the top of most graduate student debt jobs.

It’s only gotten more expensive in recent years , even though the income for those in private practices such as mental health professionals, counseling, or clinical psychology has stagnated. This is regardless of whether or not they have a psychology degree.

Because of this continuous rise in graduate students’ debt, it’s essential to recognize what psychology scholarships are available for psychology students. These psychology scholarships can relieve the financial stress being placed upon psychology students in the future.

The Challenges of Psychology Students Applying for College

Many graduate students, especially psychology students who apply to graduate programs, have a high amount of debt in student loans.

The main argument for aiming for a psychology degree is that these graduate students will receive degrees that allow them to get jobs that can comfortably pay off their student loans.

The US Department of Education suggests students shouldn’t borrow more than 8% of their projected gross income . However, this is not the case in the field of psychology. When exploring all the loan options, psychology students can have anywhere from $120,000 to $247,000 in average student loan debt . 

Psychology Degree Job Wages vs. Loan Debt

That’s anywhere from 100% to over 200% of the average salary with a psychology degree, considering the average salary is between $60,000 and $70,000. This makes it so that the only option for psychology students to make more money and pay off their debt is to take more clients or work more hours. Maybe they could get a job that qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) . Or, they sign up for an income-driven repayment plan and make payments for the next 20 to 25 years. That seems to be the fate of these psychology students. 

Types of Scholarships for Psychology Majors Pursuing Careers

One of the significant benefits of psychology scholarships is that they come from multiple sources —many different types of psychology scholarships. Psychology scholarships are vast and varied. The students pursuing a career in psychology can receive scholarship offers from your college’s psychology department as both undergraduate and graduate students try to obtain psychology scholarships. 

Tips for Winning Scholarships for Psychology Majors

When it comes to scholarships that apply to psychology and mental disorders, a tip to winning these scholarships is being able to share your experiences with those disorders or issues. Whether it’s by discussing your mental health or if you have experience with a family member with mental health issues. 

Other Scholarships for Psychology Students Pursuing Careers

While there aren’t an infinite amount of scholarships for psychology majors, college students can apply for more general scholarships that can also function as psychology scholarships. These psychology scholarships can be used by undergraduate and graduate students alike. They can apply for science, health, and social awareness psychology scholarships.

Psychology students are good candidates for scholarship awards, including essay scholarships or some other proof of concept, to receive the psychology scholarships’ award. They are also good candidates for community scholarship awards because this is where they discuss the possibility of helping their community with the knowledge they would obtain in college or show examples of them helping their community as undergraduate and graduate students.

Requirements for Scholarships for Psychology Majors

The requirements for the psychology scholarships typically involve the applicant’s GPA being above a certain threshold. In the case of undergraduate applicants, they must show proof of studying psychology majors. For scholarships branded or sponsored by the American Psychology Association (APA ), the applicant also has to be a member of the student chapter of the APA.

For specific scholarships that focus on ethnicity or minority relationships, psychology major applicants must belong to an ethnic minority group.

The 20 Best Scholarships for Psychology Majors on Bold.org

Being a college student studying psychology majors and pursuing higher education can be stressful and challenging, especially when considering the financial need for scholarships for psychology and financial aid. Hopefully, with Bold.org ‘s 20 psychology majors scholarship opportunities, that need can be a little less stressful.

Marcarelli Community Spirit Scholarship

This scholarship is for seniors in high school in Maryland who have committed to volunteer work. Anyone who has done community-related activities is eligible to apply for this scholarship. 

• Award Amount: $1,000
• Deadline: July 1st, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: July 1st, 2022

Lorraine Belcourt Love in the Community Scholarship   

This scholarship applies to any high school or undergraduate students in North Dakota.

If the high school or undergraduate students have experience giving back to their community through volunteering, non-profit work, or other community services, they are eligible for this scholarship. Likewise, students may also qualify if they pursue a public service career involving psychology, such as clinical research or graduate study.

• Award Amount: $500
• 400-600 Word Essay Deadline: December 1st, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: December 31st, 2022

Bold Community Activist Scholarship   

For all psychology majors who have experience conducting volunteer work on an active basis and are interested in helping their local communities, this psychology scholarship aims to offer financial support to college students who need financial aid. To apply, psychology majors must write a concise essay detailing how they have positively affected their local community. 

• 150-300 Word Essay Deadline: July 13th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: August 13th, 2022

WiseGeek Community Service no-essay Scholarship   

A scholarship for those trying to help their communities and psychologists with experience conducting volunteer work.

• Deadline: August 16th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: September 16th, 2022

“A Bold Mind” Psychology no-essay Scholarship   

This scholarship is for psychology majors who are deeply interested in psychology and wish to pursue an education. The scholarship winner will not be announced until 2023, which makes this an excellent scholarship opportunity for current high school students or those partaking in a gap year.

• Deadline: June 30th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: July 30th, 2023

Elevate Mental Health Awareness Scholarship   

This scholarship is for any educational level in any field as long as they have had some form of personal experience with mental health, whether it be their mental health or the mental health of a friend.

“Students applying to the scholarship will be required to write an essay about how their experience with mental health has influenced their beliefs, relationships, and career aspirations.”

• 500-1000 Word Essay Deadline: October 30th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: November 30th, 2022

Jimmy Cardenas Community Leader Scholarship   

This scholarship is for those in the state of Texas who are undergraduate students looking to pursue a career that will help them apply to serve their community.

• 400-600 Word Essay Deadline: November 22nd, 2022

Mental Health Matters Scholarship   

A scholarship is for students of any educational level that hold a 2.5 GPA or higher, have a history of combating mental health issues, and have proven themselves to be leaders within their communities despite these personal mental health challenges. 

• 400-600 Word Essay Deadline: September 1st, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: September 30th, 2022

Bold Mental Health Awareness Scholarship   

“The Bold Mental Health Awareness Scholarship will support one student who is struggling with mental health or is passionate about helping others who struggle with mental health.”

This does not require the applicant to take specific mental health and psychology courses or be a psychology major. Still, for any military veterans interested in the field, this is an excellent scholarship to apply for.

• 250-300 Word Essay Deadline: June 24th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: July 24th, 2022

First-Year College Students: Jennie Gilbert Daigre Education Scholarship   

This scholarship isn’t for admission but for undergraduate students who need financial aid to help buy textbooks that can help college students pursue careers.

“Undergraduate students at 2-year or 4-year institutions are eligible to apply.”

“A Daring Path” No-Essay Scholarship   

This is a no-essay scholarship for qualifying students willing to take chances and won’t allow their fears to control them in pursuing their dreams. If the applicant is a bold person who wishes to get the most out of life, this is the scholarship.

“The scholarship is open to all students and non-students from any field of study.”

• Deadline: October 30th, 2022

Rising Scholarship   

Unlike other scholarship opportunities, this is for any female graduating high school senior in Illinois. The organization Her Rising Initiative, which funds this scholarship, wishes to help create an environment where young female students’ voices can be heard, and their ambitions can be met.

• Winners Announcement Date: October 1st, 2022

ESOF Academic Scholarship   

This scholarship is for African American students looking to enter a historically black college or university (HBCU). Applicants need at least a 3.0 GPA to be eligible to apply for this scholarship.

“To apply, tell us about your future goals and commitment to public or civic service.” This type of scholarship is for outstanding graduate students pursuing a career in psychology or civic services.

• 500-1000 Word Essay Deadline: June 19th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: July 19th, 2022

David L. Burns Memorial Scholarship   

A memorial scholarship that is meant to support those in Missouri. Specifically to help those dedicated to helping those who have struggled with a sense of addiction. Students who are entering fields focused on assisting the physical and mental health of others are eligible to apply.

“These fields could be nursing, counseling/mental health, social work, or other similar careers.”

• Award Amount: $2,550
• 400-600 Word Essay Deadline: November 1st, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: December 1st, 2022

Peter T. Buecher Memorial Scholarship   

This scholarship is aimed at students within Minnesota who wish to use their knowledge to ‘enrich’ their community.

• 400-600 Word Essay Deadline: May 1st, 2023
• Winners Announcement Date: June 1st, 2023

Francis “Slip” Madigan Scholarship   

This scholarship is for first-generation students when it comes to college who are currently high school seniors and reside in Massachusetts. So, for any first-generation athletes whose families didn’t have the resources to attend college, this is an excellent scholarship to apply for.

#FinancialFreedom No-Essay Scholarship   

A scholarship that doesn’t require an essay to be submitted is for an ambitious graduate student who doesn’t have the financial means to pursue higher education even though they have the drive to do so. This scholarship opportunity will also help undergraduate, and graduate students pursue careers in their related fields.

“The scholarship is open to all high school, undergraduate, and graduate school students and non-students from any field of study.”

Texas Women Empowerment Scholarship   

This is a scholarship based in Texas for Texas students in the hopes of creating a better balance for women in education.

It’s also trying to support the students’ educational goals by alleviating any financial burdens that graduate student and their families may be forced to bear while pursuing higher education.

Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher to be eligible for application, mainly for those who want to pursue careers in political science, public health, medicine, or any related fields.

• Award Amount: $4,000
• 400-600 Word Essay Deadline: October 1st, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: November 1st, 2022

Frantz Barron Scholarship   

This is a scholarship for any low-income, male, Black, first-generation college student pursuing higher education. This scholarship supports those who need financial assistance to continue their education.

“Any first-generation, low-income, high-achieving, male, high school senior in New Jersey may apply for this scholarship.”

• Award Amount: $1000

ProjectGiveBack Scholarship for Black Women   

This scholarship is designated for Black women. It’s about giving back to the Black community and minority students, so if the applicant has any volunteering or work experience, they have a good chance of earning the scholarship.

“…To apply, please submit a 2-minute video discussing how your goals/aspirations align with the spirit of ProjectGiveBack.”

• Award Amount: $2,000
• 500-1000 Word Essay Deadline: July 26th, 2022
• Winners Announcement Date: August 26th, 2022

FAQs About Psychology Scholarships

Scholarship programs, grants, and fellowships can offer financial aid to psychology doctoral students, graduate psychology students, and minority students are pursuing a doctoral or master’s degree in psychology.

Finding psychology scholarship programs, financial aid opportunities, and program awards that can help ease the financial aid needs of graduate-level students and college students can be a little confusing. Here are some frequently asked questions about college scholarships, financial aid opportunities, and where to find the best scholarships for psychology.

Are Psychology scholarships legit?

Psychology scholarships are legit, as are any scholarships that apply to mental issues, mental disorders, etc. These scholarships often are tied to those who either have mental health issues or have experience working with and being around those who have mental health issues.

How can I improve my chances of winning Autism scholarships?

You can improve your chances by taking your time with your essays. Psychology scholarships often require written sections, and taking your time with those written sections is essential. It convinces the scholarship managers that you will use the opportunity given to you effectively.

How many Psychology scholarships can you get?

As many as there are available, there is no limit to the amount of psychology or mental disability scholarships you can apply for or accept.

Are Psychology scholarships taxable income?

Yes, psychology and mental disability scholarships are taxable income. The general rule for scholarships being taxable income is that if the grants or scholarships are for research , teaching, housing, or food, they are taxable.

What’s the best way to apply for Psychology scholarships?

By checking the requirements for the scholarship and making sure that you have the best essays, do your research on who is funding the scholarship. If the person sponsoring the scholarship has specific preferences in who they give it to, that’s also something to account for.

Our Editorial Team, with a rich background in educational content creation, prioritizes accuracy and quality in every article. We are committed to producing expert content tailored to meet the academic needs of college and high school students, ensuring they receive well-researched and trustworthy information for their educational journey.

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63 Psychology Scholarships for Undergrad & Graduate Students

Written by Jennifer Cione-Kroeschel

Sponsored School(s)

Career opportunities in the field of psychology are vast. Yes, you could be a psychologist, but you can also work in human resources, social work, forensics, or school counseling, among many more positions. The one thing that every one of these has in common, aside from working with and being able to understand people, is that they all require an education. And psychology degrees cost money. Tuition can add up to tens of thousands of dollars every year, and that’s no easy load to carry without some help.

Discovering scholarships is simple. Some aid is need-based and some is determined by merit. Academic scholarships, community service scholarships, athletic scholarships, extracurricular scholarships, identity- and ethnic- based scholarships, and employer and military scholarships are some of the most common types.

So, How Do you Get a Scholarship for Psychology?

The first step is to visit your high school counselor or the financial aid office at your college and get informed about the options available to you. Organizations, foundations, and local business groups will often award scholarships to local students. You might be surprised – even your employer or your parents’ employers may offer some scholarship. A valuable (and free) tool is careeronestop , a website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor that allows you to search for scholarships as well as other financial aid opportunities such as fellowships and grants.

When choosing a school , students should also complete the FAFSA, which is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The application will be processed to determine what financial aid a current or prospective college student is eligible for, whether the money is needed for a traditional campus experience or for helping to pay for an online psychology degree .

What GPA Do You Need to Get a Full Scholarship?

It depends. High-achieving 3.5 and up students with great test scores and impressive transcripts definitely have a leg up on being awarded money for college, but the amount will vary depending on the awarding agency, and the cost of colleges also differs greatly. Needs-based scholarships may allow a little more latitude for lower GPAs. Academic scholarships have the potential to cover the entire cost of a degree program, or they may just contribute toward it.

Also, students who don’t have very high GPAs are not ruled out from receiving scholarships. They can earn awards based on their involvement in the community, their athletic talent, and even their hobbies. There’s no limit to the amount of scholarships a student can apply for, and the more the better. A straight-A student with a gift for basketball and Jewish heritage can apply for academic, athletic, and ethnic-bases scholarships. Every student has multiple opportunities to apply for scholarships and other aid.

What is the Easiest Scholarship to Get?

There’s really no simple answer to this, although the easiest way to receive any scholarship is to apply to as many as possible. For low-income students, need-based scholarships may be the easiest because income is easily quantifiable, but that doesn’t mean it will be difficult for someone who comes from a middle-class family to work hard and be rewarded with academic, talent-based, or community scholarships.

Our Favorite Psychology Scholarships for Undergrad and Graduate Students

Here is a list of current scholarships for psychology majors in undergraduate programs as well as for graduate students. As an undergraduate in psychology, private scholarships and federal grants are the most common types of aid. When choosing to earn a graduate degree to be qualified for different career opportunities or pursue a role in research, fellowships and research grants also open up. Regardless of the level of degree, financial assistance is available and waiting for you to ask for it.

Psychology Undergraduate Scholarships and Grants

Dr. Jon Baker Memorial Scholarship

Offered by the University of Alaska-Anchorage to full-time University of Alaska-Anchorage students majoring in psychology.

Amount: $500

Diversity in Psychology and Law Research Award

Offered by the American Psychology-Law Society to support undergraduate and graduate research in psychology, law, multiculturalism, or diversity.

Amount: $500-$1,000

Association for Psychological Science Student Grants (APS)

Offered by the Association for Psychological Science to encourage student research in psychological science.

Condon Prize for Best Student Essay in Psychological Anthropology

Offered by the Society for Psychological Anthropology to promote the study of adolescence, family, and change among the Canadian Inuit.

APS Student Research Award (APS)

Offered by the Association for Psychological Science for outstanding research.

Amount: $300

APS Convention Society Research Awards

Offered by Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, to recognize the best research papers and posters submitted by graduate and undergraduate Psi Chi students at the APS Annual Convention.

Amount: $400 or $500

Applied Social Issues Internship Program

Offered by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues to encourage intervention projects, non-partisan advocacy projects, research, and writing and implementing public policy that applies social science principles to social issues.

Amount: $300 or $2,500

Lizette Peterson Homer Injury Prevention Grant

Offered by the APA Division 54: Society of Pediatric Psychology to support research related to the prevention of injuries in children and adolescents.

Amount: $5,000

Tara Lynne Arnold Scholarship Fund

Offered by the Steuben County Community Foundation to students pursuing a bachelor of arts degree.

Amount: Varies

AED Student Research Grants

Offered by the Academy for Eating Disorders to support research conducted by student members of the AED.

Amount: $1,000

Delta Gamma Foundation Florence Margaret Harvey Memorial Scholarship

Offered by the American Foundation for the Blind to people who are blind or visually impaired in the field of rehabilitation and education.

Child Welfare and Development (CWD) Scholarship

Offered by Family Life Today to students who plan to pursue a career in the field of child welfare.

The Virtuous Prom Peace Scholarship

Offered by Virtuous Prom to female college students studying theology, anthropology, psychology, or sociology.

Amount: $250

Rudolph Dillman Memorial Scholarship

Amount: $2,500

Seasons in Malibu Annual Scholarship

Offered by Seasons in Malibu to students in need to highlight the importance of mental health.

Amount: $1,500

Early Childhood Educators Scholarship Program

Offered by the Massachusetts Office of Student Financial Assistance to currently employed early childhood educators and providers enrolled in an associate's or bachelor's degree program in Early Childhood Education or related programs.

Robert B. Oliver ASNT Scholarship

Offered by the American Society for Nondestructive Testing to students who have chosen a career in NDT.

Brook Report Scholarship

Offered by Brook Report to assist with tuition and expenses.

Megan Meier Memorial Scholarships

Offered by the Megan Meier Foundation to high school seniors who have made a positive impact in issues of bullying and cyberbullying in their schools and communities.

Grants and Scholarships for Graduate Students in Psychology

American Psychology-Law Society Dissertation Awards

Offered by the American Psychology-Law Society to support students who do dissertations involving basic or applied research in psychology and law.

David Pilon Scholarships for Training in Professional Psychology

Offered by the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students for supplement training and education experiences in professional practice.

Paul E. Henkin School Psychology Travel Grant

Offered by the APA Division 16: School Psychology for travel expenses for student members of the APA Division 16 to attend the annual APA convention.

American Psychology-Law Society Student Grants-In-Aid

Offered by the American Psychology-Law Society for empirical graduate research that addresses psycho-legal issues.

Amount: $750

Annette Urso Rickel Foundation Dissertation Award for Public Policy

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation for dissertation research on public policy.

Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation for graduate-level projects that help understand and reduce stigma associated with mental illness from a psychological perspective.

APA 125th Anniversary Scholarship

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation for graduate students to further their education in psychology.

Amount: $3,000

William C. Howell Scholarship

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation to help graduate students of psychology with research costs associated with their master's thesis or doctoral dissertation.

Charles and Carol Spielberger Scholarship

CPA-F Scholarship

Offered by the California Psychological Association to encourage psychologists from ethnically diverse communities in California.

Amount: $2,000

Esther Katz Rosen Fund Grants

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation for activities that lead to the psychological understanding of gifted children and youth.

Amount: $50,000

Wayne F. Placek Grants

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation for empirical research in the behavioral and social sciences related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender issues.

Amount: $10,000

Peter and Malina James and Dr. Louis P. James Legacy Scholarship

William and Dorothy Bevan Scholarship

Ruth G. and Joseph D. Matarazzo Scholarship

Benton-Meier Scholarships

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation to graduate students in neuropsychology.

Harry and Miriam Levinson Scholarship

APF Visionary Grants

Offered by the American Psychological Foundation for research, education, and intervention projects and programs.

Amount: $20,000

Clarence J. Rosecrans Scholarship

Lee Hakel Graduate Student Scholarship

Offered by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology to graduate students pursuing doctoral study in industrial-organizational psychology to conduct research.

Amount: $3,500

Mary L. Tenopyr Graduate Student Scholarship

SPSSI Grants-In-Aid Program

Offered by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for scientific research in social problem areas related to the basic interests and goals of SPSSI.

Amount: $1,000 or $2,000

NJPA Foundation Scholarship for Research on Diversity Issues

Offered by the New Jersey Psychological Association to graduate students in psychology who promote the scientific understanding of the role of diversity in psychology and develop sensitive models for delivering psychological services to diverse populations.

Malyon Smith Scholarship Research Award

Offered by the APA Division 44: Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation to advance research about the psychology of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Nancy B. Forest and L. Michael Honaker Master's Grant for Research

Offered by the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students for dissertation research in the field of psychology.

Ellin Bloch and Pierre Ritchie Diversity Dissertation Grant

Offered by the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students for research in the field of psychology concerning diversity issues.

Harry and Pola Triandis Doctoral Thesis Award

Offered by the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology for research in the areas of culture and psychology.

Grants in Aid for Early Career Professionals

Offered by the American Psychology-Law Society to AP-LS members who are early career professionals for research related to psychology and law.

Saleem Shah Early Career Award

Offered by the American Psychology-Law Society for early career excellence and contributions to the fields of psychology and law.

Chris L. Kleinke Scholarship

Offered by the University of Alaska-Anchorage to an outstanding student in the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s master of science program in clinical psychology.

SSCP Dissertation Grant Award

Offered by the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology for students who have already received approval for their dissertation project.

NASP-ERT Minority Scholarship Program

Offered by the National Association of School Psychologists to minority graduate students enrolled in a psychology program.

Bisexual Foundation Scholarships

Offered by the APA Division 44: Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation for research on bisexuality in the field of LGBT issues in psychology.

APA Division 39 Scholars Program

Offered by the APA Division 39: Psychoanalysis for learning and open dialogue about psychoanalytic thinking, research and practice.

The Clara Mayo Grants

Offered by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for master’s theses and pre-dissertation research on sexism, racism, or prejudice.

Janet Hyde Graduate Student Research Grant

Offered by APA Division 35: Society for the Psychology of Women to psychology students supporting feminist research.

Marion and Donald Routh Student Research Grant

Offered by APA Division 54: Society of Pediatric Psychology for research related to the field of pediatric psychology.

Jan S. Bashinski Criminalistics Graduate Thesis Assistance Grant

Offered by the Forensic Sciences Foundation, Inc., to graduate students completing their thesis or independent research project in criminalistics forensic sciences.

Amount: $1,300 or $1,700

Applied Behavior Analysis EDU $1,000 Excellence in Practice

Offered by Applied Behavior Analysis EDU master’s students in applied behavioral analysis.

Associates in Behavioral Health Scholarships

Offered by the Pride Foundation to LGBTQ students pursuing graduate education in psychology, psychiatry, social work, or psychiatric nursing.

NAJA Scholarship

Offered by the National Association of Junior Auxiliaries, Inc., to graduate students in fields that address the special needs of children and youth.

Pi Gamma Mu Scholarships

Offered by Pi Gamma Mu for graduate education.

AHRQ Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award

Offered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for intensive mentored research career development in health services for people with clinical doctoral degrees.

Mentored Research Scholar Grant

Offered by the American Cancer Society to support junior faculty members becoming clinician scientists or cancer control researchers.

Amount: $10,000 or $135,000

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25 Great Scholarships for Psychology Majors

Psychology degrees are considered one of the most popular options for college students around the world due to the wide range of career opportunities available with this versatile major and its coursework. Earning a degree in psychology can give you the opportunity to study human behavior, help those in need of human services, learn more about yourself and others on a deeper level for personal growth, and develop strong interpersonal skill that are valuable in virtually any career path. Whether you are just starting out on a bachelor’s degree in psychology or finishing a professional graduate program, the following are 25 excellent scholarships for psychology majors like you.

1. A. Gordon Rose Scholarship: Another View Endowment Fund

Deadline: August 1st

Each year, the Center for Psychological Studies at Nova Southeastern University offers the A. Gordon Rose Scholarship: Another View Endowment Fund to graduate psychology studies who are currently matriculated and in good standing in one of the master’s or doctoral level programs. In order to be eligible to receive the scholarship in the form of a tuition waiver, students must demonstrate commitment to doing research and professional work aimed to increasing the self and community acceptance of gay and lesbian individuals.

Contact A. Gordon Rose Scholarship: Another View Endowment Fund 3301 College Avenue Fort Lauderdale-Davie, FL 33314 (954) 262-5701 [email protected]

2. AFSCME-UNCF Union Scholarship Internship Program

Deadline: February 28th

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has joined with Harvard University and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to establish a Union Scholarship Internship Program for skilled, motivated, and passionate activities to join in the effort to support public service employees in labor union movements. Eligible candidates must be second-semester sophomore or junior students, have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher, be a college student of color, and major in a field related to psychology or labor studies. Recipients will receive a stipend up to $4,000, on-site housing, a week-long orientation, and an academic scholarship of up to $5,000 for the school year.

Contact AFSCME-UNCF Union Scholarship Internship Program 1625 L Street NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 429-1000 [email protected] http://www.afscme.org/organize/uncf

3. Amanda C. Williams Memorial Scholarship

Deadline: March 1st

The College of Business and Behavioral Science at Clemson University offers the Amanda C. Williams Memorial Scholarship for varying amounts annually to undergraduate students majoring in psychology with full-time status. Since the scholarship is restricted to students in attendance at the university, there is no requirement for a separate scholarship application. The College makes the selection based on merit of grade point average from the admissions application for entering freshmen or academic record for continuing students.

Contact Amanda C. Williams Memorial Scholarship 201 Sikes Hall Box 345123 Clemson, SC 29634 (864) 656-2280 [email protected]

4. American Psychological Foundation Graduate Study Scholarships

Deadline: June 30th

Sponsored in conjunction with the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, the American Psychological Foundation (APF) awards 15 scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to assist graduate psychology students in an interim master’s or doctoral program with covering the costs of research. Each graduate department of psychology in the United States that is a member of the COGDOP may submit nominations of outstanding graduate students working on their master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation. Along with a completed application form, nominees must submit a letter of recommendation from their graduate research advisor, brief outline of their research project, and an official transcript of graduate coursework.

Contact American Psychological Foundation Graduate Study Scholarships 750 First Street NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 336-5843 [email protected]

5. Ann M. Frank Scholarship

Deadline: February 1st

Sponsored by an endowed scholarship fund, Providence College offers the Ann M. Frank Scholarship annually to undergraduate students who are majoring in Journalism or Psychology. Selection for the scholarship is made based on academic achievements, potential for success in these distinctive career paths, and community/school activity involvement outside of the classroom. With no separate application necessary, students interested in the scholarship must fill out the FAFSA form to demonstrate financial need.

Contact Ann M. Frank Scholarship Harkins Hall Room 403 1 Cunningham Square Providence, RI 02918 (401) 865-2286 [email protected]

6. Arnold Horowitz Endowed Memorial Award

Deadline: May 1st Sponsored by a generous endowment fund in memorial of Arnold Horowitz, Hofstra University awards a scholarship annually to graduate students enrolled in the Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a major in psychology. In order to be eligible for this renewable award for up to three years of graduate studies, candidates must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, demonstrate financial need on a FAFSA form, and be enrolled on full-time status.

Contact Arnold Horowitz Endowed Memorial Award 206 Memorial Hall 1000 Fulton Avenue Hempstead, NY 11550 (516) 463-8000 [email protected]

7. Bethesda Lutheran Communities Scholarship

Deadline: May 1st

Annually, Bethesda Lutheran Communities offers two scholarships for $3,000 apiece for Lutheran students who are pursuing an undergraduate psychology degree for a career in human services for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Eligible freshman, sophomore, and junior applicants for the scholarships must be active communicant members of a Lutheran church, have a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher, be enrolled full-time at an accredited institution , and career objective helping those with disabilities.

Contact Bethesda Lutheran Communities Scholarship 600 Hoffmann Drive Watertown, WI 53094 (920) 206-4410 [email protected] http://bethesdalutherancommunities.org/scholarships

8. California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Scholarships

Deadline: December 31st

The Educational Foundation of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) offers annual scholarships for $4,000 each to graduate psychology students who are pursuing an advanced degree for licensure within the marriage and family therapy profession or are conducting a research project that will contribute positively to the profession. In order to be eligible for the awards, candidates must be enrolled in an accredited degree program, demonstrate a high degree of academic achievement, showcase financial need, actively participate in community or civic events, and be of high moral and ethical character.

Contact California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Scholarships 7901 Raytheon Rd. San Diego, CA 92111 (858) 292-2638 [email protected]

9. Chet W. Harris Memorial Scholarship

Deadline: Varies

At Georgia State University, the College of Education’s Department of Counseling and Psychological Services awards the Chet W. Harris Memorial Scholarship annually to doctoral students who are enrolled full-time with a major in Counseling or Counseling Psychology to cover the research costs of completing their dissertation. In order to be eligible for the non-renewable award, students must demonstrate academic achievement with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, service to the department, potential in the field, and financial need for assistance.

Contact Chet W. Harris Memorial Scholarship College of Education Suite 300 30 Pryor Street Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 413-8000 [email protected]

10. CPA-F Minority Scholarship Program

Deadline: November 3rd

The California Psychological Association Foundation provides the CPA-F Minority Scholarship Program with the goal of encouraging minority students to pursue their interests and talents in the field of psychology as teachers, administrators, practitioners, and researchers. Prospective applicants for one of the three $2,000 scholarships must be considered a member of one minority group, graduates from a regionally accredited undergraduate institution, and accepted into a doctoral program in California.

Contact CPA-F Minority Scholarship Program 1231 I Street Suite 204 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 286-7979 [email protected] http://www.cpapsych.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=152

11. Dale Wilson-Mondovi Grange Trust Fund Scholarship

Offered strictly to residents of eastern Lincoln County and western Spokane County in Washington, the Spokane Falls Community College provides the Dale Wilson-Mondovi Grange Trust Fund Scholarship for undergraduate students who are majoring in agriculture, business administration, psychology, or a relevant field. Selection for the award is strongly based on financial need, academic achievement, and good personal character.

Contact Dale Wilson-Mondovi Grange Trust Fund Scholarship 1810 N. Greene St. Spokane, WA 99217 (509) 533-7000 [email protected]

12. Diekemper Endowment for the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

Established by former student Lou Dunn Diekemper, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University in California offers an endowment scholarship each year to undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in the global psychology program. Designed to provide a life-changing experience of encouragement to older students involved in the program, the award is given to high-achieving students 40 years of age and older.

Contact Diekemper Endowment for the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology 1069 East Meadow Circle Palo Alto, CA 94303 (650) 493-4430 [email protected]

13. Dorothy Harris Endowed Scholarship

Deadline: December 29th

On an annual basis, the Women’s Sports Foundation awards up to three Dorothy Harris Endowed Scholarships for $1,500 each to female graduate students who are currently enrolled in a major degree program for Physical Education, Sports Management, Sports Psychology, or Sports Sociology. Eligible applicants for the award must be American citizens or legal residents, enrolled in an accredited graduate school, attending on a full-time course of study, and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Contact Dorothy Harris Endowed Scholarship 1899 Hempstead Turnpike Suite 400 East Meadow, NY 11554 (516) 542-4700 [email protected]

14. Dr. Nancy Mayer Knapp Memorial Scholarship

In honor of former Direct of Art Therapy and recipient of the Teachers College Outstanding Achievement in Professional Service award Dr. Nancy Mayer Knapp, the Department of Counselor Education at Emporia State University offers a memorial scholarship of $1,800 annually to undergraduate or graduate students. In order to be eligible for the non-renewable scholarship, candidates must be enrolled full-time in the Art Therapy Counseling, Clinical Psychology, or Psychology programs.

Contact Dr. Nancy Mayer Knapp Memorial Scholarship 1200 Commercial St. Campus Box 4036 Emporia, KS 66801 (620) 341-1200 [email protected] http://www.emporia.edu/ce/scholarships.html

15. Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Student Fellowship

Deadline: November 15th

Sponsored by the American Psychological Foundation (APF), the Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Student Fellowship is designed to promote the advancement of knowledge and learning in the field of child psychology by supporting graduate research projects. In order to qualify for one of the four research awards up to $25,000 each or one of the two $5,000 scholarships for runners-up, candidates must have completed doctoral candidacy, demonstrated research competence and area commitment, and submit documentation of IRB approval for research.

Contact Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Graduate Student Fellowship 750 First Street NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 336-5843 [email protected] http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/koppitz.aspx

16. Forensic Mental Health Association of California Scholarship

Deadline: January 15th

Each year, the Forensic Mental Health Association of California (FMHAC) provides scholarships to six students to cover the costs of tuition and lodging to attend the association’s annual conference. In order to be eligible, applicants must be graduate students rolled full-time in an accredited California institution with a major in Nursing, Social Work, Criminal Justice, or Psychology. Along with the application, students must provide a cover letter, resume, letter of recommendation, and statement demonstrating an interest in the field of forensic mental health.

Contact Forensic Mental Health Association of California Scholarship 665 Third St. Suite 516 San Francisco, CA 94107 (415) 407-1344 [email protected]

17. George C. and Gladys R. Seeck Scholarship

Deadline: January 31st

Adrian College offers the George C. and Gladys R. Seeck Scholarship annually to undergraduate students who are attending the institution on a full-time basis with a major in Psychology, Philosophy, or Religion. In order to receive the scholarship for up to $6,000 for a maximum of eight semesters, eligible candidates for the award must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher as well as a 20 ACT composite score in good standing with all college offices.

Contact George C. and Gladys R. Seeck Scholarship 110 South Madison St. Adrian, MI 49221 (517) 265-5161 [email protected]

18. Gerber Social Psychology Outstanding Research Award

Within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida, the Department of Psychology offers the annual Gerber Social Psychology Outstanding Research Award to one doctoral student in the department in recognition of their outstanding merit in contributing to the scientific knowledge in the area of social psychology. Eligible candidates for the one-time $1,000 award must be enrolled full-time in the doctoral program, demonstrate academic achievement with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and contributions to psychology.

Contact Gerber Social Psychology Outstanding Research Award 945 Center Drive Gainesville, FL 32611 (352) 392-0601 [email protected]

19. Lisa M. Quesenberry Foundation Scholarship

Deadline: November 30th

Created in memory of Lisa by her family, the Lisa M. Quesenberry Foundation Scholarship is offered by the School of Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University annually for a non-renewable amount of $2,000. In order to be eligible for the award, eligible candidates must be female graduate students enrolled full-time at Vanderbilt and pursuing an advanced degree in Clinical Science, Cognition, Developmental Science, Neuroscience, or Quantitative Methods.

Contact Lisa M. Quesenberry Foundation Scholarship Peabody College Room 552 2301 Vanderbilt Place Nashville, TN 37240 (615) 322-1779 [email protected]

20. Nancy B. Forest and L. Michael Honaker Master’s Grant for Research in Psychology

Deadline: May 7th

Named in honor of two APA staff members for their support over the years in the development of the association, the American Psychological Association for Graduate Students (APAGS) offers the Nancy B. Forest and L. Michael Honaker Master’s Grant for Research in Psychology annually to outstanding master’s level students with the funds for their thesis research. Eligible applicants for this $1,000 award must be graduate student members of the APAGS, enrolled at least half-time at a regionally accredited university, and in good academic standing.

Contact Nancy B. Forest and L. Michael Honaker Master’s Grant for Research in Psychology 750 First Street NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 336-5500 [email protected] http://www.apa.org/about/awards/forest-honaker.aspx

21. NFRW National Pathfinder Scholarship

Deadline: June 1st

Founded in honor of First Lady Nancy Reagan, the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) award three annual National Pathfinder Scholarships of $2,500 each to provide financial assistance to female students seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees. Female U.S. Citizens who are college sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students in a Master’s program are all eligible for the award. Along with the application, applicants are asked to provide three letters of recommendation, official college transcript, and one-page typed essay on career goals.

Contact NFRW National Pathfinder Scholarship 124 North Alfred St. Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 548-9688 [email protected] http://www.nfrw.org/programs/scholarships.htm

22. Ph.D. in Human Development Doctoral Program Scholarships

Deadline: April 15th

Each year, the Department of Psychology at Marywood University in Pennsylvania awards Ph.D. in Human Developmental Doctoral Program Scholarships to graduate students enrolled full-time in the Ph.D. program. Eligible candidates for the scholarships must not be in the dissertation phase or have previously received the award. Along with the application, students must submit a 300-500 word essay reflecting their educational goals and professional aims in the program.

Contact Ph.D. in Human Development Doctoral Program Scholarships 2300 Adams Avenue Scranton, PA 18509 (570) 348-6211 ext. 2356 [email protected]

23. Scott Mesh Honorary Grant for Research in Psychology

Named in honor of one of the founding co-chairs of the association, the Scott Mesh Honorary Grant for Research in Psychology is provided annually by the American Psychological Association for Graduate Students to help support dissertation research leading to a doctoral degree in the field of psychology. Those eligible for the $1,000 grant must be current graduate student members of the APAGS, enrolled at least half-time at a regionally accredited institution, and be in good overall academic standing.

Contact Scott Mesh Honorary Grant for Research in Psychology 750 First Street NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 336-5500 [email protected]

24. Thelma Hunt Research Grant

Deadline: September 18th

The Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology awards one Thelma Hunt Research Grant of $3,000 annually to Psi Chi members carrying out empirical research that addresses an issue directly related to the advancement of the psychology field. All Psi Chi student and faculty members are eligible for the grant with the submission of a research project proposal and documentation of IRB approval.

Contact Thelma Hunt Research Grant 825 Vine Street P.O. Box 709 Chattanooga, TN 37403 (423) 756-2044 [email protected] http://www.psichi.org/?page=thelmhuntinfo

25. Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship

Deadline: May 15th

The American Psychological Foundation offers the Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship annually to support graduate-level scholarly projects that use a psychological perspective to help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. In order to receive the award of $5,000, eligible applicants must be full-time graduate students at an accredited university, be in good academic standing, demonstrate commitment to stigma issues, and have IRB approval for research.

Contact Violet and Cyril Franks Scholarship 750 First Street NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 336-5500 [email protected]

As the price tag of earning a psychology degree continue to rise to hefty proportions, it is more important than ever before to rely on a variety of funding options to afford the tuition, textbooks, supplies, and other expenses needed to succeed in higher education. Scholarships are one of the best options for obtaining extra money to cover these costs and lessen the financial burden of student loan debt after graduation. If you are searching for a means to afford earning a college degree in psychology, be sure to check out these 25 scholarships for psychology students to help you chase your dreams related to this fascinating and flexible major!

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• 30 Great Scholarships for Psychology Students 2020

Paying for college while earning an undergraduate degree is one thing, but for psychology students facing years and years of education and training, paying for school becomes a much bigger challenge. Fortunately, between savings, loans, and scholarships, there are plenty of ways to pay for an education.

Of course, scholarships — money that need not be paid back — are the ideal way to lower those tuition payments. Below, we’ve highlighted 30 great scholarships just for psychology students. While each scholarship varies in amount, eligibility, and even prestige, each award on our list can help you save money and pay for your degree in psychology.

The Allyn and Bacon Award

Allyn and Bacon Publishers sponsor this annual research grant which awards $1,000 to the best research paper.

American Addiction Centers Behavioral Health and Addiction Scholarship

Three Behavioral Health and Addiction Scholarships (maximum $5,000) are awarded each year to students who are studying psychology or a related subject such as nursing, social work, counseling, or behavioral health.

American Board of Professional Psychology Memorial Fellows Fund Scholarship

To help ease the burden of tuition, the Hyman-Lambert Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to doctoral-level psychology students in recognition of academic achievement and a personal essay.

The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students/Psi Chi Junior Scientist Fellowship

Graduate psychology students who excel at research are invited to apply for this scholarship. The winners receive research funding for an entire year, plus coaching towards a larger research grant from the National Science Foundation.

AP-LS Award for Best Undergraduate Paper

This annual award — $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $150 for third place — is given out in recognition of the most exceptional research paper written on a topic combining psychology and law.

APF Graduate Student Scholarships

Master’s or doctoral degree students studying psychology and currently working on a research project are eligible to apply for these scholarships from the American Psychological Foundation, which awards 25 scholarships each year in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

ARC of Washington Trust Fund Research Grants

To promote research on the causes and treatment of intellectual disabilities, ARC of Washington Trust Fund awards $10,000 to Pacific Northwest-based students affiliated with research universities to use as seed money for future research.

Asian American Psychological Association Psychology Scholarship

Filipino-American college seniors are eligible for this scholarship from the Asian American Psychological Association, which provides $500 to students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in various fields within psychology, including counseling, industrial, child, or community, among others.

Benton-Meier Scholarship

Graduate students studying neuropsychology are eligible to apply for the Benton-Meier Scholarship, five of which, each totaling $2,500, are given out each year by the American Psychological Foundation.

California Psychological Association Foundation Minority Scholarship Program

Minority students who aspire to become professional psychologists, researchers, or practitioners in minority communities are eligible to apply for this $2,000 scholarship sponsored by the California Psychological Association Foundation.

Diversity Article Awards

The Diversity Article Awards, sponsored by the periodical “Eye on Psi Chi,” rewards four psychology students for writing the best articles on a topic relating to diversity issues.

Division 53 Student Achievement Award

Division 53 of the APA annually awards one undergraduate student and two graduate students $1,000 each in recognition of the students’ achievements in their chosen field within psychology, whether research, mentoring, community engagement, clinical work, or teaching.

Donald Mattson Scholarship Award

Sponsored by the American Mental Health Counselors Association, the $500 Donald Mattson Scholarship Award is awarded each year to graduate students who aspire to practice psychology or mental health counseling.

Esther Katz Rosen Early Career Research Grant

The American Psychological Foundation sponsors this research grant of up to $50,000 for research psychologists who are currently conducting research on a topic related to gifted and talented children.

Frank X. Barron Award

This annual award recognizes those who have made a contribution to the psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts (Division 10 of the APA).

Franklin D. Boyce Scholarship

This $2,500 renewable award is given each year to a student who is majoring in a health-related field, including psychology, and who can demonstrate financial need and academic excellence.

Future Counselors of America Scholarship

Each year, the $1,000 Future Counselors of America Scholarship is awarded in conjunction with DatingAdvice.com to a university psychology student in recognition of the best essay entitled “The Psychology of Online Dating.”

Grawemeyer Award in Psychology

The Grawemeyer Award in Psychology awards a minimum of $100,000 to a nominated candidate who has proven he or shehas original and creative ideas that could significantly impact psychology.

The Guilford Awards

Like the Allyn and Bacon Award listed above, the Guilford Award honors three psychology students with monetary awards of up to $1,000 for the best paper written on a specific topic.

Health Careers Scholarship

Undergraduate juniors and seniors who are studying psychology are eligible for this scholarship which is sponsored by the Arthur J. Gallagher and Co. insurance firm and awarded based upon financial need and academic merit.

John Frederick Steinman Fellowship Fund

Every year, the John Frederick Steinman Fellowship Fund awards $6,000 to deserving psychology students at the graduate level who plan to practice in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Kay Wilson Presidential Leadership Award

Psi Chi chapter presidents are eligible for this $1,200 scholarship which rewards a candidate’s exceptional leadership skills.

Minority Grant Program

In an attempt to increase the number of minority professionals in psychology, the American Psychological Association sponsors the annual Minority Grant Program for students currently in postdoctoral studies in psychology.

Roy Scrivner Memorial Research Grant

This prestigious $15,000 award from the American Psychological Foundation is given annually to a graduate psychology student who has proven to be outstanding as a student focused on research relating to lesbian, gay, and/or bisexual family therapy.

Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement in Psychology and the Arts

The winner of the Rudolf Arnheim Award, which is awarded to a student who is making outstanding contributions to creative psychology, receives both a monetary award and the opportunity to deliver the Arnheim Address as APA’s annual convention.

Scott and Paul Pearsall Scholarship

Graduate psychology students have the chance to win $10,000 toward their research relating to the psychological pain of those with disabilities thanks to the Scott and Paul Pearsall Scholarship, an annual award sponsored by the American Psychological Foundation.

Soaring Heart Scholarship Award

The Pride Foundation awards the $2,000 Soaring Heart Scholarship Award annually to future mental health practitioners who are studying psychology or a related field at the undergraduate or graduate level, and who have lived in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington, or Oregon for a minimum of one year.

Thelma Hunt Research Grant

The Thelma Hunt Research Grant awards $3,000 each year to active Psi Chi members and students based on academic achievement and a written research project proposal complete with budget plan.

Walter Gleason Ph.D. Scholarship

Psychology students based in Wisconsin who have current membership with the Wisconsin Psychological Association, are eligible for the Walter Gleason Ph.D. Scholarship. It is awarded annually to Wisconsin-based doctoral psychology students based on academic achievement and a 500-word personal essay.

Wayne F. Placek Grant

This prestigious $10,000 award is open to students and working professionals. It  can be used to support empirical research on any topic relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender issues.

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Psychology Scholarships for All Psychology Majors

So, you want to get your degree in psychology. Excellent choice! Whether your plan is to have your own clinical practice, work with a team in a health care setting, or use psychological insight to craft winning business strategies, a psychology degree could help you achieve your dreams.

If you’ve already checked into the costs associated with getting your degree, you may be discouraged. Don’t be. Yes, you can borrow from direct federal loan programs and other sources, but you owe it to yourself—and your future—to look into scholarships, fellowships, and grants.

Fellowships, grants, and scholarships are by far the most desirable form of financial aid; unlike loans, they don’t generally require a payback. You may be eligible to apply and compete for multiple scholarships and grant programs, some of which are open only to psychology undergraduate and graduate students.

This page will help you figure out whether (and how) to pursue a fellowship, grant, or scholarship.

Scholarships for Psychology Students

High school, undergraduate, students studying lgbtq issues, where to find scholarships and grants.

As you likely already know, high schools use these financial awards and incentives to reward outstanding graduates. Universities use them to woo students who excel academically or have sought-after talents. There are also community, religious, and professional associations that award scholarships based on their own criteria. For example, only students of Italian descent have a shot at the Sons of Italy scholarship .

Here’s a quick look at the differences between these programs:

• Scholarships. Payments made to financially support your education usually awarded on the basis of academic or other achievements; you don’t have to repay scholarship funds.
• Grants . These are also free money. They can come from the federal government, your state government, your college, or a private or nonprofit organization.
• Fellowships . These are a type of grant that gives you funding while you pursue specific (usually academic) goals.

In very general terms, scholarships tend to be awarded based on merit, and grants are more likely to be based on financial need. Psychology scholarships tend to be very competitive, with most targeted to graduate students. If you have a school wish list, start with your top schools to see what they might offer.

When looking for scholarships watch out for scams. When you begin your online research, you’ll find hundreds of sites promising to help you locate scholarships. Most are legitimate, but not all. Avoid sites with grammar or spelling errors, or confusing navigation. The key red flag: Any site that wants you to pay a fee is potentially a scammer; an above-board site will not ask you for money. Also, never give out any financial information until you have thoroughly vetted a site, and are confident it’s not a scam. Note: You will never be “randomly selected” for a scholarship you have not applied for.

How to Win Scholarships

Become a scholarship detective. Track down as many scholarships as possible to increase your options. Through your sleuthing, you’ll find that scholarships are given for more reasons than you thought possible.

Allow enough time to manage applying to multiple scholarships. Each scholarship will have its own application requirements and deadlines, so it’s important to start researching scholarships as soon as possible so you can focus on the ones you most want.

Qualifying for certain scholarships takes long-term planning. For example, if you want to win a scholarship based on community service, be aware that some schools might want to see at least a year of service and commitment. Review any extra-curricular activities you’ve already spent time on, and consider whether they might help you score a scholarship.

Money.com has 13 concrete tips to increase your odds of winning a scholarship. The highlights:

• Use a personalized scholarship search tool. Many times these allow you to deep-dive filter by gender, religion, school level, ethnicity, award amounts, and state. Recommended search tools include Fastweb and College Board.
• Apply for local scholarships. Fewer students are eligible, so your odds are better. Check with your guidance counselor, media websites, community portals, your religious affiliations, and geographical internet searches.
• Don’t discount scholarships that offer smaller awards . Applying only for the big-bucks awards is tempting, but the competition is much stiffer.
• Evaluate each scholarship application carefully. Chances are good you’ll discover many contain hints to the selection criteria. Look at the sponsor’s website. Read the mission statement, review board member bios, read press releases, and look for other telling information. Use the information you discover to tailor your application to this sponsor’s goals.
• Make sure your online presence reflects positive things about you. Clean up your Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media pages; delete any embarrassing information about other people.
• Answer all optional questions on the application. They increase your chances of standing out.
• Roll up your sleeves and get to work. There is less competition for scholarships that require long essays or labor-intensive projects.

About those essays: Whether they’re on a topic of your own choosing or set by the scholarship sponsor, be passionate and well-informed about your topic. Don’t focus on yourself. Engage the reader’s intellectual interest, and don’t try to be funny.

Meet all the essay requirements. Don’t go much over or under word limits, stick to formatting guidelines, and don’t blow the deadline. Have another person review your essay once for content, and again for grammar and spelling mistakes. A teacher or advisor may give you more objective feedback than your family.

Grants and Fellowships for Psychology Students

Although there are some major differences between scholarships, grants, and fellowships, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably because they all provide money you don’t have to pay back. As noted before, most scholarships are awarded based on merit: impressive GPA, high test scores, great athletic skills. Most grants are need-based. This means that they are usually awarded based on your, or your family’s, financial status.

Fellowships typically—but not always—support post-graduate projects, which are often pursued outside a school’s normal curriculum. Fellowship funding can be provided to support academic work, research, independent projects, or community service activities. Funding may come from a foundation, educational institution, or other organization.

Federal and state governments are the largest source of grants. The federal government’s largest higher education grant program is Pell Grants . During the 2017-2018 school year, more than $28 billion in Pell grants were distributed to more than 7 million undergraduate students. The largest awards available are just over $6,000.

State governments offer grants to resident students who attend college in-state, based on financial need. In New York State , for example, the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) offers up to $5,000 grants to eligible students. In general, if you are dependent on your parents, the income limit is $80,000. If you are on your own, the limit is $10,000. This site breaks down state aid packages for all 50 states.

Many colleges award grants in addition to scholarships, and sometimes the financial packages they offer include a combination of the two.

How to Win Grants and Fellowships

Step one for winning a government grant is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA ). Even if you’re not looking for a loan, need-based grants are often determined by the information you provide on the FAFSA. Many states and colleges also use your FAFSA profile to determine grant aid. Other schools may want FAFSA-like information on their own forms.

A few more tips for pursing grants and fellowships:

• Be very aware of deadlines. While the national FAFSA deadline goes from October 1 to June 30, know that many state and school deadlines differ from the federal FAFSA application dates. Their deadlines may fall in February and March. You can find a school’s deadline on its website.
• Apply for grants as early as possible. For example, Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) benefit students who need grant aid beyond Pell Grants. You may qualify for this grant, but if your school has exhausted its annual allotment of FSEOG funds, you’re out of luck. (Start with FAFSA.) For more info visit the FSEOG website .
• Join psychological professional associations. A few popular ones to get you started include: Psi Chi , the Association of Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association . These organizations award research grants and fellowships to members only.
• Read the application requirements carefully. Stick to the recommended essay length, typeface, and spacing, and know whether a sponsor is required.
• Be prepared to invest time. Successful fellowship applications are the result of hard work, sometimes months of it. Research which fellowships have been awarded in your area of interest. Tailor your project to the interests of your school or the sponsoring foundation.

New scholarships are always being created. Keep checking with the psychology department of your chosen or current school so you’re on top of any new opportunities. Don’t overlook professional organizations; periodically check American Psychological Association , a professional psychology organization, and Psi Chi , the psychology honor society. Both offer a range of scholarships and grants to undergraduate and graduate students. Keep trying; perseverance is every bit as important as intelligence or talent to your success, and your future.

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How to Start a Scholarship Essay (With Examples)

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut. Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

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Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

As an admissions officer, I reviewed thousands of essays for students seeking admission and scholarships. The essay is one of the most important parts of the scholarship application process–a strong essay can go a long way. However, with so much competition, it is important for your scholarship essay to stand out. That’s why it’s important for you to start a scholarship essay off right!

There are some very simple things that you can do to ensure that your essay is engaging from the very first sentence. In fact, beginning your essay with an exciting opening is one of the most important things you can do, because it will immediately distinguish your essay from the others. 

Keep on reading to learn more about how you can nail the very first sentence and start your essay off right!

Engage the reader with the first sentence

No matter what type of essay you are writing, you will want to ensure that the very first line grabs the attention of the reader. One of the biggest mistakes that students make when starting their essay is simply restating the prompt. This is bland and boring. 

Now, you might be wondering, “how do I engage the reader with the very first line of my essay?”. The good news is that there are several ways that you can do this that are very simple to do. 

Related:  How to answer scholarship essay questions about your career goals

Begin with dialogue

First, you could begin your essay with conversation. This can be an interesting and unexpected way to start your scholarship essay. Maybe someone asked you an unexpected question? Perhaps you were having an interesting conversation with a friend or family member? Either way, dialogue can be a powerful tool to start your essay.

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Put the reader in your shoes.

Alternatively, you can choose to start your essay by placing the reader right in your shoes and show them something from your life. Appeal to the senses and show the reader what you see, hear, smell, or taste. These specific details will help your essay come to life and make it even more memorable. 

Also recommended: What’s the best scholarship essay format?

Scholarship essay introduction example

Next,  we’ll look at a specific example of how you can open up your essay. Let’s say you are applying for the Questbridge scholarship program . One of the essays that you will be asked is:

We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations, and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most influenced you. How are they shaping your future aspirations?

You might be tempted to rephrase the question and start your essay with something like:

“I have grown up in a rural context and this has formed my aspirations and allowed me to accomplish academic success…”

This is generic and will not engage your reader at all. 

Instead, what if you started off your essay with something like this:

“I look outside my bedroom window and see Henry, my favorite chicken, pecking at something in the dirt.” 

Makes a big difference, right? As a reader, you are probably wondering: why does this person have chickens outside their bedroom window? Why did they name this particular chicken Henry?

See also: Here are our top writing & essay scholarships for students!

Keep the ending of your essay in mind as you write the opening

While crafting your opening, be open to ideas about how to close your essay. There is no need to stress about the ending now, but being mindful of effective ways to end an essay is always a good idea. Say you are opening your scholarship essay with Henry the chicken. Is there a way for Henry to make an impactful appearance at the end of the essay to close things out in a way that perfectly wraps everything up? The key is for the essay ending to be meaningful and memorable for the reader. 

Don’t miss: Our free scholarship search tool

If you can’t think of a “wow” scholarship essay beginning, keep writing!

Sometimes, we know what we want to say, point by point, but we are not ready to be creative when it comes to opening an essay. In that case, keep writing! There is always the option of going back and crafting an engaging opening after your essay is written. Simply write your main idea where the first paragraph would be to guide you as you write. After, go back when your creative juices are flowing, and craft the amazing opening (and closing) that your scholarship essay deserves!

Final thoughts

As shown, there are many questions that we as readers will have after reading an engaging essay opening such as the one just shared; We want to learn more about the student who is writing this essay. After all, as a writer trying to stand out in a pile of essays, that is our main goal. 

We hope that you have a better understanding of how to start a scholarship essay so you can maximize your chances of winning scholarships!

Additional resources

Scholarships360 is the go-to for all things college admissions and scholarships! Wondering how to write a 250 word essay and how to write a 500 word essay ? Curious how to write an essay about yourself ? Wow, do we have the resources to help! Additionally, check out our free scholarship search tool to help you finance your college education. Best of luck to you and your future endeavors! 

Key Takeaways

• The first sentence of the essay is what makes the reader want to continue reading 
• Engage the reader by appealing to the senses
• Create a sense of wonder in your essay, making the reader want to learn more about you
• Keep the ending of the essay in mind as you craft the beginning

Frequently asked questions about how to start a scholarship essay

What is an essay hook, how long should my scholarship essay be, scholarships360 recommended.

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How to Get a Psychology Scholarship

The field of psychology addresses complex issues relating to human behavior cognition, biology, and social development. College students who choose to study in the field of psychology have the opportunity of specializing in a broad range of careers. One of the major obstacles these students face, however, is paying for college. Psychology scholarships are a great way for students in strong academic standing to ease this financial burden.

A scholarship fund can substantially cover a good portion of your tuition, books, and other college fees. In this article, you can find a list of psychology scholarships for high school students and college students who demonstrate academic excellence. These can help you choose the right scholarship award for your psychology major. You’ll also find common scholarship requirements and tips for how to get a psychology scholarship.

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What is a psychology scholarship.

A psychology scholarship is a type of financial aid for psychology students, including high school students, to cover their tuition and college fees. Psychology scholarship awards are given to candidates who meet the eligibility requirements such as financial need, academic achievement, career interests, and community involvement.    

According to NCES, the average tuition cost for four-year public schools was $9,400 and $36,700 for four-year private non-profit institutions in the 2019 to 2020 academic year. The cost of attending college can be a hindrance to students from low-income families who wish to further their education. This is especially true for those getting a degree in psychology as most psych students will often continue into a master’s or doctoral program, too.

Common Psychology Scholarship Requirements

• GPA Requirement. Most scholarships for psychology students require applicants to be in impressive academic standing. Academic excellence is one of the most popular requirements for psychology students, especially if the award will fund a research program. In most cases, eligible students need to meet a minimum grade point average of 3.0.
• Degree or Career Interest Requirement. You may come across restrictions for psychology students with specific career interests such as mental illness, addictions, and psychotherapy. Some scholarships are also aimed at students wanting to practice clinical psychology. Check if the scholarship you’re considering applying to accepts high school seniors, undergraduate psychology majors, or masters and doctoral students pursuing a graduate degree in psychology.
• FAFSA Requirement. Most colleges and universities encourage incoming freshmen to submit FAFSA applications as soon as they are accepted into the psychology department to increase their chances of being considered for financial aid programs. Many external scholarship providers request FAFSA information from scholarship applicants before considering them.
• Online Application Requirement. Just about every scholarship application process is done online nowadays and, in most cases, you’ll be given a strict application deadline. Applicants who fail to meet the deadline for applications are usually not considered. In the online application, you’ll need to provide details about your class standing, social background, work, and educational experiences, as well as a copy of your current transcripts.
• Additional Requirement. Students may need to provide proof of their US nationality and residency, gender, and connection to specific social or ethnic minority groups. An official transcript, resume, personal statement, and letter of recommendation from an academic advisor are often also required. In addition, an applicant may be required to be a full-time student to fulfill eligibility requirements.

How to Find Psychology Scholarships

Finding the right scholarship is easier now than ever thanks to certain resources for psychology students. With the right psychology scholarship, you’ll be closer to achieving your future career plans. Below are some of the best ways to find a scholarship for students interested in careers in psychology .

Consult Your College Financial Aid Office or Faculty Advisor

If you need a scholarship, the financial aid office in your department is the best place to start. This office can help you find and apply for scholarship awards. Alternatively, you can consult your faculty advisor who can help you review scholarship offers based on your current academic performance and future involvement to suit your specific financial needs. You can also check directly with the head of the psychology department.

Become a Student Affiliate for a Psychology Organization

Joining professional organizations is a good way to find psychology scholarships. Organizations such as the American Psychological Association, Association of Psychological Science, Psi Chi, and the National Association of School Psychologists provide annual scholarships, mentorships, professional certification training, and financial support to members at various levels. In addition, professional associations can offer a great learning experience.

Use Scholarship Search Engines

Scholarship search engines can narrow down the search pool. Popular scholarship search engines such as CollegeScholarships.org, Cappex, and Scholly enable you to lower the number of research hours you spend finding scholarships you may be eligible for by offering scholarship matching services. A scholarship search tool can increase your chances of landing scholarship awards and prevent you from falling for scholarship scams.

Tips to Find Psychology Scholarships for High School Students

Get involved with community activities aligned with your career interests.

Getting involved with the communities and platforms that directly relate to your prospective major and career interests can greatly boost your chances of earning scholarships while also creating a positive impact on the world. Real-world experience automatically makes you attractive to scholarship committees and makes it easier for you to draft a compelling personal essay. Your school may even have a psychology club that you can join.

Build Your Grade Point Average

Having a high GPA boosts your chances of securing academic scholarships. Merit-based scholarships often come with strict GPA requirements for their scholarship applicants. As much as possible, try to be in the top 30 percent of your class if you want to apply for scholarships at the college level. You should also take advanced courses to make your school transcript more attractive to reviewers.

Talk to Your School Counselor

As a high school senior prepping for college, your school counselor can help you find scholarships you’re eligible for to help pay for your psychology degree. They can also provide you with constructive feedback on your personal essay and can write or recommend a source for your letter of recommendation. They can even help you pick the right AP courses to take in high school.

10 Best Psychology Scholarships in 2022: Overview

Top 10 Psychology Scholarships: In Detail

1. apf graduate student scholarships.

• Awarded by: American Psychological Foundation
• Deadline: June 30, 2022

The American Psychological Foundation is a major dispenser of psychology scholarship awards in the United States. The Graduate Student Scholarships are designed to aid graduate students with funds for their doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis research. The application requirements include a letter of recommendation, a resume, and a brief outline of the research project.

2. AITCOY Undergraduate Scholarship

• Awarded by: AITCOY Organisation
• Deadline: May 20, 2022

The AITCOY Undergraduate Scholarship is for high school seniors who have or will secure admission into accredited four-year colleges for undergraduate studies in psychology, social work, counseling, sociology, and youth recreation or prevention. Eligibility criteria include being a B student at minimum, as well as an Illinois resident with the ability to demonstrate strong leadership qualities.

3. AITCOY Graduate Scholarship

• Deadline: September 16, 2022

This graduate scholarship is reserved for college students in approved master’s degree programs. Interested candidates should be interested in pursuing careers in social work, counseling, psychology, family therapy, and youth prevention or recreation. You should have prior experience with social services involving youth and also need to be an Illinois resident.

4. CBCF Louis Stokes Health Scholars Program

• Awarded by: United Health Foundation
• Deadline: April 30, 2022

The CBCF Louis Stokes Health Scholars Program is for African-Americans students pursuing a career in the healthcare field. To apply, you need a minimum GPA of 3.0 and need to be active in your community. Other requirements include a personal statement, transcript, resume, and letters of recommendation.

5. Future Counselors of America Scholarship

• Awarded by: DatingAdvice.com

The Future Counselors of America Scholarship was introduced to encourage an undergraduate or graduate student with an impressive academic achievement background to pursue a career in relationship counseling or field related to it. Applicants should submit a 500 to 900-word essay to the official website addressing the issues in online dating.

6. Michael Moody Fitness Scholarship

• Awarded by: Michael Moody Fitness
• Deadline: August 1, 2022

The Michael Moody Fitness Scholarship is for outstanding students who’ve participated actively in school functions and part-time jobs, and are interested in careers in health and fitness. Applicants must be attending accredited colleges and universities. They must be US citizens or residents and should have achieved academic success and an impressive GPA.

7. Psi Chi Undergraduate Scholarship

• Awarded by: The International Honor Society in Psychology
• Deadline: June 27, 2022

The International Honor Society in Psychology provides annual scholarships for eight undergraduate psychology students to help cover the cost of their education. To qualify for this award, you need to be a member of Psi Chi at your college or university and provide your resume, financial information, and academic transcript, as well as a personal and financial need essay.

8. Psi Chi Graduate Scholarship

• Deadline: July 4, 2022

Graduate students who are members of Psi Chi are also eligible to participate in the Psi Chi Graduate Scholarship. Eight psychology graduate students are awarded $3,000 to fund their educational needs. Application materials include a resume, financial information, transcript, financial aid award letter, essays, and a letter of recommendation.

9. Psychology Matters No-Essay Scholarship

• Awarded by: wiseGEEK
• Deadline: April 16, 2022

If you’re a psychology student who’s looking for a casual scholarship to support your college fund, the Psychology Matters No-Essay Scholarship is the right fit for you. This scholarship was launched by wiseGEEK to help prospective and current psychology students cover their tuition or start their loan repayment. To get started, all you need is to submit an online application form.

10. Sharon Stephens Brehm Undergraduate Psychology Scholarship

• Deadline: July 1, 2022

This scholarship was initiated to provide financial aid for psychology majors. Seven psychology degree scholarships of $5,000 awards are available to applicants who must be enrolled in college by the Fall of 2022. Winners will receive the funding by the 2023 spring semester. Students need to apply with their resume, personal essay, FAFSA record, and letter of recommendation.

Should I Apply for a Psychology Scholarship?

Yes, you should apply for a psychology scholarship. A psychology scholarship can help fund your psychology degree with which you can access several lucrative careers in a variety of medical fields. Psychologists earn a median pay of $82,180 per year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Scholarships can be an opportunity for students to evaluate their real-world competence and secure mentorships and internships. Receiving a scholarship award from a top organization can help you boost your professional standing.

Psychology Scholarships FAQ

Yes, psychology is a STEM major. It cuts across core disciplines in science and technology. Psychologists are also scientists, testing hypotheses and contributing their discoveries from research to the scientific field. It is not, however, a pure science discipline, as it draws from social science disciplines such as philosophy, economics, and education.

Yes, psychology is a popular pre-med major for college students who wish to enroll in medical school. Some medical schools give more preference to an applicant with a psychology undergraduate degree. Students who wish to specialize in fields like neuroscience, psychiatry, and behavioral medicine will find a psychology degree useful in their medical career pursuit.

Yes, psychology is a good career. This field of study allows you to understand the human mind and communication patterns. It is considered by many to be a rewarding and engaging career. You’ll find it easy to secure job opportunities and earn a high income with a career in psychology .

Yes, there are fully funded psychology master’s programs. However, securing full funding for your psychology graduate program can be challenging. In fact, most scholarships in this field are very competitive due to the large applicant pool and even then, scholarships that cover full college tuition are few and far in between. Federal student loans are one of the main ways students can pay for their tuition.

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10 Winning Scholarship Essay Examples From Real Students

Make your application shine.

Writing a scholarship essay can be intimidating. The competition is fierce and the stakes are high, so students are bound to feel the pressure. It may be helpful, therefore, to look at essays that were successful. What did those students do to impress the committee? These scholarship essay examples will give you a better idea of how to make an application shine! 

Tips for Writing a Scholarship Essay

We’ve put together a whole guide for how to write a scholarship essay , so if you haven’t read it already, definitely give it a look! In addition, here are some quick tips to help students get started. 

Carefully read the rules

The last thing you need is to be disqualified from winning a scholarship because you didn’t do the right thing. 

Start early

Don’t wait until the last minute to start researching and applying for scholarships. Give yourself plenty of time to work through the process. 

Get to know the provider

Think of the scholarship provider as your target audience. You want to tailor your essay to impress them, so do your research. What kinds of candidates are they looking for? What causes do they support? Dig deep for the information you need!

Think about who you are, what you want to say, and how to appeal to the scholarship committee. Write everything down and then choose the best ideas. 

The scholarship committee will be reviewing many applications. How can you make yours unforgettable? Highlight your strongest assets, share hard lessons if they showcase your growth as a person and/or student, and be honest. Never lie in a scholarship essay!

Be professional

Consider this the most important academic paper you’ve ever written. Don’t use slang or casual language. Submit a properly formatted essay that’s been well-edited and proofread by multiple people.

One last tip

Don’t reuse scholarship essays! Yes, it’s time-consuming, but students need to put the same effort into every application. Use the same process and it will get faster and easier every time!

Scholarship Essay Examples

Afc visionary scholarship essay by nicole kuznetsov.

Award Amount: $5,000

Essay prompt: Why do you want to go to college? Why is it important to you?

Why it was successful: The  beauty of this essay is that it’s well-organized and simple. Nicole Kuznetsov chose to outline her story by using chronology and provided a clean, concise story following a linear path.

North Coast Section Foundation Scholarship Essay by Christine Fung

Award Amount: $1,000

Why it was successful: Christine Fung masterfully shared how her upbringing instilled strong values, a love for education, and a passion for medicine .

The Bill Browning Scholarship Essay by Gabby DeMott

Award Amount: $10,000

Essay prompt: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Why it was successful: Gabby DeMott shared her experiences with personal growth and overcoming fears in Germany. She also appealed to the very human feeling of wanting to belong in a way that was inspiring. 

Life Happens Scholarship Essay by Emily Trader

Award Amount: $15,000

Essay prompt: How has the death of a parent or guardian impacted your life financially and emotionally? Be sure to describe how the loss of your parent/guardian impacted your college plans, and explain how the lack of adequate (or any) life insurance coverage has impacted your family’s financial situation.

Why it was successful: Emily Trader fully addressed the prompt in honest, beautiful detail. She knew her audience and tailored her essay to appeal to them while telling her compelling story. 

Change a Life Foundation Scholarship Essay by Isabella Mendez-Figueroa

Essay prompt: Please explain how your experience volunteering and participating in community service has shaped your perspective on humanity. Elaborate on how these experiences have influenced your future ambitions and career choice.

Why it was successful: Isabella Mendez-Figueroa shared an empowering story about her parents overcoming financial adversity so that she and her sister could be the first in their family to go to college. 

Giva Scholarship Essay by Joseph Lee

Essay prompt: Who is (or what makes) a good doctor?

Why it was successful: Joseph Lee offered a captivating , personal story that was essentially a list of things that make someone a good doctor without it feeling boring or calculated. 

New York University College of Arts and Science Scholarship by Ana

Award amount: $39,500 

Essay prompt: Explain something that made a big impact in your life.

Why it was successful: Ana discussed how early experiences w ith learning difficult things has contributed to her passion for teaching and supporting students. 

The Fund for Education Abroad Rainbow Scholarship Essay  by Steven Fisher

Award amount: $7,500

Essay prompt: The Fund for Education Abroad is committed to diversifying education abroad by providing funding to students who are typically under-represented in study abroad. Please describe how you and/or your plans for study abroad could be viewed as under-represented.

Why it was successful: Steven Fisher’s powerful essay   connected his realizations about his own sexual identity with embracing the beautiful diversity found all around the world. 

Women’s World Banking Founder’s Scholarship Essay by Rosaisha Ozoria

Essay prompt: Write about your hopes for the future of women and girls worldwide.

Why it was successful: Rosaisha Ozoria   focused on a very specific topic , financial literacy for Hispanic women, and emphasized its importance and relevance to her own life. 

The Millennium Gates Last Dollar Scholarship Essay by Famyrah Lafortune

Award amount: $3,500

Essay prompt: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela Describe a change you would like to make in the world. Tell us about how you would plan to make that change, and what obstacles you might encounter along the way.

Why it was successful: Famyrah Lafortune starts with a strong statement about ending racial inequality and then details the steps she’ll take to make it happen. 

Do you have any great scholarship essay examples? Share them below!

Plus, check out  the ultimate guide to college scholarships, want more suggestions be sure to subscribe to our newsletters ..

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Why I Study Psychology (10 Essays)

Why I Study Psychology  is a collection of short essays. Each student explains their motivation for choosing psychology.

Psychology students are often motivated by personal experiences and a wish for healthier, happier communities. The essays demonstrate the value from having a vision for your career – whether it’s detailed or “big picture” – before you start a psychology degree. Having a long-term goal in mind offers a reliable source of study motivation.

Why I Chose Psychology Essays

As part of a national essay competition, current and future psychology students were asked to explain their study motivation. Each student describes in 250 words or less (a) why I chose psychology as a major and (b) how I’m motivated to succeed at psychology studies. The best, most inspiring essays are published here.

1. Motivation

We all know that there will almost always be something to do that sounds much more appealing than our studies, so why do we study if there is something better? Motivation, that’s why. Everyone has their own motivating factor that keeps them in line with studying. Mine is pretty general and that is my future.

I have dreams of becoming a psychologist and helping people throughout my life. I also have a huge passion for American Sign Language. I plan to merge these two goals into one for my future career. I don’t want to be just any psychologist, I want to be a psychologist that is open to Deaf people and hearing people alike.  I want Deaf people to feel comfortable coming to me without the need of a third person interpreter who is usually a stranger . Many Deaf people feel uncomfortable visiting a psychologist because of the need for a third person. I plan to make a step towards breaking that barrier by being able to sign or speak with any patient who comes to me.

With all these huge goals I know that I have to be very on top of studies and make sure I continue to stay on track and do my best. All of these reasons put together make up my ideal future and therefore my motivation to study.

~ Hannah Reis, Palomar College

Related: Human Psychology: Study of Mind and Behavior

2. My Dream

We live in a world filled with hurt and suffering, and a place that is not equal for all. My dream is to leverage my unique set of skills, abilities, privileges, resources, and knowledge in a way that increases equality and privilege for all (not just people with white skin). I am pursuing a degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology which combines psychology and business.

I feel most alive when I am volunteering with my family at The Christian Children’s Home of Ohio (CCHO) which is a non-profit orphanage for children. I love working with the children there, and it hurts my heart when I see them being forced to leave once they are eighteen without any further aid or support. Consequently, after gaining work experience in applying psychology principles to the business world, I intend to establish a non-profit organization . This entity will support young adults from foster care or orphanages, providing them with essential skills and emotional support as they transition to adulthood. Once they have turned eighteen the government will no longer provide very much aid to them; I want to supply them with the additional skills and services that they need to make it in the real world, and give them the emotional support that they may not have.

One of the main services I want to provide them is taking them to do mission work because the best way to grow as a person and gain perspective is through service and travel. When college gets hard, I hold on tight to this dream because I know my studies will help me achieve this dream.

~ Alyssa Powers, The University of Akron

Related: Different Fields of Psychology Study

3. A Catalyst for Change

The incredible transformation I have experienced through the power of therapeutic relationships motivates me to immerse myself in my studies and move closer towards my goal of becoming a psychologist. Recognizing how the quality of my own life has been profoundly enhanced by self-reflection, the invaluable lesson of how to learn from suffering, and coming to a deeper understanding of who I am, encourages me to try and be a catalyst for this kind of change in other’s lives. I’m motivated to empower people to feel confident enough in who they are that they don’t feel the need to bring others down.

When life as a student feels exceptionally challenging, I remind myself of the impact that the work I wish to practice has on people’s lives and those around them. I strongly believe large scale change happens on the individual level first, and if we want to see a world where we value the earth and all the people living on it, we have to do the work with ourselves first.  I want to help people in their transformation towards becoming more unconditionally loving, tolerant, and compassionate people . I think when people are more comfortable with, and accepting of, who they are, they are consequently kinder and more loving towards those around them. Encouraging this kind of growth first on an individual level, and ultimately on a global level, motivates me to not only get through, but thrive within my program.

~ Hannah Freund, California Institute of Integral Studies

Related: What Does a Psychologist Do?

4. Reshaping Mental Health

People who are given psychiatric diagnoses experience some of the worst prejudice and discrimination. They are more likely to be the victims of violence, have a harder time securing jobs and housing, and constantly come face-to-face with the harmful stereotypes that state that these individuals are violent and unpredictable. As such, much research needs to be done to understand the cause of such distress, as well as to develop effective interventions and achieve healthy minds.

Our current mental health paradigm, which views distress as primarily biological and best treated medically, has unfortunately increased stigma and disability rates related to mental health. I was one of the fortunate few who was able to pursue a college degree despite being given a severe diagnosis and a hopeless prognosis. However, I know that much of my success has been due to luck and privilege, and  the opportunities that I have been afforded are an exception, not a rule. I am striving to change that.

It is my hope that, through increased research and advocacy, society can come to understand that extreme distress is often a message about something that is wrong in a person’s world, and as such, is profoundly meaningful and can be understood. Furthermore, by understanding the psychosocial origins of distress – trauma, poverty, inequality, etc. – we can refocus upstream and create policies that protect against these stressors in the first place.

~ name withheld, Mount Holyoke College

Related: Is Psychology a STEM Major? Science vs Social Science

5. C’s Get Degrees

It is said that “C’s get degrees”, but that isn’t enough for me. C’s show an average amount of work, an average amount of time, an average amount of effort. “Average” is not something that I want to be known as. I want to be known as the girl who kept moving forward, went above and beyond, and never looked back. My driving force is making my family proud and reaching my ultimate goal—becoming a school psychologist.

I am the very first in my family to attend college. Every time the topic of school or my future is mentioned, I can see on their faces that they are overwhelmed with pride. When I received my Associate’s degree, seeing my grandpa cry made me realize how special my academic journey is to them. They have given up so much and have supported me in every way, making them proud is the very least I could do in return.

Becoming a school psychologist has been my dream career since I was in middle school.  The thought of being able to connect and help a child grow both academically and socially is the greatest reward I could ever receive . Every time I am procrastinating typing a paper, not studying when I know I should have, or wanting to give up on a difficult problem, I think about my end goal. Making a difference to even just one child will make all of school worth it.

~ Haleigh Cordeiro, California Polytechnic State University

Related: How Long Does It Take to Get a Psychology Degree?

6. Find Your Unconscious

Psychologists have discovered reasons, stages, and correlations among our biopsychosocial make-up. Over the centuries, they have managed to explain why humans experience what occurs in everyday life. They provide answers when we have questions about ourselves; it is for this reason that I strive to major in psychology.

I believe that I can make people in my environment, as well as myself, healthier by providing some sense of clarity whenever life situations become foggy. My dream is to someday become a successful industrial-psychologist. Why not a clinical psychologist, you might ask? While working one-on-one with individuals who are struggling would definitely be rewarding, I believe I can have a greater impact by helping larger groups . This dream of mine to become an industrial-psychologist would allow me to make the environment of common day people the most comfortable and enjoyable one.

Through the study of psychology, I will be able to know what qualities are the most necessary to enrich the daily lives of people and ensure that I apply them to my work. What drives me? The fact that I have seen psychologists help my family make sense of one of the most difficult things that we have gone through. Psychologists helped my sister facing anorexia nervosa deal with her disorder and helped my family become a strong support system to aid my sister’s recuperation. I want to know that I can help other people, psychology will open the doors to this dream of mine.

~ Iridian, Cal State University of Long Beach

Related: Clinical Psychologist

7. My Dream

Over 22 million children in the United States do not live with their biological mother and father and reside with their grandparents. This means that 3 percent of children living in America face the same situation as me. My father and mother were teenagers when they had me, so raising a baby girl was a difficult task for them. Neither of my parents went to college either, so having me took a toll on their lives. For the both of them, college was an opportunity to better their education and be successful, but with me, that would have been harder for them. Living with my grandparents was the best option for me.

I am currently experiencing teenage life and I can understand why raising a child, when you are only a child yourself, is a daunting responsibility. I commend my parents for choosing to provide a better life for me, actively shielding me from adversity and their own struggles.  When I enter college, my goal is not just to pass my classes, it is to make something of myself . I know my parents would want that for me.

My dream is to work up to my doctorate and become a psychiatrist, fulfilling every opportunity and experience that comes my way. Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung once said “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become”, and through my hardship, I choose to overcome and prepare for my destiny.

~ Nina Grizzle

Related: How to Become a Psychologist

8. Art Therapy

My love for psychology began my junior year when I took the AP course. What was supposed to be a schedule-filling elective credit accidentally grew into a genuine fascination.  I found myself going above and beyond the curriculum purely out of curiosity . My interest in what we were discussing in class every day would often send me down long, thought-provoking paths that motivated me to hunt down explanations to the answers of questions I didn’t know I had. But once I had the answers, they seemed to be demanding further explanation, and I was always more than happy to oblige.

With my future education in this field, I aim to innovate art therapy techniques that directly aid individuals with mental disorders and cognitive declines. I feel that experimenting with the effects that art has on people’s brain chemistry will open up a new type of therapy that can be clinically prescribed. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 52.9 million adults in the United States suffer from mental illnesses. This new form of therapy could possibly improve the mental state of the millions of people impacted while inspiring the creation of art.

~ Taylor Himes, University of Texas San Antonio

Related: Psychology Symbol Ψ (Psi or Trident): Greek Text and Images

9. If You Put Your Mind To It

For as long as I can remember, I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world. I knew that the first step was to attend an accredited university, and that university happens to be Michigan State. I went into college with the dream of becoming a doctor, however, I had a change of heart.

At the beginning of my freshmen year, the unthinkable happened. My dad committed suicide. My world came crashing down. It was a complete shock. My dad always kept all his feelings masked. I never knew what he was going through, and everyday I regret not paying closer attention. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about him. If only I had known. I could’ve done something. That experience then motivated me to change my major to psychology.

I’ve always wanted to make a difference, and now I know exactly how to achieve that dream. I aim to support those enduring what my dad went through.  I want to be there for them, to help them overcome their inner demons. I want to let them know that their lives are worth living.  Losing a family member to suicide is one of the most detrimental events that anyone can ever endure, and if I can one day prevent someone from experiencing that, then I would have accomplished my goal; I will make a difference.

~ Kayla Harper, Michigan State University

Related: Is Psychology a Hard Major?

10. Motivated by God to Help Others

I’ve heard from so many different people how difficult college can be. Late nights, big tests, difficult and early classes, that doesn’t even sound like fun. The only thing that keeps me moving towards college is the idea of being able to help other people when I graduate.

In December of 2016 I travelled halfway around the world to the Philippines. While I was there I met 15 wonderful children with horrible backgrounds. The love these children missed out on for so many years is heartbreaking. My future goal is to study Psychology and Religion at Liberty University.

The dream that keeps me motivated to go back to school is the chance to help many , not just children, but anyone who needs a listening ear and a voice to discuss their problems. People need more people to care and who want to listen. If people would feel the love that God made for them this world would be a much better place.

~ Trinity Rake, Liberty University

Related: Difference Between Counselling and Psychology

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Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations for the 2024 global essay prize are now closed. we are pleased to report that this year we have accepted registrations from  34,823 contestants. if you registered on or before the registration deadline (31 may) we look forward to receiving your essay (submit  here)   by the submission deadline of  sunday, 30 june ..

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition.

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). 

The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.

The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself. 

Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.

Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of the deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.  To submit your essay, click here .  

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

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An scholarship essay examples on psychology is a prosaic composition of a small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously not claiming a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.

Some signs of psychology scholarship essay:

• the presence of a specific topic or question. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems in biology, by definition, cannot be performed in the genre of psychology scholarship essay topic.
• The scholarship essay expresses individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue, in this case, on psychology and does not knowingly pretend to a definitive or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.
• As a rule, an essay suggests a new, subjectively colored word about something, such a work may have a philosophical, historical, biographical, journalistic, literary, critical, popular scientific or purely fiction character.
• in the content of an scholarship essay samples on psychology , first of all, the author’s personality is assessed - his worldview, thoughts and feelings.

The goal of an scholarship essay in psychology is to develop such skills as independent creative thinking and writing out your own thoughts.

Writing an scholarship essay is extremely useful, because it allows the author to learn to clearly and correctly formulate thoughts, structure information, use basic concepts, highlight causal relationships, illustrate experience with relevant examples, and substantiate his conclusions.

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TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

This annual competition invites students to submit a video, essay, or other product that demonstrates their understanding of psychological science. The 2025 competition theme will be announced by fall 2024.

Deadline:  Spring 2025 Sponsor: TOPSS

Students are invited to create a video not longer than 3 minutes that demonstrates their understanding of how a topic in psychological science has the potential to benefit their school and/or local community and improve people’s lives. The topic must be related to the content covered in the Cognition Pillar of the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula (i.e., a topic related to cognition, memory, perception, or intelligence). Up to three students will receive a $300 scholarship award each for their winning entries.

Submissions should demonstrate students’ understanding of psychology’s real-world applications and include the following:

An accurate description of a key psychological construct (e.g., theory, concept, or term) from content within the Cognition Pillar of the National Standards

Reference to at least one published research study that demonstrates how this construct has the potential to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

The research study should be highly relevant to the topic and demonstrate the potential impact of the psychological construct. The presenter should summarize critical features of the research study so that a viewer will at least understand what was being investigated, the population studied, and the study’s conclusion.

A real-world example of how broader knowledge of this construct within their school and/or local community could benefit the school and/or community and improve lives.

The student entering the contest must be the only one seen or heard in the video. The video must include a closing slide to provide at least one APA Style reference. Instructions for uploading the video through YouTube are under the submission instructions tab. 

Eligibility

Only current high school students can compete. International students are eligible to participate in the competition.

Team submissions are not eligible.

No more than five (5) entries per school will be accepted.

Please read these rules carefully. Contributions will be disqualified and not judged if they do not adhere to the rules. Please note the disclaimer below on the APA Style formatting rule.

The information must be accurate and supported by psychological theory and/or research.

All sources should be cited in APA Style (see Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition ). If a winning entry contains sources that are not cited correctly, the student will be asked to fix their entry before the prize is awarded. 

• Students are encouraged to visit the APA Style topic page for instructions on reference formatting . 
• This APA Style topic page shares basic principles of reference list examples .
• This APA Style topic page shares reference examples .

The research study(ies) should be described in your own words and should demonstrate your understanding of the main findings of any study that you cite. Direct quotations are discouraged.

Each submission should include one reference slide at the end of the video.

Submitted videos are limited to 3 minutes maximum. This time limit includes the amount of time the reference slide appears on screen. Any video over 3 minutes long will be disqualified.

No media, video, or music is permitted. No emojis or other clip art are allowed. Text for closed captioning, to accompany the dialogue, and/or on a PowerPoint slide or slide deck is allowed.

All entries must be student-produced. All dialogue, video, production, and editing must be an original production.

Contest entrant must operate all equipment, including all editing equipment used in the production of the presentation. Contest entrant can borrow equipment from others (e.g., a friend’s cell phone or school video camera); however, the student should operate technology used.

Contest entrant must provide the narration, voice-over, and/or dramatization.

Only the contestant should appear or be heard in the video.

By submitting your video to the contest, you grant APA a non-exclusive right to use, promote, or display your video as it relates to this project at the sole discretion of APA.

APA will not be held responsible for any costs, claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses arising out of or generally related to this submission.

All contest entrants must read and approve of the terms, conditions, and rules of the contest per the submission form. If a contest entrant is under 18, their parent or legal guardian must also read, approve of, and sign the terms, conditions, and rules of the contest per the submission form.

Videos must be posted to YouTube. See submission instructions tab for details.

Contest entrant must work with a teacher prior to submitting the entry to ensure the submitted content follows competition guidelines and rules. Entrants are required to confirm teacher oversight when submitting their entry.

Entries must be submitted by March 1, 2024.

Tips to consider

The judges will look for evidence that you understand the psychology concepts and research you are citing and can explain them in your own words.

Be sure to convey your excitement and enthusiasm for your subject.

Practice your presentation to make sure you can cover all the key points in 3 minutes.

Speak clearly.

Please contact Emily Leary Chesnes if you have any questions.

Students should submit their video by midnight (ET) on March 1, 2024. Submission instructions are provided below.

Submit your video

Submission instructions:

Videos must be posted to YouTube. Entrants must comply with YouTube’s terms of service. A link to the video must be submitted via the submission database. The following YouTube instructions are required:

Create a YouTube account if needed and upload your video.

While uploading, tag your video with the following keyword: APA TOPSS 2024 Contest. To tag a video, you’ll see a “Tags” section below the upload progress bar where you can add your tags. To add tags to an existing video, visit the Video Manager and click the Edit button below the video for which you’d like to add formatting tags.

When uploading to YouTube, choose “unlisted” from the dropdown menu (rather than public). Once uploaded, edit the title. The end of title should include brackets [APA TOPSS 2024 Contest student last name] – e.g. Motivating Students [APA TOPSS 2024 Contest Smith.] Go to the Advanced Settings tab and follow these three steps:

Uncheck “allow comments.”

Uncheck “users can view ratings for this video.”

Choose “Education” for category.

Check the box to declare that the video is not for children.

Press publish when upload is complete

Copy the video URL (link) and include it in your submission per the database linked above

Judging criteria

Conveys a strong understanding of the critical psychological construct that is the presentation’s focus. (20 points)

Demonstrates a strong understanding of a highly relevant research study. (20 points)

Includes a strong and compelling example of how broader knowledge of the construct within their school and/or local community could benefit the school and/or community and improve lives. Conveys the example’s importance in a powerful and impactful way. (20 points)

The central message is compelling (precisely stated, appropriately repeated, memorable, and strongly supported). (20 points)

Organizational pattern (specific introduction and conclusion, sequenced material within the body, and transitions) is clearly and consistently observable, skillful, and makes the presentation’s content cohesive. (10 points)

Delivery techniques (articulation, pace, volume, vocal expressiveness) make the presentation compelling, and the speaker appears prepared and knowledgeable. (10 points)

Scoring Rubric

2024 TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

The APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) is pleased to announce the winners for the 2024 APA TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students. Each winner received a $300 scholarship award.

• Clara Choi of Orange County School of the Arts (California), The War on Teenage Attention and the Switch-Cost Effect
• Chih-Syuan Lin of Kaohsiung American School (Taiwan), Bilingualism Meets Memory
• Amasha Samaraweera of Classen High School of Advanced Studies at Northeast (Oklahoma), Stop Vaping with Framing

In 2024, students were invited to create a video not longer than 3 minutes that demonstrated their understanding of how a topic in psychological science has the potential to benefit their school and/or local community and improve people’s lives. The topic had to be related to the content covered in the Cognition Pillar of the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula (i.e., a topic related to cognition, memory, perception, or intelligence). 

2023 TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

TOPSS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 APA TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students. Each winner received a $300 scholarship award.

• Shiloh Durrett of AP Homeschoolers in Kitanning, Pennsylvania Implicit Biases in Social Class
• Lila Raj of San Francisco University High School in San Francisco, California NIMBYism and the Minimal Group Paradigm
• Jiting Xiao of Redmond High School in Redmond, Washington. A Foot in the Door Saves Lives

In 2023, students were invited to create a video not longer than three minutes that demonstrates their understanding of how a topic in psychological science has the potential to benefit their school and/or local community and improve people’s lives. The topic was required to be related to content covered in the Social and Personality Pillar of the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula (i.e., a topic related to social psychology, personality, multiculturalism and gender, motivation and emotion).

2022 TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

• Xiaohe Chen of Beijing Royal School, Beijing, China  Fighting Racism in The Digital Era: A Psychological Perspective on Systemic Cyber Racism and Possible Solutions (PDF, 148KB)
• Crystal Li of Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, Maryland Psychology and Climate: Behavioral and Cognitive Origins of Climate Change (PDF, 2MB)
• Lisa Zhang of St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano, CA Anti-Asian Hate in America: Exploring a Psychological Aspect of Human Thought, Behavior, and a Solution (PDF, 128KB)

Students were asked to write an essay of up to 1,500 words to address the following five points:

• Describe a societal systemic problem of your choice, such as racism, discrimination, poverty, educational disparities, health disparities, or climate change (this list is not inclusive).
• Discuss how this problem impacts a specific group of people through personal or more general examples.
• Describe one way that the study of psychology can help you and others understand an aspect of human behavior related to this systemic problem. You must state, describe, and provide an example relating to at least one specific concept in psychology.
• Discuss one way in which the study of psychology can help you understand an aspect of human thought related to this systemic problem. You must state, describe, and provide an example relating to at least one specific concept in psychology.
• Discuss one way in which a concept in psychology can help inform a solution to this systemic problem. You must state, describe, and provide an example relating to at least one specific concept in psychology.

Students were asked to cite research from at least two peer-reviewed journal articles in their essay.

2021 TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

TOPSS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 APA TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students. Each winner received a $250 scholarship award.

• Grace Hu of Ladue Horton Watkins High School (St. Louis) Intersectionality and Resilience: A Psychological Approach to Resilience and Responses to Trauma (PDF, 134KB)
• Ivani Shantilal, Carlucci American International School of Lisbon (Sintra, Portugal) Building Resilience in Relation to Stress or Trauma (PDF, 190KB)
• Eshwar Venkataswamy, Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts) Building Resilience with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (PDF, 126KB)
• Abigail Yang, PA Homeschoolers (Kittanning, Pennsylvania) Apprehending the Concept of Resilience: A Psychological Perspective on Resilience in Daily Life (PDF, 141KB)

Students were invited to write an essay of no more than 3,000 words that addressed the topic of resilience in relation to stress or trauma. The essays described the current psychological understanding of resilience and could use recent events to support student ideas. Students could draw upon any approach to psychology that could include, but was not limited to, topics such as cognition, personality, biopsychology, and health psychology. Students discussed identifiable psychological concepts that have contributed to the definition of resilience and discussed, using identifiable psychological concepts, how resilience can be developed. Students also described ways in which applying psychological science’s understanding of resilience and the development of resilience can be made available to societies and individuals.

2020 TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

TOPSS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 APA TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students. Each winner received a $250 scholarship award.

• Richard Chen of Solon High School (Solon, Ohio) The American Political Climate: Psychological Concepts and Their Application to Politics 
• Stephanie Chung of Crean Lutheran High School (Irvine, California) A Psychological Perspective on Political Polarization and Possible Mitigating Treatments 
• Mary Goncharenko of Pine Crest School (Pompano Beach, Florida) Understanding Explaining and Reducing Intergroup Conflict in Politics 
• Teresa Padilla of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers (Kittanning, Pennsylvania) Negativity, Bias, and Misinformed Partisans in the 2016 Presidential Elections: Understanding Political Polarization 
• Roy Rao of Oaks Christian School (Thousand Oaks, California) Psychology in Politics: Inherent Biases in Polarized Views on Immigration 

Students were invited to write an essay of no more than 3,000 words that addressed the topic of psychology in politics. The essays described the role and relevance of psychology in politics by referencing peer-reviewed research that could include but was not limited to topics such as cognition, data exploration techniques, and social psychology. Students were also asked to discuss identifiable psychological concepts that can help understand political polarization and how psychological science can explain how different individuals and groups of like-minded individuals might look at identical information and draw different conclusions. Students were finally asked to describe ways in which applying psychological science to specific aspects of politics might improve the current political climate.

2019 TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students

TOPSS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 APA TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology Students. Each winner will receive a $250 award.

Samuel Hansen of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers (Kittanning, Pennsylvania) Understanding the Neurobiology of Fear Extinction through Nonhuman Animal Research

Seung Bin Hong of Mountain View High School (Mountain View, California) Effects of OPRM1 and OPRD1 Genes on Delay Discounting Impulsivity a Study of Impulsivity in Mice

Joseph Petchauer of Pennsylvania Homeschoolers (Kittanning, Pennsylvania) Psychology’s Living Research: The Past, Present, and Future of Animal Studies

Aman Singh of Central Peel Secondary School (Mississauga, ON, CN) Placebo-Induced Treatment for the Chronic Mild Stress Animal Model of Depression

Students were invited to write an essay of no more than 3,000 words that addresses the topic of research with non-human animals in psychology. The essay was to describe the role and relevance of nonhuman animal research in psychology, by referencing peer-reviewed research with non-human animals. Students were to describe a hypothetical study that complies with and references non-human animal research guidelines. The essay was to address the implications of not conducting psychological research with non-human animals.

Contact Information

Teachers and students should contact Emily Leary Chesnes at (202) 572-3013 with any questions.

APA Style Resources

• APA Style blog
• Style and grammar topic pages
• APA Style on Twitter
• APA Style on Facebook
• APA Style on Instagram

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Psychology by Deanna

Deannaof Nampa's entry into Varsity Tutor's August 2017 scholarship contest

Psychology by Deanna - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

As a college professor with the ability to teach any class of my choosing, I would choose to teach psychology. Psychology is the study of the human brain and its functions which I find very interesting. Last year I went through a hard time and started to see a psychologist for my anxiety issues. During theses sessions my psychologist taught me many different things about the human brain and why things happen. For example, he taught me that anxiety is something we create in our head. I believe that psychology is a great subject and that everyone should be educated on the way the brain functions. Being educated on the way our brain works along with certain conditions will allow people to become more connected with each other. In this field you can learn about eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and many other conditions that people may have. Psychology teaches people how to predict and understand the behavior of other individuals in certain situations. Learning about the human brain allows for people to be more considerate for other people and what they might be going through. If I had the choice of any subject to teach students it would be psychology because I believe people need to be educated on disorders people may have.

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Copyright, 2023

Psyched Out: Why I Chose Psychology

July 22, 2024, melissa ruiz.

It’s always been you. But  why ?

Throughout my years at Princeton and even before then, people have asked me why I chose psychology as my major. I wish I had a perfect response that would provide some clarity, but the only thing I can say is: it just felt  right .

I’d like to preface my journey to choosing a major by saying it was in no way conventional. When I was in high school, I racked my brain trying to figure out what I should major in. My dad wanted me to major in architecture, which I wasn’t totally opposed to. I was really leaning towards a major in English or Creative Writing. I always loved reading and writing but didn’t see myself making a career out of it because I wrote for fun and wanted it to stay that way. One day in biology class, someone mentioned they were going to major in psychology and I don’t know how, but it felt right for me too.

One thing to know about me is that once I decide on something, I stick to it. So I took a deep dive into the field of psychology, not really knowing what I was looking for, but I loved how I could do anything with it. Psychology is one of those majors that can be applied to most fields. I could go to medical school, work in advertising, or even continue with a life filled with research. I loved what seemed like endless possibilities, and while I was deciding on one thing now, I knew I would have multiple options to choose from later on.

Coming to Princeton, I wouldn’t say I was close-minded to other majors, but the more I learned about psychology, the more I fell in love. My first psychology course was Cognitive Psychology with Professor Tania Lombrozo . This course remains one of the best lecture courses I have taken at Princeton; it was so engaging and sparked my curiosity. I was one of two freshmen in this course, and while it was challenging, it solidified that I had made the right choice.

I can’t say I didn’t explore my options. I thought I might be interested in philosophy, so I took an Ancient Philosophy course. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a meeting of the minds when I read the ideas of Aristotle and Socrates. Then, I thought anthropology could be something interesting, so I took “Empire of Debts,” an amazing course taught by Prof. Julia Elyachar . While I loved the course, I had a strong preference for the discussions over the dense readings. Even though some psychology courses can have dense readings, I find myself enjoying them. A few honorable mentions are “Zen Buddhism” (a religion course), “African American Studies and the Philosophy of Race” (an African American Studies course), and “American Television” (an English course). Most people find general education requirement courses annoying but I loved all of the ones I took, even if they weren’t going to be what I chose to study.

So, when sophomore spring came and I had to choose my major, it was an easy choice. Every step was both exciting and nerve-wracking. Finding my junior paper advisor, joining a lab, submitting my junior paper abroad – all of these things weren’t easy, but I was happy doing them. Even now, my last summer at Princeton, it was an easy choice to work on my thesis research. I had the support of my advisor, the support from the Office of Undergraduate Research ( OUR ), and my own volition to create something special. Now, I’m working on a longitudinal project that I created with my lab titled “First Year Narratives,” where we recruit First-Generation Low-Income (FGLI) students across different institutions in NJ. In the midst of creating flyers, sending emails and preparing survey items, I find myself so happy with the choice I made.

This blog honestly could’ve been pages long with all the reasons I chose psychology, from fMRI studies to the amazing courses I have taken. When choosing your major, there are so many ways you can come to a decision. But I hope at the end of the day, you  love it.

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'un verano chévere' in medellín, colombia, studying my special interest: my journey to declaring african american studies, under construction.

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Even the best student loans and other financial aid items don't always provide enough to cover all the costs of college. Scholarships are a great way to bridge the gap, with no obligation to repay the money. Finding scholarships you qualify for can be difficult. But there are several great scholarship websites that can help you do it.

Keep in mind, however, that many colleges deduct private scholarships from the amount of gift aid they provide, reducing how much "free money" you can get from the school. That would effectively negate the work you did in seeking out and applying for private scholarships. Therefore, you should consider looking at schools that offer merit-based scholarships or provide generous packages to students with financial need.

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Collegeboard, scholarshipowl, compare the best scholarship websites.

We've rounded up the best scholarship websites for students looking to save on the cost of college, with an emphasis on those that provide a wide breadth of opportunities. Most of the sites are free to use. Some offer basic features at no cost, with an option to pay for additional functionality. 

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Our experts for the best scholarship websites.

We consulted scholarship and financial experts to give their insights into finding the best scholarship websites — and when to avoid them altogether.

• Christopher Rim, founder and CEO at Command Education
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Best Scholarship Websites FAQs

There isn't a singular website that's the best to apply for scholarships. Instead, consider scholarships.com, Fastweb, Bold.org, Peterson's, College Board, Scholly, GoingMerry, Scholarship Owl, and ProFellow.

Do your due diligence when looking to apply for scholarships you find on aggregation websites. Confirm that the scholarship's sponsor is legitimate by looking at reviews of the company, and check its Better Business Bureau grade, if available. 

Most private scholarships won't completely cover the cost of your education. You're better off looking for merit scholarships from individual colleges that cover your costs completely or filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)  to see if you're eligible for a need-based full ride. 

Generally speaking, you shouldn't pay someone to search for scholarships for you, though there are exceptions to every rule. Many scholarship websites are free to use. They only "cost" the time you spend searching on them. 

The timing on when you should start filling out applications for scholarships varies depending on the specific scholarship you're applying for. Some scholarships are even available to high school students, so it's never too early to start your search.

The GPA requirement varies from scholarship to scholarship, but the lowest GPA is usually around 2.0. In general, you'll have a better chance of success with a higher GPA. 

Some of the most common scholarship types include academic scholarships, athletic scholarships, identity-based scholarships, and first-generation student scholarships.

Our Experts' Advice for Choosing the Best Scholarship Websites

What are the advantages of private scholarships versus scholarships or grants from schools.

Neeta Vallab: 

"Honestly, there are very limited advantages to using private scholarships over grants directly from schools. Unlike private scholarships, most grants from schools do not require a separate application and are renewable for four years. Additionally, many colleges will deduct the value of a private scholarship from any award they give you. This is called 'displacement.' And because this practice is so prevalent, it often leaves students with no net financial benefit, despite the effort they invested in submitting an application."

Jennifer Ledwith:

"Unlike scholarships from schools, private scholarships can be used at multiple universities. Furthermore, unlike grants from schools, private scholarships don't have to follow federal or institutional financial aid methodology. Consequently, students can receive private scholarships without regard to other financial aid awards. Furthermore, some private scholarships send the money directly to the student, allowing greater flexibility in using the funds."

Should you always consider scholarships before loans? Are there any scenarios you should pick a loan?

Christopher Rim: 

"No, you should never pick a loan over a scholarship! You always have to pay back loans. Students should bear in mind that they may have their scholarship rescinded if they don't meet the terms and conditions. They should be absolutely sure to read the terms of their scholarship thoroughly to understand the possible consequences if they fail to meet the set conditions."

Ryan Wangman:

"You'll need to repay the money you borrow from any lender, so it's never a good idea to choose a loan over a scholarship, which is money you don't have to pay back. There aren't any scenarios I can think of where it is better to pick a loan than a scholarship. 

How do you know what scholarships you're qualified for?

Rim : 

"Many websites will allow students to filter through their databases to find scholarships they are eligible for. Others ask students to create a profile and then match them based on demographic information. Once students find the scholarships on databases, they should be sure to cross check eligibility requirements on the sponsoring organization's website."

Vallab : 

"Private scholarships will usually have a qualifications section in their description. Some colleges may publish a scholarship grid showing the GPA and test scores required for certain levels of eligibility. Not all merit scholarship information is published however."

What's the best way to track what scholarships you've applied for and are waiting to hear back from?

"Students should keep a spreadsheet to track their scholarship application status."

"Like Jennifer mentioned, a spreadsheet is usually the best way to track application status. Make sure you note how far along you are in each process, as well as any awards you have received — both private and from the schools you've been accepted to.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards .

Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.

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“A Bold Mind” Psychology No-Essay Scholarship

Psychology is a critical field that helps countless people better understand themselves every year. 

In addition to being able to directly help others, psychologists also benefit from the stability of the field and the high compensation. With a median wage of $81,040 per year and an expected growth of 8% between 2020 and 2030, psychology is a wonderful field for bright students to enter. 

Psychology is a great career field for students with a deep sense of curiosity about human behavior and the mind.

This scholarship seeks to support students who are passionate about psychology so they can afford to pursue their education.

Any student who is pursuing psychology may apply for this exclusive no-essay scholarship!

Winners and Finalists

Explore All Kinds of Scholarships for All Kinds of Students

The application deadline is Jun 1, 2023. Winners will be announced on Jun 30, 2023.

Your privacy is a top priority on the Bold.org platform, and you can find our privacy policy in full here . You may opt out of communications from Bold.org at any time, and unless we’ve first notified you and gotten your consent, you’ll never receive communication from any third parties related to personal information you give us.

Award amounts per winner are designated by the donor. Check the award amount for a detailed breakdown.

The winner will be publicly announced on Jun 30, 2023. Prior to the announcement date, we may contact finalists with additional questions about their application. We will work with donors to review all applications according to the scholarship criteria. Winners will be chosen based on the merit of their application.

Award checks will be sent to the financial aid office of the winner's academic institution or future academic institution in their name to be applied to their tuition, and in the name of their institution (depending on the school's requirements). If the award is for a qualified educational non-tuition expense, we will work with the winner directly to distribute the award and make sure it goes towards qualified expenses.

Before we award the scholarship, the winner will be required to confirm their academic enrollment status. Depending on the circumstances, verification of Student ID and/or their most recent transcript will be required.

If you have any questions about this scholarship or the Bold.org platform, just email [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

Yes. The terms and conditions for this scholarship can be found here .

A French army patrol checking the papers of the local Arab population during the Algerian war of independence, December 1960. Photo by Nicolas Tikhomiroff/Magnum

Decolonising psychology

At times complicit in racism and oppression, psychology has also been a fertile ground for radical and liberatory thought.

by Rami Gabriel   + BIO

In recent years, psychology has come under attack as a racist tool of Western thought. No one can deny that it has been used to stigmatise, categorise, infantilise, manipulate and transform our ways of seeing ourselves, each other and even the very function of civilisation. But the study of the mind has simultaneously been a part of the story of anticolonialism and liberation, a potent tool for overcoming delusion and confusion in the face of oppression and assault.

When the Delphic oracle urged the supplicant to ‘Know thyself’, what exactly was to be gained by knowing? Presumably, he was to be liberated from delusion through the capacity to clearly understand his own motives, fears and aspirations. For Socrates, it was the method of dialogue with another person that allowed one to know oneself, while for Epictetus, an acknowledgement of the forces outside one’s control was crucial to knowing. Knowledge of thyself is always embedded in a context. A decolonial psychology becomes possible with awareness that subjectivity is embedded in history and hierarchy.

What happens when the context one lives under is colonial oppression? The modern form of knowing thyself that we call psychology has served as a source of resistance by allowing individuals to forge their own identities within their lived context. In the middle of the 20th century, psychoanalysis served as a language for structuring, theorising and articulating the inner landscape. After the Second World War, when colonial declensions of land and people in Africa and the Middle East bore the strange fruit of new nations, psychodynamic theory offered the potential of analysing the nature of personal and collective trauma through liberatory discourse.

This year, a report from the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis (APsA) indicates that ‘the “social”’ is deeply embedded in the psyche, and ‘an essential focus for psychoanalytic thought and practice’. The implication is that, in this world of displaced peoples, psychologists must tend to the consequences of history. What’s more, psychology provides a format for self-knowledge through which individuals can articulate their experiences and derive explanations for their sense of dislocation.

In the modern world, we use the language of psychology to manage and assess concepts of agency, mastery and power. Psychology can provide the capacity to critique power, and express suffering and frustration in the face of oppressive economic forces the individual must survive. In recent years, a powerful interest among psychologists in the ‘decolonisation of psychology’ itself aims to isolate and eradicate the epistemic violence caused when Western models of society eclipse and obfuscate local cultural notions of ethics and identity.

The development of an inner landscape through which an individual can know herself constitutes what I like to call the ‘liberatory potential’ of psychology – the potential of psychology to liberate us from oppression. From the proliferation of analysts in Buenos Aires to the work of remarkable individuals in Martinique, India, Egypt and Ghana, psychology has provided a language rich enough to alleviate suffering, buttress the sense of agency and provide tools for discourse. To know oneself in the postcolonial moment of the 20th century and beyond, to achieve true liberatory knowledge, is to conceive an intersubjective space in which one can forensically analyse the consequences of subjugation in our behaviours and thought patterns, and understand them in the context of the wider world.

T he great American scholar W E B Du Bois was a student of the psychologist William James at Harvard from 1888-90. This foundation in psychology was subsequently extended during a research fellowship with social scientists in Germany and led to the development of the notion of double consciousness in Du Bois’s book The Souls of Black Folk (1903).

Double consciousness identifies the psychological splitting in perspective that Black Americans often engage in as a response to the misrecognition and alienation of racism. Du Bois remarked that Black Americans have a bifurcated sense of identity in which they simultaneously experience themselves not only as thinking subjects but also as stigmatised, Black bodies. As dramatised by Richard Wright in Native Son (1940) and Ralph Ellison in The Invisible Man (1952), double consciousness is the basis of the imposter syndrome . This self-doubt of intellect and capacities that high-achieving people report derives from the continuous sense of misrecognition they experience through the imposition of double consciousness. The constant siege on one’s dignity creates ruptures in the subjective sense of agency. For seminal thinkers in Africana philosophy, psychological concepts such as double consciousness and imposter syndrome provided a helpful language with which to consider how the emotional lacerations of unequal relations transform cognition and behaviour.

During the mid-20th century, the Martinican psychologist Frantz Fanon (1925-61) drew concepts like double consciousness and stigma from psychology to articulate the neuroses created by the prevalent racist equation of evil and threat with Black skin. He resisted the obfuscations and dehumanisation that came with colonisation and, seeking clarity, paired psychological modes of analysis with the imperatives of humanism and existentialism.

The sense of inferiority for subjugated peoples led to feelings of psychic oppression and alienation

In French-colonised Algeria, Fanon observed the racist practices and beliefs that separated natives from their colonisers through sets of rules, proscriptions and duties. Those lines ultimately had the psychological effect of denying personhood to individuals, causing so much stigma that people came to demonstrate symptoms of alienation and dislocation.

Fanon drew from Sigmund Freud’s notions of repression and mourning and melancholy to understand and analyse the consequences of colonial imposition of racial hierarchy. Similarly, he drew from Alfred Adler’s concept of the inferiority complex to analyse how the sense of inferiority for subjugated peoples led to feelings of psychic oppression and alienation. Fanon aimed to delineate the psychic trauma of racism towards the goal of replacing inferiority with pride. Infusing an archaeology of the toxic socialisation of negroes in the colonies and the metropole into these psychological concepts, intellectuals like Fanon were able to articulate strategies for dissolving oppressive socialisation. Many overlook the fact that Freud himself developed psychoanalysis in the context of his own drive to attain self-knowledge as a minority Moravian Jew in the Catholic Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Psychology can pinpoint the cause, or source, of pathology in the individual, or out in the social environment. This flexibility is one of the reasons it is such an effective form of resistance and liberation. Fanon’s use of psychoanalysis merged with the politicisation of psychology in Algeria during the overthrow of the French colonial administration, starting in 1954. In his position at the psychiatric hospital at Blida-Joinville, he developed techniques to give patients back a sense of agency and remove subtle forms of stigma by modifying the relationship between doctor and patient. He used psychology as a tool for revolutionary critique by tracing the causes of suffering to the structures of colonialism. This approach, which emphasised that pathology arises from the internalisation of relations between people and groups, was effectively an affective politics of resistance. The articulation of pain, alienation and fury were cathartic rejections of oppressive power relations, which were determined by the historical situation – knowledge of thyself is indeed always embedded in a context.

The use of psychology in Fanon’s political analysis and practice was a means to strengthen the sense of agency as knowledge of the inner psychic landscape. Fanon took principles of psychoanalysis like the inferiority complex beyond the psychiatric ward to address how the colonised mind suffers from continuous oppression that estranges the individual from her identity and cultural values. Fanon clarified the intimate psychological causality of this harsh reality to make the connection between the tools of oppression of subjectivity – including dehumanisation through consistent subjugation of will, economic opportunity and territorial segregation – and the Algerian revolutionary struggle for recognition and liberty under French colonial rule. Modern psychiatry affirms that people displaced through exile or civil unrest tend to experience hypervigilance and anxiety as the relational consequences of losing their homes.

P art of the process of colonialism is the importation of narratives that legitimise hierarchies imposed through military and economic force. In India, the Bengali psychoanalyst Girindrasekhar Bose (1887-1953) resisted this epistemic violence by creating a unique amalgam of Advaita Vedanta and psychoanalysis. His leadership of the first and longest-running department of psychology in India at the University of Calcutta and as president of the Indian Psychoanalytical Association underline the significance of his accomplishment. The late Alfred Hiltebeitel, Columbian professor of religion at George Washington University, described how Bose’s interpolations of psychodynamic theory into ancient Vedic texts, like the Upanishads, delivered rich psychological formats to consider ethics and order. Bose’s accomplishment was to maintain local cultural conceptions of the self, the mind and salvation, while incorporating the modern, technical language of psychoanalysis.

In contrast to Freud’s atheism, Bose was a Bihari Vedantist who considered religion a useful palliative. The devotional needs embodied in Vedanta and Mimamsa dogma and practice served as the motivating condition for Bose’s liberatory use of psychology. Ultimately, he discovered profound alignments between the introspective methodology of psychoanalysis and the tenets of Hindu philosophy, including ancient Vedic rituals. As a result, he responded to the imposition of colonial narratives of progress, value and hierarchy, in which Hindu philosophical systems were backward and outdated, by integrating psychodynamic theory into Vedic metaphysics in a way that maintained and strengthened local knowledge practices. In particular, Bose was able to demonstrate that psychoanalysis itself could be framed in the older and more accomplished palliative technologies of Vedanta and yogic practices. Bose deftly navigated differences between Western materialist metaphysics and Hindu notions of nondualism, karma and kāma (desire or wish), and provides us with an example of how psychology inspires synthetic revolutionary possibilities for the postcolonial subject.

Bose and Fanon both resisted the racist narratives of their British and French colonisers by using psychology to develop and maintain more familiar cultural narratives lacking those racist preconceptions of value and legitimacy.

T he emergence of modern Egypt provides yet one more example of psychology’s powerful potential to bridge gaps. In mid-century Cairo, popular and academic psychology occupied a position between biological traditions like medicine on the one hand, and prescriptive traditions such as the law on the other. Psychology thus could be applied in institutions within the modernising state. Indeed, the Free Officers who backed Gamal Abdel Nasser attended lectures on psychoanalysis and integrated this information into their organisational plans for the state.

Meanwhile, a circle of intellectuals in Cairo crafted a radical synthesis of Freudian theory and mystical Islam that resisted burgeoning religious fundamentalism on the one hand and blind devotion to Western modernity on the other. Yusuf Mourad’s circle of intellectuals admired the humanist values of the Enlightenment but were also invested in a radical rejection of European colonialism. They developed concepts that perpetuated the collectivist core of Egyptian society by asserting how the self is socialised by family, community and the state. To bridge the gap between the old way and the new, psychology was aligned with the native resources embedded in mystical Islam; used that way, it was a handy tool.

The ethical programme of Islam was fused with modern psychological texts addressing mental health

For instance, psychoanalysis provided a way to analyse psychosexual development in scientific language that was not ethically forbidden. It was similarly used to adapt the 12th-century Persian philosopher Al-Ghazali’s notion of instinct ( ghariza ) into a Darwinian context. This space of liberal subjectivity was often otherwise censored by religious elites.

In The Arabic Freud (2017), the historian Omnia El Shakry describes how Cairene intellectuals like Mourad used psychology as a systematic liberatory language with which to unite introspection, positivism and phenomenology with Islam. These intellectuals synthesised psychoanalysis and the notion of intuition developed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson with prior traditions of spiritual insight and gnosis in Sufist Islam by emphasising continuities. Proto-psychologists like Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1240) provided Sufi concepts that thinkers like Abu al-Wafa al-Ghunaymi al-Taftazani (1930-94) used to integrate the notion of the unconscious as a reclusive element of the mind with the Sufi concept of batin (the hidden). The ethical programme of Islam, which emphasised the tareeq (way, road) of the Sufi traveller as a battle between the development of understanding and the base instincts of man, was fused with modern psychological texts addressing mental health.

This kind of psychodynamic framing provided people with the discursive tools not only to understand their own motivations, but also to craft frameworks by which to navigate ethical matters. The use of psychology in both India and Egypt demonstrates that psychology is a flexible language that allowed intellectuals to creatively devise a sense of subjectivity that synthesises native and imported knowledge practices so as to adaptively cope in the postcolonial condition.

T he anthropologist M J Field pursued a similar line in employing ethnopsychiatry to study local culture in Ghana during the midcentury. Field’s thorough analysis of widespread belief in magic and animistic religion as a form of psychology cast local beliefs on the same plane as ideas being imported from the West. In short, the language of psychology could mediate between alternative systems of belief in a way that did not deny or delegitimise local knowledge practices. If the colonial project is to replace and, eventually, to erase, then psychology can prohibit the dehumanisation of native cultures by rendering commonalities in the human condition. For better or worse, that is why its pronouncements carry moral consequences.

The unique form of West African colonialism that Field analysed included Methodist and Presbyterian cosmologies, tribal identity and local practices. The main traditional religion of Ghana is Akan, which centres around a supreme deity, though there are many variations and subgroups, such as Fanti, Ashanti and Akuapem. These subgroups serve as the basis of communitarian, collectivist identities that persist throughout the country through marriage bonds, economic collectives and social hierarchies across the various power centres of respective groups. Akan religion has been combined with Christianity since the earlier waves of European colonialists starting in the 15th and 16th centuries, though it also remains a distinct set of cultural practices in certain communities.

In her classic text Search for Security (1960), Field describes how traditional psychology based on individualist Judeo-Christian traditions was altered in the context of Akan cosmology. As in many Biblical narratives, rural Ghanaians insist on the prevalence of spirit possessions wherein the possessed individual emits prophesy. Here, magic and medicinal rituals are enacted through the mediation of the suman (a talisman or charm). The ritual she studied is the psychological practice by which individuals act out their guilt. Field writes:

[W]itchcraft meets … the depressive’s need to steep herself in irrational self-reproach and to denounce herself as unspeakably wicked.

Field describes how a belief system that relies upon witchcraft and employs concepts like kra (soul) and sunsum (mind, spirit) to explain psychiatric disturbances constituted a form of psychology whose function was to shape an individual’s inner landscape as well as to provide a language with which one may testify to their community.

Psychology provides an intersubjective mirror for social interaction across cultures and value systems

Witchcraft seeks goals similar to those of psychology: to alleviate suffering and manage the trauma and stigma an individual experiences in their local context. Yet, the presumed universalism of colonial enterprises often serves to obfuscate the historical and experiential fact that local traditions create drastically distinct inhabited worlds. Akan practice can be portrayed as witchcraft for the purposes of psychological purging, but it has other uses for identity, emotional coping and metaphysical practices that involve mystical states of mind in distinct cosmological systems. It is the historical crafting of identity in the context of metaphysical concepts such as the complicated strands of Akan, Christian and animist practices that make up an individual’s way of life. That is to say, psychology as a way to know oneself cannot be extricated from the complex living cultures of the day.

This brings up the motivation behind decolonial psychology: that the human sciences are necessarily a colonial imposition because they were created by Western intellectual society. This is a powerful interpretation, yet psychology is flexible and can be adapted to the opposite end. Psychology might be used to colonise the way we think of our minds and bodies, but it can equally be employed as a language to decolonise from these impositions.

By addressing the colonial nature of the human sciences, the psychologists Paul Parin, Goldy Parin-Matthèy and Fritz Morgenthaler combined ethnographic methods and psychoanalysis to explore transcultural relations between self and society. Their extensive interviews and consultations in Mali in the 1950s led to ethnopsychoanalysis, a new way of assessing how social practices, especially concerning sexual mores and the anxieties they produce, shape ego identity. For example, they theorised how so-called sexual perversions of adolescent polygamy served as creative solutions to psychological difficulties arising in early development. Morgenthaler was led by this work to consider how the deeply intersubjective nature of the mind required mutual knowing, or complementarity, to engender emotional healing. This suggests a model for healing through a sophisticated, shared language with which to understand, analyse and communicate our shared culture and inner lives.

Psychology provides an intersubjective mirror for social interaction across cultures and value systems. Such intersubjectivities allow for the development of morality, ethics and understanding. In their application, these mirrors create space for consideration of the irreducibility of the human experience.

As a set of therapeutic practices, psychology can restructure subjectivity in a political context because its practices align individuals through shared values. We observed this in the work of Frantz Fanon, Girindrasekhar Bose, M J Field and Yusuf Mourad. For them, psychology shapes the potential of agency for the political subject; this is the wellspring of the current movement to decolonise psychology.

During the tumult of the 20th century, individuals were scattered across the globe. Employing shared symbols and methods, psychology was used to minister to the travails of dislocated peoples. In this regard, it helped satisfy the human drive for sense and purpose by providing techniques to promote agency and mastery. Indeed, the unique human capacity for reflection means that knowledge is a form of power. What psychology provides is the language for exercising that power and then liberating the oppressed by uncovering for individuals the context within which they exist.

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Global Learning Hub

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