The 20 Weirdest College Scholarships Ever

1. Lovers of the number five scholarship

A website called ScholarshipExperts.com hosts the Fifth Month Scholarship but doesn’t explain why it chose this odd topic – which is a clever PR move, because now everyone talks about it.

The rules are simple: The writer of the best 250-word essay on why the number 5 is so important wins. Sound weird? Check out the previous winners before attempting this yourself.

• What it’s worth: $1,500
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link 
• Deadline: May 31, 2020

2. Starfleet members

Since 1990, the SFI Scholarship has been available for members of a fan club called Starfleet International.

This is actually a series of smaller scholarships covering specific fields of study. For example, there’s the Montgomery Scott Engineering & Technology Scholarship. And the Sir Patrick Stewart Scholarship for Aspiring Writers & Artists. And the … well, you get the idea.

• What it’s worth: $1,000
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link 
• Deadline: Jan. 1 to June 15 every year

3. Zombie fans

If you can survive a zombie apocalypse, you can make college cheaper. 

All you have to do is map out your plan in no more than 250 words. Think about what you’d bring, how you’ll avoid the zombies and where you’ll hide. 

And you can’t steal ideas from The Walking Dead, since this zombie apocalypse is specific to your high school or college. 

• What it’s worth: $2,000
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link 
• Deadline: Oct. 31, 2020

4. Objectivists

With this essay contest, you can get paid for reading. 

By answering prompts on Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” posed by the Ayn Rand Institute, you be one of 59 prize money winners for that book. You can choose from one of three essay topics. For example…

“When Howard Roark refuses the Manhattan Bank Building contract he says that this is “the most selfish thing you’ve ever seen a man do.” And in his courtroom speech, he argues for selfishness and egoism and against the conventional morality of altruism. Do you think he is correct to praise selfishness and denounce altruism? Why or why not? Explain.”

If you win, don’t donate any of the money to charity. If you know your Ayn Rand, you’ll understand why that’s funny.

• What it’s worth: up to $10,000
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link
• Deadline: May 28, 2020

5. Single ladies on campus

The Alice McArver Ratchford Scholarship is awarded to one lucky girl at the University of North Carolina. She must live on-campus and not have any of the following: a car, a husband, or another scholarship.

UNC doesn’t explain who Ratchford was, and an Internet search turns up nothing. But it’s not a stretch to imagine she was lonely, housebound, and not very smart.

• What it’s worth: Based on need
• How to apply: Just fill out FAFSA 
• Deadline: March 1, 2020

6. Vacuum mechanics

“Vacuum coating processes use vacuum technology to create a sub-atmospheric pressure environment and an atomic or molecular condensable vapor source to deposit thin films and coatings.” If you know whatever that means, you could earn $5,000. 

The Society of Vacuum Coaters is looking for three engineering and physics students to give away money to. If you win, you can either use it for tuition, books and fees, or vacuum-related conferences. 

• What it’s worth: Up to $5,000
• Deadline: Dec. 5, 2019 (it’s an annual scholarship, so keep an eye out for next year)
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link

7. Tall people

The Tall Club International Scholarship requires women to be at least 5-foot-10 and men to exceed 6-foot-2. You don’t have to be a TCI member, but it’ll help your odds to get sponsored by one. Apparently, all you have to do is ask, possibly by looking them right in the eye.

• What it’s worth: $1,000
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link
• Deadline: March 1, 2020

8. Survivors of car accidents

If you’ve ever lost money after a car accident, here’s your chance to get $1,000 of it back. 

A law firm in Georgia awards money to anyone who’s suffered emotional or physical damages as a result of an accident. Just write 500 words on how you grew after the accident – and it might grow your financial aid. 

• What it’s worth: $1,000
• Deadline: Dec. 15, 2019
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

9. Funny people

Most scholarships involve you bragging about your grades or reliving childhood trauma. The Make Me Laugh Scholarship asks you to take a break from that. 

If you can make the reader laugh with a funny or embarrassing story, you’ll earn $1,500. And if your life is so boring you can’t think of one, you’re allowed to make it up. 

• What it’s worth: $1,500
• Deadline: Aug. 31, 2020
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

10. Second Amendment advocates

Perhaps the most controversial scholarship on this list. The National Rifle Association offers an annual Youth Essay Contest – for not only high-schoolers but also middle-schoolers and elementary students who answer the question, “What Does The Second Amendment Mean to You?” According to NRA rules, kindergartners are eligible.

• What it’s worth: up to $1,000
• Deadline:  Dec. 31, 2019
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

11. Anybody named Zolp

In 1977, a Catholic reverend named William A. Zolp died in Colorado. His will endowed the Zolp Scholarship, which offers free tuition to any Catholic student attending Loyola University in Chicago and who was born with the last name of Zolp.

Weirdly, Loyola officials said they “don’t know why the scholarship was established” – Zolp never attended Loyola.

On the off chance multiple Zolps apply during a single year, “scholarship amounts will vary.” But the Tribune says only three have ever won it.

• What it’s worth: Depends
• Deadline: March 1, 2020
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

12. Musical theater nerds

The Broadway hit Hamilton started with one song – and this $25,000 musical theatre scholarship might motivate you to start your first song. 

Disney and another theatrical production company are teaming up for a Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge. Its goal? To give you $25,000 and the chance to professionally record your song in New York City. On top of that, you’ll have your song broadcast on national radio and have it published in a songbook by Samuel French. 

Just make sure your song doesn’t go over five minutes.  

• What it’s worth: $25,000
• Deadline: TBA
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

13. Duck tape wearers

The Duck Tape Stuck At Prom contest awards an insane amount of cash for the most insane prom outfits made entirely out of Duck Tape – a particular brand of duct tape that’s sold in an array of colors and patterns. That offers lots of room for creativity, if not for allowing your skin to breathe. Check out the past winners for both inspiration and perspiration.

Entries are judged on “workmanship, originality, use of colors, accessories, and use of Duck Brand Duct Tape.” You also need photographic proof that you indeed wore your tape outfit to your prom. No shame, no game.

• What it’s worth: $10,000
• Deadline: TBA
• How to apply: Go here for more details

14. Bowlers

This scholarship will grant you $500 for bowling consistently and really wanting to meet somebody. Eileen’s Bowling Buddy Scholarship was named after Florida bowling coach Rex Byron, who led a company that handmade training tools for bowling. 

According to the Bowl4Life Scholarship Foundation site, “He wished for coaches to have the tools they required to coach properly.” Now, high schoolers can have some of the tools they need to afford college. 

• What it’s worth: $500
• Deadline: Dec. 14. 2019
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

15. J.D. Salinger fans

Ursinus College is a small liberal arts college outside Philadelphia. Its claim to fame is that Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger took classes there. If you win the Ursinus College Creative Writing Award, not only do you win five figures, but you “have the honor of living in the dorm room once occupied by J.D. Salinger.”

You can submit fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction or “some combination of genres.” Unlike other scholarships that focus on high grades, you can have a B average and win. By the way, Salinger never graduated from Ursinus, but the school says, “we like to think that if his genius had been recognized with an award like this, he might have.

• What it’s worth: $40,000
• Deadline: Jan. 1, 2020
• How to apply: Go here for application details and application link

16. Vegetarians

Vegetarians’ first priority might be saving animals, but saving money is probably a close second. They can do both with a scholarship from the Vegetarian Resource Group.  

If you’ve promoted vegetarianism enough in high school, and plan to keep doing so in college, you can earn $10,000 or $5,000. 

• What it’s worth: $10,000
• Deadline: Feb. 20, 2020
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

17. Ice carvers

This won’t help you pay for college, but it might get your ice carving career off the ground.

An Ohio-based ice carving tools company has been giving away $1,000 worth of equipment since 2011. Mail some photos of the works you’ve done to Ohio, and you might get a quality toolkit back. This opportunity is only available to college students. 

• What it’s worth: $1,000
• Deadline: March 1, 2020
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

18. Fire sprinkler fans

The founders of the American Fire Sprinkler Association Scholarship believe this: “Automatic fire sprinklers save lives and property. We cannot say it enough.” They believe it so strongly, their scholarship is simple:

Take a 10-question multiple-choice test. This is an open-book test, and you may print the essay beforehand for reference during testing. For each question answered incorrectly, you will be given one more chance at the end of the exam to answer those questions correctly.

If you ace the test – and really, you’re just lazy if you can’t – then you’re entered into a drawing with multiple winners.

• What it’s worth: $20,000
• Deadline: April 1, 2020 
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link

19. Scholarship addicts

The Debt.com Scholarship For Aggressive Scholarship Applicants rewards hard work over lazy talent. Why? Because as Debt.com learned from interviewing college financial aid directors, students rarely apply for all the scholarships they could get. Seems to be a combination of laziness and fear of rejection. If you want to live a debt-free life, you can’t ever pass up free cash. Hence, this scholarship.

• What it’s worth: $500
• How to apply: Go here for more rules and application link
• Deadline: Dec. 31, 2019

20. Anyone

This is the perfect scholarship for anyone who hates applying for scholarships. The “No Essay” College Scholarship is sponsored by a review site called College Prowler, and much like the first scholarship on this twisted list, we assume it’s done for maximum publicity.

In this case, College Prowler boasts, “Scholarships don’t get any easier than this.” It’s actually more like a lottery – simply sign up and hopefully win a monthly drawing. If you don’t win, apply again next month.

• What it’s worth: $2,000
• How to apply: Go here for more details and application link
• Deadline: Dec. 31, 2019

21. Last word, final advice

Our list is far from definitive. We simply chose the weirdest scholarships with the broadest appeal. Don't believe us?

There's a $7,000 scholarship for bagpipe students who attend Carnegie Mellon, while 20 students whose relatives work for the National Dairy Herd Information Association get $750 each.

If you're searching for scholarships and feel intimidated by the competition, try applying for specific ones in your field of study. Trust us, no profession is too esoteric.

We've discovered scholarships for those who want to be cattle workers ($1,000) and potato researchers ($10,000). Do you have "a passion for convenience and fuel retailing" ($3,000) or a "demonstrated interest" in confectionery technology ($5,000)?

These are large cash awards that likely have little competition. Search around and apply.

Then there's one scholarship you can't apply for. We couldn't uncover much information about it, either.

Each year, Hiram College in Ohio awards two scholarships of an unknown amount for a combination of good deeds, good grades, and community involvement. It honors Hal Reichle, a helicopter pilot killed during the Gulf War who was known best for his charity. He would randomly mow people's lawns, paint their homes, or pay for their groceries.

To win "tuition support," you must be nominated by the Secret Society of Serendipitous Service to Hal – or SSSSH for short.

Jess Miller and Brandon Ballenger contributed to this weird report.