Many scholarships feature long-winded essay questions, and it’s often hard to know where to start. And maybe you just aren’t an essay writer. That doesn’t mean you should lose out on great opportunities for college scholarships. With a little digging around online, you can find great no-essay scholarships that are not only easy to apply for but often fun to do too. These quick and easy contests will have bigger applicant pools and may be harder to win, but somebody has to—and you can’t win if you don’t apply!
Check out the ones below to start and continue to do your own research to find even more no-essay scholarships that could be hiding in all corners of the internet. Before applying to anything, make sure you read all the rules and policies for each scholarship using the links provided!
Register for a website
All of these scholarships just require you to register for a website, and most of them are popular college search sites, so you can get some extra college research done while you’re there.
CollegeXpress $10,00 Scholarship Contest and Monthly Refer-a-Friend Scholarship
If you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance you already have a CollegeXpress account. Did you know that means you’re automatically entered to win our annual $10,000 scholarship? If you’re not registered, sign up now! It only takes a few minutes and it’s totally free. Once you’re done registering, be sure to tell some friends to do the same. We’ll give you a unique code to share, and for every person who uses your code to create a CollegeXpress account, you’ll gain an entry to win our $250 Refer-a-Friend monthly drawing! If you don’t win this month, there’s always another chance next month. (And you can win this one multiple times!)
Amount: $10,000; $250
Awarded: Annually; monthly
Deadline: May 1; last day of each month
Check out our $10,000 Scholarship and Refer-a-Friend Scholarship.
Cappex Easy College Money Scholarship
Monthly $1,000 scholarships? Sign us up! No, literally—just sign up and you’re entered for Cappex’s monthly giveaway. In a few short minutes, you’ll be on to your next scholarship.
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the Easy College Money Scholarship.
Encourage for Students Sweepstakes
Like everyone else, My College Options and myOptions Encourage offer a monthly scholarship that only requires registering on their website to apply. The winner will be selected randomly, and there's no minimum GPA requirement—although they do still ask you to report it.
Amount: $500
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the Encourage for Students Sweepstakes.
No Essay Smart Owl Scholarship
With Scholarship Owl, creating an account helps you apply to a lot of scholarships all with a single form. So create an account for the No Essay Smart Owl Scholarship and you won’t need to do a bunch of extra work to apply for more!
Amount: $1,000 each to four winners (six winners in December)
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the No Essay Smart Owl Scholarship.
NextStepU Free College Tuition Giveaway
Register. Register. Register. Just make sure you check the eligibility period and select the opt-in option that says “Win Free Tuition” for the sweepstakes. No essay, no minimum GPA—it's the easiest scholarship you'll apply for!
Amount: $2,500
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: End of February
Check out the NextStepU Free College Tuition Giveaway.
No Essay College Scholarship™
This scholarship from Niche has “no essay” right in the name! Admittedly, this one requires a smidge more work than just registering. But logging in monthly for a chance to win every month is a small task for the cash.
Amount: $2,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the No Essay College Scholarship™.
Christian College EDGE Scholarship & Christian College Scholarship Drawing
If you’re interested in Christian colleges and universities, do a quick registration on this website for a chance to win $1,000 and learn about great colleges that share your faith. If you end up deciding on a Christian college, for a chance to win even more money, fill out their “Christian College Connector” registration to be entered in their $5,000 giveaway.
Amount: $1,000; $5,000
Awarded: Annually (both)
Deadline: May 31 (both)
Check out the EDGE Scholarship and Christian College Scholarship Drawing.
Ascent Shining Stars Scholarship
Register on Ascent’s website to make an account, follow them on any one of their social media platforms, tag them in a comment with #AscentSponsored, and you’re done. This is a breeze because you’re probably already scrolling through social media anyway.
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: First of the month
Check out the Ascent Scholarship Sweepstakes.
Sallie Mae® $1,000 Plan for College Sweepstakes
You’re already throwing out registrations left and right. What’s one more? This one could even lead you to more scholarships because to be entered, you have to register for the Sallie Mae scholarship search tool.
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the Plan for College Sweepstakes.
Barbizon’s $100,000 College Tuition Scholarship
Barbizon Modeling and Acting awards $100,000 to one lucky winner to make their college dreams a reality. Applicants have a full two years to get entries every time the new scholarship cycle opens. The most recent cycle opened in January of 2023 and will be closing in December of 2024, with winners announced sometime the following year. All students have to do to enter is complete the application, and the winner will be chosen by random drawing.
Amount: $100,000
Awarded: Once every four years
Deadline: December 31, 2024
Check out the College Tuition Scholarship.
CampusReel Student-Led Virtual Tours Scholarship
CampusReel is all about encouraging students to get to know schools through campus tours, even if they can't make it to campus in person. Applicants just have to make a free account on CampusReel's website and watch one student-led virtual tour to enter. This easy opportunity is a win-win!
Amount: $2,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 31
Check out the CampusReel Student-Led Virtual Tours Scholarship.
keep going forward No-Essay Scholarships
The organization keepgoingforward.org offers three scholarships throughout the year with no set requirements for grade level or academic field. In fact, one of the scholarships doesn't even require applicants to be current students, as long as they are applying for the money with the intent to move forward with something new in life. And they partner with Bold.org—so if you already have an account, you're one step ahead on applying!
Amount: $1,500
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: April 28, August 31, October 30
Check out the keep going forward No-Essay Scholarships.
Use your words (but very few)
We said no essays; we never said no words. But have no fear, because these scholarships require very few words and quick answers to easy questions.
CollegeXpress Monthly Mini Scholarships
We're giving away free scholarship money every month! These scholarship contests are super easy to enter—just create a free CollegeXpress account and answer our featured question in one word or sentence. (We're talking stuff like “What’s your favorite color?” with no wrong answer!) Both new and current users are eligible—all you have to do is log back in with the specified link to enter as a returning user.
Amount: Varies
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out our latest monthly scholarship opportunity.
CollegeXpress Scholarship for Students of Color
If you're a POC student who's planning to enroll in college in the fall, you're eligible for this scholarship. To apply, all you have to do is have a CX account and submit your answer to this question in just one sentence: What is your dream career to pursue after high school? Winners are chosen randomly every quarter of the year, and you get to choose a charity to benefit as well!
Amount: $1,500, plus $500 donated to a charity of your choice
Awarded: Quarterly
Deadline: March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31
Check out the CollegeXpress Scholarship for Students of Color.
10 Words or Less Scholarship
You can swing 10 words. All you have to do is tell them why you think you deserve the scholarship in 10 words or fewer. It’s as easy as posting a Facebook comment (which is exactly how you enter). Leave a comment, give them a like on their Facebook page, and you’re in!
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: April 15
Check out the 10 Words or Less Scholarship.
School Survey Sweepstakes
Another one that requires a bit of writing, but it’s certainly no essay. You can be entered into Niche’s monthly $1,000 giveaway just by leaving them a review about your high school.
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the School Survey Sweepstakes.
HeadSetPlus.com College Scholarship
This scholarship is great because instead of writing an essay, you just get to talk about yourself. Record a short five-minute video talking about yourself, your achievements, why college is important to you, and what motivates you. As long as you’re authentic, you could be a shoo-in for this one.
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: December 31
Check out the HeadSetPlus.com College Scholarship.
Use your creativity
Are you better with visuals than you are with words? Well, these scholarships are looking for that creative energy!
Doodle for Google
This is Google we’re talking about, so you know they’ve got big bucks. Not only is this an opportunity to win $55,000 for school, but the winning doodle will be featured on Google for a day and they will donate $50,000 to your school or a charity in your honor! And even if you don’t win the big money, you still have a chance at one of the $5,000 runner-up scholarships.
Amount: Up to $55,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: March 14, 2024 (Always early-to-mid March)
Check out the Doodle for Google contest.
Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest
If doodling for Google didn’t expend all your creative juices, you can also create a greeting card. Take photographs for it. Design it with artwork. The creative medium is up to you, and the general public votes on the winner in the early rounds, so rally your friends and family to help you with this one.
Amount: $10,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: March 1, 2024 (Always beginning of March)
Check out the Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest.
DoSomething.org Easy Scholarships
DoSomething doesn’t have just one easy scholarship—they have a ton! Most of them are creative and require you to make some sort of impact on others, whether big or small. Get your task, complete it, and send in a picture for proof for a chance to be their randomly chosen winner! Then rinse and repeat for their other tasks with coordinating scholarships.
Amount: Up to $22,000
Awarded: Varies
Deadline: Varies
Check out all of DoSomething.org's easy scholarships.
Answer some questions
Sometimes websites just want people to fill out their surveys, and they’ll give you money for school just to do it. Or maybe the organization wants you to learn about something that they do. Either way, these scholarships just require answering a few questions to enter.
The $1,000 SuperCollege Scholarship
What’s easier than answering questions about yourself? Fill out an application and tell SuperCollege what you’re going to school for and other academic-related questions, hit submit, and you’re done.
Amount: $1,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out the $1,000 SuperCollege Scholarship.
Nitro Monthly Scholarship
Nitro is another college search website that gives away annual scholarships to students monthly. Just complete a short entry form with info including which college you’ll be attending and when you anticipate graduating. This application even allows parents to enter for their children. As long as you're 17 years old, you should apply to this one now!
Amount: $2,000
Awarded: Monthly
Deadline: Last day of the month
Check out Nitro's Monthly Scholarship.
Student-View Scholarship
This one skips the application process and gets right to the questions. Fill out their survey to get entered into their random drawing. The big winner gets $10,000, and if that’s not you, you could still be one of two $1,000 winners or one of five $500 winners.
Amount: Up to $10,000
Awarded: Annually
Deadline: April 23, 2024
Check out the Student-View Scholarship.
ScholarshipPoints Scholarship Giveaways
As you complete surveys, play games, and read emails from ScholarshipPoints, you’ll gain points. Use the points to enter their scholarship drawings; the more you have, the better your chances of winning. In addition to the points, you could potentially win their monthly and quarterly random winner giveaways just for being a registered user.
Amount: $10,000; $2,500
Awarded: Quarterly; monthly
Deadline: June; last day of each month
Check out the $10,000 and $2,500 scholarships.
While this may be a long list of easy no-essay scholarships, there could be even more on the internet that we didn’t find, so keep doing your research (and let us know if we missed any on Twitter @CollegeXpress). You can also check out our Ultimate List of Easy Scholarships.
Thirsty for more? Use our Scholarship Search tool to find other scholarships you’re qualified for!
