Bold.org: Fighting Student Debt [In-Depth Review] - Scholarships360 (2024)

Bold.org or Bold is a scholarship platform that was founded in 2019. The premise of the Bold.org platform is simple: companies, nonprofits, and even individuals can create a custom scholarship, fellowship, or grant opportunity for students.

These opportunities can be aimed to support a variety of high-potential individuals with a broad array of interests, passions, and backgrounds. For students, this creates a pipeline of new scholarship, fellowship, and grant opportunities.

Jump ahead to:

• How does Bold.org work for students?
• What are the benefits to Bold.org?
• What are the downsides to Bold.org?
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Summary of Bold.org

Keep on reading to learn more about how you can incorporate Bold into your scholarship toolkit!

How does Bold.org work for students?

One of the best things about Bold.org is its simplicity. Students can build their personal profile to tell their story. Students will be asked about their interests, background, academic experience, and skills. Once students complete their profile, they will be able to apply to opportunities through the platform. Bold.org essentially offers students a “common application” for applying for scholarships, which can save you a ton of time.

As new scholarships are added to the Bold.org database, you will also receive recommendations that are personalized to you.

What are the benefits to Bold.org?

Bold.org offers a really easy user experience and has a modern, slick design. Most importantly, Bold offers scholarships that you will not find anywhere else. This means that all of their scholarship opportunities are unique to the site.

On top of this, Bold has created a common application for scholarships so you can apply for scholarships with your Bold profile. While some scholarships may have specific essay requirements, you can save some serious time by using your Bold profile for the rest of your application.

What are the downsides to Bold.org?

The fact that Bold.org will only match you to their own scholarships is a double-edged sword. On one hand, all of the scholarships are legit and vetted. On the other hand, you will not get matched to non-Bold.org scholarships. This means that the platform is a good tool in your scholarship toolkit, but should not be your only source of scholarships.

There are also many “easy scholarships” on Bold’s platform that don’t require an essay. These scholarships may require students to sign up for a service or perform some sort of an “action” (such as searching for student loan quotes). Like other easy scholarships the competition will be stiff for these awards because the barrier to apply is so low.

Frequently asked questions about Bold.org

What kind of scholarships are on the Bold platform?

The Bold.org scholarships tend to be quite specific, which is actually a very good thing for students. There are scholarships for students who love reading, scholarships for Native American youth, and scholarships for students who want to major in philosophy.

Unlike some other scholarship providers, the opportunities aim to support a wide array of education levels ranging from high schools students to medical students!

Is Bold.org legit?

This is one of the most common questions that students have about new scholarship websites: is this site legit or is it a scam?

Bold.org actively works with all of the people and organizations that publish scholarships on their platform, so all of the scholarships are vetted. Bold.org also promises to never share your data with third-party companies or organizations. So yes, we’d say that it is legit.

We also like that Bold.org provides transparency regarding the scholarship selection process. Here’s an example of this transparency:

They publicly share the winner, as well as the stage that they are at of the scholarship review process.

Summary of Bold.org

Bold.org is an exciting new entrant in the scholarship space. They offer a great user experience and have lots of unique scholarships on their site. While some of these scholarships are more general “easy” and “no essay” scholarships, Bold.org also features more specific awards for students with different career interests, demographic backgrounds, and other experiences.

So yes, Bold.org is a great resource in your scholarship search, but at the end of the day, a very small percent of scholarships are offered on the site. That’s why using other scholarship resources and applying for need-based financial aid through the FAFSA is so important.