Top Scholarships That Don’t Require a GPA in 2025
In case someone hasn’t reminded you recently, GPAs aren’t the only eye-grabber on an application, whether that may be a college, internship, or scholarship application.
Instead of wondering how your GPA may compare to other applicants’ or if the person reading your application will have some sympathy towards your tough semester (we’ve all been there), why not forgo noting the GPA altogether?
A scholarship can be prestigious, financially valuable, and well worth your time—without requiring a specific GPA. NSHSS wants students to know that there is an abundance of scholarships centered-around your passion, skill set, and your story.
Whether you’re looking to avoid noting your GPA altogether or if you’re intrigued by the uniqueness of these judging standards, here are 10 scholarships without a GPA requirement. Five of them are NSHSS’s very own incredible scholarships (we’re probably a little biased), and five are great opportunities hosted outside of our organization.
1. NSHSS 18 Under 18 Award
Open to NSHSS members under the age of 18, this scholarship awards eighteen 1,000 awards and is set on encouraging influential young leaders who “inspire positive change and world betterment.”
The main hallmark of this application is submitting a 30-second to 3-minute video. Here, you’ll have the chance to share a personal story that exhibits your drive for contributing to your community, your leadership style, and unique solutions to worldwide or local problems.
2. NSHSS Hometown Hero Scholarship 2025
This scholarship is committed to rewarding outstanding students for their engagement and community service with three $1,000 awards. To apply for this scholarship, you must be an NSHSS member and a high school or undergraduate student.
The scholarship winners are primarily decided by their submission of a 500–800-word essay explaining their service to their community and the impact of their efforts and personal leadership.
3. NSHSS Activism and Advocacy Scholarship 2025
This GPA-free scholarship is a great fit for students who are passionate about advocacy. In 500-800 words, students share what they advocate for, why, and how.
This scholarship awards three winners and awards $1,000 prizes to each. Applicable candidates are NSHSS members graduating high school in 2025, 2026, 2027, or 2028.
4. NSHSS James W. Lewis High School Global Leader 2025
This scholarship awards three winners with a $5,000 reward. Highschool NSHSS members graduating in 2025, 20256, 2027, or 2028 are welcome to apply.
This scholarship celebrates Mr. Lewis, co-founder of NSHSS, by recognizing students who embody values like diversity, inclusion, global awareness, leadership, innovation, and a commitment to creating educational opportunities for all.
This scholarship application requests a 500-800 essay in response to one of Mr. Lewis’ guiding philosophies.
5. NSHSS Student Athlete Scholarship 2025
While there are many additional NSHSS scholarships without a GPA requirement (which you can find here), one closing opportunity to note is the Student Athlete Scholarship.
The creation of the scholarship is a testament to NSHSS’s belief that remarkable student achievements also happen outside of a traditional classroom setting. Would you rather capitalize off your winning soccer streak than your GPA? If yes, this might be a great fit for you.
To apply for the scholarship, you must be a NSHSS high school member graduating in 2025, 2026, 2027, or 2028; the application consists of a short essay asking you to speak on your passion for your sport and the benefits and challenges of balancing athletics and academic work.
6. Duck Brand Stuck at Prom Scholarship
Learning about this scholarship absolutely thrilled my inner child. I’m beyond happy to see that creativity still has a key spot on the podium.
The “application”, so to speak, is to create a prom dress or suit entirely made from Duck Brand Duct Tape and/or Duck Brand Crafting Tape, wear it to prom and document wearing the outfit, and then submit an image online through the company’s application system.
This scholarship (without a GPA requirement, as you might have figured) is for all artistic and creative folk, awarding $15,000 to the winner of the prom dress category, $15,000 to the winner of the Tux category, and additional prize money to multiple runners ups and judges’ choice award recipients.
7. Unigo 10k Scholarship
This scholarship should perk up the ears of our creative writers.
Win $10,000 by answering a (seemingly) simple question in 250 words or less… would you rather be smart, funny, or rich? Why?
To apply, applicants must be US students, citizens, and residents and be over the age of 14.
8. Digital Responsibility Scholarships
With a mission to share the personal and public consequences of technology, Digital Responsibility offers $1,000 scholarships for the winners of four prompts on digital responsibility. Applicants can prepare their answers through the site’s linked resources.
The scholarships are essays focused on are digital privacy, the dangers of texting and driving, technology addiction awareness, and e-waste.
These four scholarships cleverly encourage students to think about their technology usage in a more serious light and rewards them for taking time to learn about risks of inappropriate uses of electronics.
9. Ted & Holly Rollins Scholarship
The Rollins Scholarship honors Ted and Holly’s vision “to give deserving high school seniors a helping hand toward their college tuition.”
The couple has a special appreciation for hardworking students that go the extra mile, regardless of what obstacles they may face. The application does not require a submission of a GPA, perhaps testifying to the truth that GPA isn’t a direct indicator of a student’s drive, work ethic, or intelligence.
This biannual scholarship opportunity is open to high school seniors and offers a grand prize of $5,000. The author of the most “compelling” story will receive the scholarship. Their mission page notes that a compelling story can include “their life story, their intended field of study or career, and how they will make an impact on the world.”
10. IvyPanda’s Annual Students’ Presentation Crafting Scholarship
One final scholarship without a GPA requirement is Ivy Panda’s Annual scholarship for talented writers and presentation crafters. The two winners will each be given $1,000 and a runner-up will receive $500.
Ivy Panda welcomes high school and college students across the world to apply.
For the 2025 scholarship entry, applicants had to create a presentation with 4-6 visually appealing slides answering one of three prompts including explaining their school’s wholistic struggles, their personal motivation for studying, or creatively comparing their school to a sitcom or TV show.
These are just 10 of an incredible plethora of scholarships without a GPA requirement.
While I hope these opportunities pique your interest and lead to your submissions, I also hope that merely seeing this bright list of creative, innovative scholarship opportunities is an encouragement that your value- to your current school, next academic step, future employer- is not merely defined by a GPA.