Scholarships by intended major

Professional associations fund students entering their fields, and the pools are small enough that the odds bear no resemblance to national scholarship competitions.

Nearly every established profession has an association with a scholarship arm—engineering societies, nursing and health organisations, accounting bodies, agricultural groups, bar foundations, arts councils. They fund students because they want a pipeline, which makes their motivation durable and their money recurring.

The applicant pools are the point. A national award open to every high schooler draws tens of thousands. An award restricted to students entering a specific field, sometimes a specific specialty within it, may draw a few hundred.

Search by the profession rather than the word 'scholarship'. The association's own site is where these live, and many never appear in aggregator databases at all.

Look for the sub-specialties. Broad engineering awards are competitive; awards for students entering civil engineering, or materials science, or a particular region's chapter, are far less so, and the eligibility narrowing is usually just a checkbox for you.

You generally don't need certainty about your major. Most of these ask for intent, not a declaration, and changing course later doesn't retroactively invalidate an award you already received.

Check whether your intended department at your intended college has its own funds. Departmental scholarships are the least advertised money in higher education, and they're often decided by three faculty members reading a dozen applications.