ScholarFinder — Scholarship Discovery Web Application

A full-stack web application to discover, search, and track scholarships based on major, location, and personal profile, powered by a recommendation engine and a RESTful API.

Features

• 🔍 Scholarship Search — Full-text search with filters for major, location (state), education level, award amount, and deadline
• 🤖 AI Recommendation Engine — Profile-based suggestions using NLP-style keyword matching and eligibility scoring
• 👤 User Authentication — Secure JWT-based registration and login
• 📋 Application Tracker — Track every scholarship from "Interested" to "Awarded" with status updates
• ♥ Save Scholarships — Bookmark scholarships for later review
• 🎓 Profile Management — Complete academic profile to improve recommendation quality
• 📱 Responsive UI — Mobile-friendly React frontend

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React, React Router, Axios, CSS Modules
Backend	Node.js, Express.js
Database	MongoDB (Mongoose ODM)
Auth	JWT + bcryptjs
Security	Helmet, CORS, express-rate-limit

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• MongoDB (local or MongoDB Atlas)

1. Clone and install

# Backend
cd backend
cp .env.example .env        # fill in MONGODB_URI and JWT_SECRET
npm install

# Frontend
cd ../frontend
cp .env.example .env        # set REACT_APP_API_URL if needed
npm install

2. Seed sample scholarships

cd backend
npm run seed

3. Start the servers

# Backend (port 5000)
cd backend
npm run dev

# Frontend (port 3000)
cd frontend
npm start

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

4. Run backend tests

cd backend
npm test

5. Run frontend tests

cd frontend
npm test

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	—	Register new user
POST	/api/auth/login	—	Login and receive JWT token
GET	/api/auth/me	Required	Get current user profile
PUT	/api/auth/profile	Required	Update user profile
POST	/api/auth/save-scholarship/:id	Required	Toggle save/unsave a scholarship
GET	/api/scholarships	Optional	Search/filter scholarships
GET	/api/scholarships/featured	—	Get featured scholarships
GET	/api/scholarships/:id	—	Get scholarship detail
GET	/api/applications	Required	List tracked applications
POST	/api/applications	Required	Start tracking an application
PUT	/api/applications/:id	Required	Update application status/notes
DELETE	/api/applications/:id	Required	Remove tracked application
GET	/api/recommendations	Required	Get personalized recommendations

Search Query Parameters

GET /api/scholarships?search=engineering&major=CS&state=California&educationLevel=undergraduate&minAmount=1000&maxAmount=10000&deadline=2025-01-01&sort=-createdAt

Environment Variables

Backend .env

PORT=5000
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/scholarship_finder
JWT_SECRET=your_super_secret_key
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d
NODE_ENV=development
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000

Frontend .env

REACT_APP_API_URL=http://localhost:5000/api

Project Structure

scholarship/
├── backend/
│   └── src/
│       ├── config/        # Database connection
│       ├── controllers/   # Route handlers
│       ├── middleware/    # Auth, error handling
│       ├── models/        # Mongoose schemas
│       ├── routes/        # Express routers
│       ├── services/      # Seeder
│       └── index.js       # App entry point
└── frontend/
    └── src/
        ├── components/    # Reusable UI components
        ├── context/       # React Context (Auth)
        ├── pages/         # Page components
        └── services/      # API client