Hello,
I am a high school junior looking for scholarships
I have:
Any of this applicable to possible scholarships?
@CourtneyThurston I think there are a couple of national scholarships that juniors can apply to. Maybe CourtneyThirston can elaborate.
Most college scholarships are for HS seniors…some open quite early.
I would suggest you retake the ACT…try to get a score that exceeds 33. And you might want to try the SAT as well.
The best scholarships are found by matching your stats to schools that want you. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
The test score will need to come up to be competitive for merit scholarships at colleges, but is fine for outside scholarships (don’t rely on these!)
As far as outside scholarships go, the following are open to juniors (but some have already closed–unsure which):
Hamilton
Carson
Coolidge (FULL RIDE)
Nordstrom
QuestBridge College Prep
The time to really apply is the fall of your senior year. But it’s good to start now. The domestic abuse situation won’t really qualify you for more scholarships (as far as eligibility goes), but will be an asset to your essays.
I would suggest you start an organized search. Create a spreadsheet and begin logging scholarships you find, even if they are for seniors, log when they open/close/essay topics etc. Start developing essays, with your background you certainly have overcome some adversity. I’d take a look at Horatio Alger* - even if you can’t apply, those essay prompts are great to get you started writing. Find someone - a good writer - to help you learn to write and “show” what you have overcome, write, edit, rewrite, polish essays. Be open to constructive feedback to improve.
*Horatio Alger - under 55K income - opens in September due in mid October
https://scholars.horatioalger.org/
And yes, do test prep - even if you do it on your own with a book from the library - get those test scores up. Like it or not, a lot of the money comes from an initial screen of test scores.
One other thing - find something you are interested in and volunteer your time doing it. Many scholarships have a strong community service component.
Finally - read Col Confidential discussion forums - learn!! Research the links talking about schools with low cost, high merit aid, etc. Do the work and you will be sitting pretty a year from now, trust me on this one!
This student is a junior NOW. Seems to me that most scholarships being applied for as juniors would have deadlines that have passed.
I am pretty certain the Nordstrom one opens in June because we screwed that up last year, but when I looked it said they aren’t offering a scholarship in 2016 
So Nordstrom no longer offers a scholarship
http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/nordstrom-cares-scholarship
If a scholarship for juniors opens in JUNE…would,that be the June before the junior year starts? I would think so.