I intend for this post to be much smaller than my other one
I’m looking to see if it’s at all possible to start thinking about scholarships at this point in 10th grade. I’ve found that most outside scholarships for sophomores are either raffles (maybe scams), nearly impossible to get (Library of Congress sorts of things), or random essay contests (which I don’t know if I can trust). Does anyone know of some real but smaller scholarships I can go for as a 10th grader?
I have a 4.0 unweighted and have not taken the SAT/ACT yet. My extracurriculars are probably the weakest part of my profile so far- I play cello in orchestra, just joined Tri-M National Music Honor Society, intend to audition for All State the next three years, participate in my school’s literary magazine (both staff and as a contributor) and am looking to narrow down clubs (which at my school are more resume fillers than anything). My top candidates are probably a food drive club, French Club, a book club, and a club raising money for a school in the third world.
I’m very interested in education and am considering starting a peer tutoring program (which for some reason my school doesn’t have).
I don’t have any STEM extracurriculars but I do enjoy math (more so than science).
Most college scholarships are for high school seniors to apply to.
There are a small number that are for HS juniors.
I don’t know any that are for HS sophomores…it’s just sort of early for scholarship consideration. You don’t even have two years of HS grades, and have no standardized test scores.
And really…the best scholarships come directly from the colleges to which you are admitted.
You might want to start looking at colleges where your grades and SAT or ACT scores (when you have them) will give you guaranteed merit aid.
I appreciate you saying this because a lot of sites I’ve been reading have said “it’s never too early to start applying for scholarships” and I’m like “huh?” Makes my life easier, I can just focus on class and ECs and standardized test studying haha.
I’ll definitely do what you suggested when it comes to colleges- that Pre ACT score coming back in a few weeks should give me an approximate estimate of where I’ll be score-wise. Do you recommend doing this mostly for in state schools? Or just safety schools in general?
There are educational support and funding programs for the extremely gifted who also fall within their income eligibility range. Jack Kent Cooke foundation comes to mind. There are many others.
Additionally there are organizations such as POSSE and others which are dedicated to help guide youth through high school, standardized test preparation and college admissions. I believe that POSSE provides the chance for college placement with substantial financial help for the students who maintain eligibility.
Many of these programs which cater to the high school student only allow entry in the 11th grade guiding you through HS graduation, and must be applied for in the 10th grade. Some of them will have summer components.
I can reach out to you later in the week with programs that I have bookmarked (elsewhere) if you are interested.
@Waiting2exhale Thank you, I really appreciate knowing about what’s out there. I would definitely be interested in checking out any such programs. Just for reference, my family is solidly middle class, we do make more than $60k a year but less than $130 for sure.
One thing you can do is look into local scholarships for juniors and seniors and see what’s required. If it’s an essay contest, what are the prompts? Art scholarship, how many items are needed? If community service hours are required, keep track of yours now (and the names of the supervisors, phone #, address, what you did while you were there.
The best source of scholarship money comes from the colleges own budgets. And the best and most generous scholarships go to the best students.
Therefore- the single best use of your time right now is to become the very best student you can be. Spending hours and hours applying for random awards from outside organizations is not as good an investment as spending those same hours becoming YOUR best self- the very best grades, the very best scores, the strongest possible application.
I know kids who have the time and energy to write five different “why me” essays to win $500’s from this organization and $350 from another organization, but don’t have the time to rewrite a paper for the English class which might be the difference between a B and an A.
The top merit awards come from colleges to entice the kids they want to enroll. Become that kid.
Don’t worry, I will never slack off in school for a reason like this, but thank you for furthering my emerging belief that it’s better to stick with the scholarships colleges themselves offer.
