<p>Hi, </p>
<p>Before I get into my question, I wanted to give a little background about myself.</p>
<p>In high school, I was an average achiever I guess. I had a 3.7 UW GPA, some B's with a C intermixed with some A's. I never had an outstanding leadership position, did a bunch of volunteer work, never won anything significant in speech & debate prior to my senior year, and was never one of those students picked out by teachers as an 'outstanding' student. </p>
<p>I was admitted to Berkeley in the Spring and have completed 1.5 years of coursework. I currently have a 3.9+ GPA, garnering a 4.0 this previous semester. I am currently a biology major. I hold a job, have had leadership roles in my extracurricular activities, and have done extensive research since the beginning of college. </p>
<p>My research experience includes a year of working in an entomology lab helping a post-doc with data processing. I spent the previous summer working in a marine invertebrate lab working on two independent projects - culminating to nearly 2.5 years of graduate-level work. I started working in a new lab this past semester where I basically work on three independent projects, all related to a larger project that a group of scientists are working on for the state government. </p>
<p>Knowing this, my question is: are there still scholarships out there for me? My parents make just enough money to not be considered for financial aid, and with both my sibling and I in college, have halved their yearly income. I was never able to compete with students from my high school, but now I feel like I've gained the ability to be competitive. I know of summer programs that pay large amounts, but it's not enough to help pay 20000 a year. So if there are tons of money out there that don't ever reach the hands of students, where can I find these scholarships? I don't know where to begin to look, what are credible scholarships, and scholarships that apply to students that do not qualify for financial need. </p>
<p>Thanks for reading !</p>
<p>Oh! by the way, I'm Asian - so I always feel I have to out perform to get into minority centered merit-based programs.</p>