<p>Your counselors are VERY wrong. Unless you qualify for Gates scholarship (a large multi-year scholarship) or similar, applying to private scholarships is a waste of time since they don’t pay for college since those scholarships are often small and only for freshman year. So, you’d be short money for years 2, 3, and 4. </p>
<p>The BEST and most reliable scholarships are the ones given by COLLEGES for your stats. You need to retest (take both the ACT and SAT) to get the highest scores you can. </p>
<p>Also, by getting high scores, you’re more likely going to get accepted into schools that give the best scholarships.</p>
<p>That said, if you are a URM, look into the Gates scholarship.</p>