<p>I'm a freshman in high school. I'm 100% Hispanic(Peruvian). I come from a upper middle class family and need some FA to attend college. I take mostly honor classes and get A's in them. I will start taking AP classes next year. I participate in science, music, debate, and athletic ec activities at my school. Are any programs I should know about? Any competitions? Any suggestions on what I should aim to do for the remainder of my high school career.
-CTPeruvian97</p>
<p>Have you read the Resources sticky thread? Check out the academic recognition and enrichment opportunities there, things like NHRP, MIT Mites, CMUs SAMS, etc.</p>
<p>What to do for the next few years? Take a demanding schedule of classes, including college classes if applicable, keep your grades up and stay involved with activities you enjoy.</p>
<p>See post #2 and the thread it links to for thoughts about how college admissions works for Hispanic applicants:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1229462-does-being-hispanic-have-any-impact-all.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1229462-does-being-hispanic-have-any-impact-all.html</a></p>
<p>I will add that depending on how you define ‘upper middle class’, you may not qualify for much, if any, need based FA from most schools. Do sit down with your parents to fill out some of the NPCs (Net Price Calculators) that are now mandatory on all school websites. Remember, that these are just ESTIMATES, and your actual FA package could vary a little or a lot, but it’s really the best way to get a general understanding of how much you might qualify for. You will find that HYPS have FA policies that are much more generous than any other schools in the nation. But these are also the most difficult schools for admissions.</p>
<p>While many of the outside scholarship programs for Hispanics have a need factor that you likely won’t qualify for, there are many Institutional (via the college) scholarships that are based strictly on merit and do not take family income into account. For Institutional merit scholarships, you will need to target schools where you are in the top of the applicant pool. Some schools have gpa and test score cut offs and are fairly straightforward, automatic scholarships. Others have scholarships that you need to be nominated for or need to fill out a separate application by a deadline and may have other factors outside of academics that they take into consideration.</p>