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@Tarry
0 answers, 7 votes
 • 10 months ago •
Paying for College
[edited]

Should a junior be looking for scholarships and applying to them?
Answered

I'm a junior in high school. Should I already be looking for scholarships and applying to them? What are some that I should look at? I have a 1560 on the SAT and am interested in STEM. I'm Japanese and live in NY, and am a permanent resident (not US citizen)

11th
11th-grade
2025
4
7
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Accepted Answer
@_KC_
40 answers, 61 votes
 • 10 months ago

Sure! You should be looking for scholarships and applying to them, also, your SAT is pretty good, so you should have an advantage.

But for now, the most important things are GPA, ECs, and college essays. So make sure your searching for scholarships is not taking time away from your most important things.

3
[🎤 AUTHOR]@Tarry10 months ago

Thank you so much! I’m the first in my family to go to college, so I really appreciate this!

@_KC_10 months ago

There are also more options for you since you are first gen, I heard there are first gen scholarships too. But I do not know much about them

1
@Jael_S238
333 answers, 669 votes
 • 10 months ago

Absolutely! Begin researching scholarships, especially ones that are specifically your interests (STEM, Japanese heritage, etc). FastWeb is great at taking your stats and interests and recommending scholarships tailored to those areas!

1
[🎤 AUTHOR]@Tarry10 months ago

Thank you so much! I’ve never heard of FastWeb, I’ll look into it!

1
@Iridescence-2025
21 answers, 26 votes
 • 10 months ago

Yes, you should! Most scholarships allow juniors to apply; also it would be good to look into scholarships that you will apply to in your senior year. Have a list of scholarships that you want to apply to but isn't open yet or that your not old enough yet.

However, don't feel pressured to spend all your time looking into scholarships. In your senior year, there will be more options and opportunities to apply.

Also, focus more on no-essay scholarships; they are much easier to apply to, and take up the least amount of time!

Hope that helps!

1
@Jael_S23810 months ago

Yes, no-essay ones ARE easy...but rarely won for that reason. SO many people enter the one-click wonder essays that your chance of winning is almost impossible. I actually recommend essay/project/transcript based scholarships. Not all require essays- some accept poetry, videos, portfolios, etc. Reasons I recommend doing them is 1)provides GREAT practice for admissions essay 2) less applicants 3)you can choose genres specific to your interests. Yes, a lot of work but chance of winning is higher!

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