Senior year is an overwhelming year for students considering the fact that college applications, challenging classes, finals, and extracurricular activities take up a lot of time and must be fulfilled by the end of this school year. Now that UC applications are practically done, seniors now have time to take a small break from all the chaos. However, there are still many steps to be completed. One of those being looking into scholarship opportunities.

What are a few ways students can make scholarship applications easier? While the scholarship process can take a while, there are many seniors that have certain strategies that help them cope with stress and time management. “By giving yourself enough time, not procrastinating, creating deadlines for yourself, and sticking to them all together makes the whole college and scholarships process easier and as stress-free as possible,” Crystal Hernandez, a senior who is part of the cheer team, said.

Many seniors still have yet to fully decide on which scholarships they want to sign up for. “At the beginning of the semester, I applied to the Gates scholarship, but I also plan on applying to the Burger King scholarship and McDonald’s scholarship as well,” Alondra Trujillo, a senior and member of the MACES soccer team, said. 

It seems, as of right now, students are either halfway through the application process, or haven’t started at all. “I have not started all of them, but the ones I have started require short essay questions which I have been working on by brainstorming ideas, while also working on my brag sheet to send to teachers who are going to be writing letters of recommendation,” Hernandez said. It also seems that a few questions students are being commonly asked to write for are “What career path are you planning to pursue and why?” and “What has most influenced your professional or career aspirations for the future?”

Although time is ticking, not many students are aware of the opportunities being offered. “We encourage students to create scholarship search engine accounts, like FastWeb, CollegeBoard, Scholarships.com, where they can search and find scholarships in which they meet the eligibility requirements,” Ms. Ostos, the college counselor, said. There are many ways in which students can check which scholarships are available and whether those options are the ones for them.

Many may think that only graduating high school seniors can apply to and qualify for college scholarships. That simply is not the case. “There is a misconception that students need to wait until their senior year to begin applying for scholarships, this is not true. Some scholarships are available as early as kindergarten, but the hardest task is being diligent and starting early in order to avoid procrastination,” Ms. Ostos said.

Although the scholarship deadlines seem to be far away, it’s always better to start early to get certain steps out of the way. The College Center is always available for any students in need, especially during this time of year. “The college center disperses scholarship opportunities in various ways. We share information on class Schoology pages, the College Center Instagram account, send mass emails to student mymail accounts, through College Ambassador presentations during advisory, and on the MACES College Center website. Additionally, we post flyers in the school hallways and on a bulletin board in the college center office,” Ms. Ostos said.