Many high school students begin applying for college scholarships during the early part of their senior year, but experts say the search process should start much earlier. For most students, that’s the beginning of their junior year, around the time they start considering which colleges to apply to.
“Because many people are afraid of missing deadlines, they like to start their scholarship process early,” Angela Warfield, principal consultant and founder of admissions consulting firm Compass Academics, wrote in an email. “That’s a good idea since many scholarship deadlines are before college application deadlines, especially those that are linked to colleges and universities where the deadline to apply for merit-based scholarship consideration is often in advance of regular deadlines.”
Leaving enough time to research scholarships is crucial, experts say. You should spend junior year taking inventory of your credentials, such as leadership or involvement in extracurricular activities, impact in your school and community, academic achievements and potential college majors.
Then, start searching for applicable scholarships during junior year and the summer before senior year, experts recommend. Many school counselors and college preparation offices have extensive lists of scholarship opportunities and can help you match with scholarships, says Maria Laskaris, senior private counselor for admissions consulting firm Top Tier Admissions.
Some websites, which may cost a fee, also help students identify applicable scholarships.
“Early in the junior year, begin to go through those resources and look for scholarship opportunities whose criteria align with things that match your interests, your background and your college aspirations,” Laskaris says.
[Read: How to Find and Secure Scholarships for College.]
Apply for Scholarships as an Underclassman
Proactive students and parents may want to start planning even earlier. Some experts say there are things students can do as early as middle school to prepare for college applications — and if you’re a freshman or sophomore, researching scholarships can give you a head start on a scholarship’s criteria, such as the type of school and community involvement or specific classes and grades it may require.
This can help you plan your extracurricular involvement rather than trying to cram activities in at the last minute, says Kevin Ladd, chief operating officer and co-creator of Scholarships.com.
“Really what you’re doing is recon for junior and senior year. You’re gathering intelligence,” Ladd says. “The more you gather early on, the more comfortable you’re going to be and the more you’re going to have a good sense of what’s expected of you. Don’t lose all hope if you’re a senior already and it’s October, but don’t put it off if your kid’s a freshman or sophomore. Start as soon as you can.”
In many cases, extracurricular and community involvement, along with volunteer and paid work, are valued equally along with academics by scholarship committees when choosing their winners, experts say.
“A lot of private scholarships want you to have community service. They want you to have extracurriculars,” Ladd says. “They don’t want just a flat, two-dimensional character. They want somebody that’s well-rounded.”
[Related:What Students Can Use Scholarship Money For]
Some scholarships are available only to underclassmen and require applications be submitted earlier than the typical timeline, Ladd says.
Addison Cutright, a senior at Dieterich Jr/Sr High School in Illinois, applied for the Horatio Alger National Scholarship midway through her junior year, and on the last day of the school year found out she was a winner. Before she started her senior year of high school, she had already won $25,000 in scholarship money toward her college expenses.
Cutright says she started her search around the beginning of her junior year, and with the help of her school counselor identified a scholarship that fit her profile. Some scholarship applications can be challenging, requiring letters of recommendation and multiple essays, so starting early can ease the stress of completing those tasks.
“Don’t be afraid of the amount of time and effort it takes,” Cutright says. “Some scholarships are pretty lengthy and may seem intimidating to start filling those out so early, but if you do win one, it can make everything worth it.”
Ladd says one benefit of applying to scholarships early, as Cutright did, is that there is typically less competition since most students wait until their senior year to apply. Parents may need to help guide students through the process, but students must be willing to put in the hard work, which means making some sacrifices at times, Ladd says.
“It’s always going to be beneficial to you and your family if you can find a way to get free money for school,” he says. “Even if your kid wins $10,000, that would be $10,000 you wouldn’t have to spend on school. It’s up to the parents to realize the timeline.”
Students who start their search early should remember to update important information such as grades, extracurricular involvement, academic achievements and awards before submitting scholarship applications, Warfield says.
“School guidance counselors are great resources, especially for local and high school-specific scholarship opportunities, but it is never their responsibility to fill out applications for students,” she says. “Students need to be proactive in the process and seek out those recommendations from guidance counselors.”
[READ: Avoid These 7 Mistakes When Applying for Scholarships.]
Get Organized
You can maximize your scholarship search by being organized.
Some scholarships require several essays, letters of recommendation, a transcript and standardized test scores. Others may require a creative element, such as as poem or video. Some won’t be so labor intensive, but because each scholarship requires different pieces with varying deadlines, you need a way to keep everything in order, Laskaris says.
“Early planning, making a spreadsheet and coming up with a potential set of scholarships that you’ll apply to well in advance of the deadline is just going to leave you better positioned to go after these,” Laskaris says.
Checklists, organizational apps or planners are also useful, Warfield says. The process should also include identifying which colleges the student is interested in and having “difficult conversations” about affordability, she says.
“If they are choosing institutions that are within their means, then the burden and anxiety felt by students to seek outside scholarship money will certainly be lessened,” she says.
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When Should High School Students Start Their Scholarship Search? originally appeared on usnews.com
