Free rides, Scholarships help???

Question

Hello, I am your average soon to be high school Junior. I have no idea how the scholarships work. Besides this: people with 4.0's and higher. I have always been a good student. As of now my GPA is 3.6 I believe. No lower than 3.4. I try in school I really do, but I never get into Honors classes or anything like that. It discourages me from trying but I keep going at it. I have had more than decent grades in English for as long as I can remember. I'm not very good at math, not terrible but it's not my forte. I passed Chem. with an A but I busted my butt for that.. The only thing that comes to me almost, dare I say naturally is music. I have been playing the Clarinet since the 5th grade.

So my question is, to sum it all up.. This: Are there any scholarships out there for me??? If race helps I am hispanic but a citizen.

Free rides.: can someone explain that to me?

Answer 1

Good news, even students who are not 4.0 can and do receive scholarships quite often!  Your safest place to get information on legitimate scholarships that you are eligible for would be to talk to your high school guidance counselor.  Even if you are a home-schooled student, you can still make an appointment at one of your local high schools (there are 4 in my community) to discuss options with the counselor.  He or she is very knowledgeable in this area.  Usually you will have to fill out special applications and essays on certain topics and then if you win, they will pay the money to whatever school you decide to attend.  Some scholarships are based off of academic achievements; some are based off of athletic ability; some are based off of leadership skills as expressed by active membership in community service or school clubs; some are based off of pure financial need; and some are based off of 2 or more criteria listed above.  Again, please talk to your guidance counselor and also check out:

http://www.fastweb.com

That IS a legitimate website to look for scholarships.  My former college highly recommends that website!

Answer 2

There are hundreds of scholarships for you. Not all scholarships require you to have good grades, and most of the ones that do usually require you to have a GPA higher than a 3.0. Just go to websites like fastweb.com or scholarships.com to look for scholarships.

Answer 3

A free ride means the person got a scholarship (or multiple scholarships) that paid for all of their college expenses.  

I hate to be the negative one here, but while it is true that there are thousands of scholarships out there, most of them are for small amounts of money.  When your college costs you $30-$40K per year, you have to wonder if it is worth your time to spend weeks writing essays in order to get $1,000.  The fact is that most colleges have a limited number of full-ride scholarships to give out, and most people get through school on loans and grants, with occasional small scholarships to help out.  My last school, as an example, had about 7,000 students, and of those, about 40 (other than those on the athletic teams) were on full scholarships.  Needless to say, those students were the ones with phenomenal records.

Answer 4

There are a number of scholarships for which you qualify. Below is a website that will help you:

http://www.scholarships.com/college-scho...

Have a great day!

Answer 5

There are plenty of scholarships out there that are awarded for all sorts of things.  There is probably a scholarship somewhere specifically for Hispanic clarinet players with a 3.4 GPA that are going to major in biochemistry and minor in Russian who has an ancestor that fought in WWI in France.  Some come from the school, some from foundations, and some come from individual donors.  You just have to search scholarship lists to see what's out there.

"Free ride" is a term that is often abused.  Far fewer people get a free ride to college than would have you believe.  It means, simply, that someone pays 100%+ of your college tuition and expenses. Expenses include room, board, fees, books... everything.  Examples of people that may get a free ride include the world record holder in the 100 meter freestyle if he/she will swim for the college, a premier professional musician (think real live rock stars) if they'll study music at xyz college, that guy that won the 1st prize at the national science competition, that guy that can do really high level math - in his head...  those sorts of people sometimes get "a free ride".

Some more "normal" folk can get pretty close to a free ride or at least have all of their tuition payed via scholarships.  They are usually exceptional students, athletes, or performers/artists.  If your clarinet playing is beyond typical (you hold the front seat, played principal at all state, played in the local professional orchestra; have the Mozart memorized and own the A clarinet with C extension to play it correctly...) then you might consider music performance scholarships at the school that you want to attend.

Just a hint for a possibility; many colleges offer performance stipends for needed good musicians even if they aren't music majors.  Bass and contra clarinet players can sometimes fall into that group.

Start with a search of Fastweb.com for some scholarships and also visit your local Barnes and Noble/Books-a-Million/etc... for a copy of the scholarship guides.

Answer 6

Start volunteering NOW.  LOTS of scholarships are for people who do community service, not the people who have really high grades, etc.  And your grades are just fine.  You'll be okay, but I REALLY suggest volunteering.