The answer to this question, as you may have guessed, is no! Football, faith, and friends were my concerns in high school… not scholarships. This was, until I figured out how valuable scholarships were to my future.
In high school, my ACT was simply average. I started with a 19 and ended with a 24. But, at the end of the day, my most valuable scholarship was won with a 19. What does this mean? It means I was not the smartest person applying for scholarships.
A common miss-conception in today’s world of high school academia is you have to be freakishly smart to get a full ride. I can prove this wrong time and time again. There are a dozen friends of mine (including myself) that are not freakishly smart and received a full ride or major scholarship going into college.
As I said, football was my passion in high school. Coming from a small town in Southeastern Kentucky, Friday night lights was a religion, especially in Corbin, Kentucky. Therefore, accordingly, my friends and I adopted that mentality.
Moving into junior/senior year, I started to glimpse at my future, and realized I was going to have to pay for my college. I knew it was time to get serious about scholarships. Although I had received a major scholarship the year prior, I did not fully accept the task at hand until the latter years of high school.
I asked myself, “How was I going to get my school paid for while playing football, leading in my youth group, hanging with friends, etc.” Moreover, I thought, “Full-rides are for people who devote all their time to studying, right?” I was wrong.
In the end, I was able to not only play football but start and win 4 district championships, win 2 region championships, and play for 2 state semi-final games.
What I am trying to say is it is not that hard to get a scholarship as you would think. You can have a normal life as a high schooler. Throw the status quo out about smart kids only getting scholarships, and live your life. But, at the same time get your school paid for.
For more information about how to get scholarships click here!