Need guidance for scholarship

University Discussions University at Buffalo (SUNY)
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I have already been accepted into UB a couple months ago, at the time I didn’t say I was interested in the honors college because I wanted to apply while it was still free and the essay for that would have taken longer. Senior year has been crazy and I’m just now applying to the honors college, and through an email they said we encourage you to apply for the presidential scholarship due February 1st. I read only 25 people a year get it and I think I have a very little chance. I also want to do the STEM incentive program that would cover tuition basically but that isn’t open yet (anyone know why?). So is it even worth my time if I won’t make it to the interview process?

So why I think I don’t really have much of a chance… my school is really small like 25 kids a grade, no APs, 3 clubs, only a few extracurriculars. We don’t do GPA on a 4.0 scale but I’m top of my class with a 100.9 GPA or something and my grades senior year will bring it up even more. The second person is around 4 points behind me. It’s over 100 because there are college classes that are weighted, but I’m not sure how that really works, like how much they are weighted. I have a year of credits done though. I didn’t submit my SAT because I only took it once without studying for it… despite being a small school no one told me to take it junior year and study over the summer or I would have. I do every club we offer, I’m in every honor society, do activities like band and chorus and yearbook, I do tennis and Odyssey of the Mind, and our team did make it to worlds once which never really happens from my school. I have a lot of community service but I didn’t know where to put that in common app so I only picked 2 things to enter (only 10 slots for all activities/service). For my junior scholarships I got ones from RPI, RIT, and University at Rochester for things relating to math or engineering. Haven’t mentioned yet but math is my favorite and I want to study mechanical or aerospace engineering. Also I’m a girl if that changes anything.

So using what I’m given I have an impressive resume I would say, but compared to other schools, I don’t think I stand out. What puts me apart from my peers is my work ethic, I always do everything until I think it’s perfect, I always get everything done on time even if I don’t feel like it, prepare as much as I can for tests, and I actually really enjoy school and learning and math is my favorite part of my day. People tell me no one cares about valedictorian and it means nothing from such a small school. That it’s pointless to try so hard. But by learning discipline, time management, and how to study now, I think will greatly benefit me in college when I’m not going to understand everything right away. But I can’t show that in my stats. Do you think I should apply for the scholarship?

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I think given a good resume and having previously received scholarships, you should atleast give it a try. At the end it will only be a reject and nothing else. Doesn’t matter what school you came from, what matters is what you bring with you.