You hear about scholarships a lot during your senior year; I know I did. But, there's one thing I wish I had done: taken all that talk seriously. I feel like nobody stressed to me how important applying for scholarships really is and I regret it now.

As my senior year comes to a close, I've been scouring the internet for the few scholarships that are still available. So I tell all you rising seniors (and even juniors), APPLY APPLY APPLY for scholarships!!!

Believe me, I know it seems hard to find the time between studying and doing all the traditional high school things, but you'll thank yourself later. Because the more scholarships you apply for, the more you have a chance of getting.

Another thing no one told me was how early they become available.

Maybe it was just me, but I was pretty much convinced you had to wait until the school year started to begin applying.

And while most do become available at the start of each new school year, the information about scholarships is always accessible. You should definitely start researching them over the summer so you can decide which you want to apply to when they open and even start the essays if they are the kind of scholarship that requires one.

And for the people going into the arts, those scholarships are even harder; they were for me at least. All the ones I found were due early or mid-school year so when I actually began seriously looking for scholarships, the ones I would have really wanted to apply for were already closed. There are TONS of scholarships for STEM, but that doesn't mean look and apply less.

Now that I am getting ready to start college, I am seeing how useful scholarships actually are. I know that might make me sound naive, but the media and even some of my school administrators never really expressed the reality of student loans or how to pay them back.

Now I'm kicking myself for not starting my scholarship search earlier and not taking it as seriously as I should have. So, to all you high schoolers, be as proactive as you can when it comes to scholarships; it will save you a lot of stress and pain.