Students get so severely stressed out about finding scholarships even though there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of scholarships out there to be had. A little work just has to go into it. Maybe some organization, some time to actually apply, some more time to review your work, and maybe a little more time to make it extra super appealing to whoever will be reading your application.

Just because you apply for a scholarship doesn’t mean you’ve done a good job at showing the scholarship providers that you deserve it. But you probably do deserve a nice hunk of free money; so take the time these scholarship applications probably deserve instead of just crossing your fingers that some Wizard of Oz type person will just pick your name out of a hat. Give youself a step up!

Start now. See if you’re a match for these scholarships, all due before 2012.

1. Dr Pepper Million Dollar Tuition Giveaway
Deadline: December 31
Award range: $2,500-$100,000
Quick fact: Open to high school juniors through college juniors, Dr Pepper will be awarding 50 different students with big, like really big, scholarships.

2. ScholarshipPoints.com Scholarship
Deadline: December 14
Award range: $500-$10,000
Quick fact: This scholarship’s application process shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.

3. Most Valuable Student Award
Deadline: December 2
Award range: $1,000-$15,000
Quick fact: Open to all high school students, this scholarship is renewable, which means it actually can add up to $60,000 total!

4. Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum Student Essay Contest
Deadline: November 11
Award range: $50-$100
Quick fact: Available for all high school students.

5. STOP hunger Scholarships
Deadline: December 5
Award range: $5,000
Quick fact: All grades, high school and up, with volunteer or community service are eligible to apply for this renewable scholarship–remember, renewable.

6. Imagine America Scholarship Program
Deadline: December 31
Average award: $1,000
Quick fact: High school seniors and college freshman must be attending or plan to attend a participating US career college.

7. Ecologist Initiative Scholarship
Deadline: December 31
Average award: $850
Quick fact: This scholarship is meant to engage young people from around the world in environmental clean-up and conservation projects. If that’s passion of yours, apply!

Will you apply to any of these? How much time do you spend on scholarships applications?