Do you need some good ideas for an essay... The College Board has a section on essay writing that might help you get that jump start you need. http://www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/essay-skills/index.html

Whatever you do, remember to make it your own. This is your opportunity to let the admission's counselor find out something about yourself that they won't see from your application. To begin, just write. Don't worry about having a beginning, middle and end right now. Just start writing. Sometimes that's where the best ideas come from - great sentences that you can use later on when you are starting to work out a structure.

Now is the time to start looking at various scholarships. Deadlines do come up quickly. Try www.fastweb.com Some advice- sign up with an email address that you create specifically for that. They send a lot of mail and you don't want it to clog up your inbox that you use all the time. College Board also has a scholarship search. Just try to be as specific as possible. Many of their results seem unrelated to what you are looking for. (Dairy Farmers of America for an art scholarship search!)

Good luck. Try not to worry too much. Getting into college is your first step to becoming an independent adult - you can do this!