Different colleges require Sat or ACt. Check with the college you want to go to see which one they want and then take it. Google Fastweb. They are a good scholarship website. Apply for all scholarship you can. They are free to apply for, you may have to right a paper or do something else but it is all free to apply. My son is a feshman in college so I can help you if you need it.. I have another son who is a junior in h/s as well.

To anyone who went to college, why do they try to make it seem like you cant do anything til your senior year of HS?

I haven't ever heard of a school that wasn't prepping students their Jr. Year, so it may just be your counselor.  Do you have a favorite teacher at the HS who might advise you a little?  Is anyone you go to school with taking college classes via early enrollment, etc?  If so, talk to them about how they started. 

You are getting good advice here.  Keep going!

 The ACT has a broader subject matter and goes a little higher on the math, as I recall.  The biggest difference was the ACT required a writing sample but the SAT does now too, right?  I took both and the ACT struck me as a little tougher than the SAT.

 I really want to emphasize how much a good deal dual enrollment can be.  I did it when I was in high school- I went to a small, rather cruddy school that didn't offer any advanced courses.  My school's nod to the advanced students was to shift you into some 8th grade courses when you were in 7th grade.  Between that and testing out of a couple classes where the teachers were useless and I knew the stuff anyway, I pretty much had nothing to do my senior year... so I dug out the county school system's little known bylaws and shoved dual enrollment down the administration's throat.  The high school principal was highly amused.    Rather than waste my senior year, I got to challenge myself a little and hang out with people that weren't totally brainless ;)

 If you make a good impression on the professors of the college you dual-enroll at, it gets you the attention and connections for scholarships at that particular college.  Even if you decide not to go to that college, it shows other colleges that you can definitely handle college-level material (lots of people flunk out their first year) and shows you took initiative and challenged yourself.  I could've gotten a full scholarship at the college I dual-enrolled at but I wouldn't have fit in there and so I thanked them and declined, enrolling somewhere else.

Not only do you get free or nearly free college credits before you leave high school, once you get to college "officially," most places settle registration priority by the number of credits you already hold.  Juniors and seniors logically get priority to register for classes because they have less time left before graduation.  If you enter college with a semester or even a year of credits under your belt, you're "ahead of the line" compared to your fellow "freshmen" who are starting out with zero credits.  This is more important than you may realize.  If you're going to be an ed major at a large public university, the programs tend to be crowded and the courses tend to be over-booked.  Some have trouble graduating on time because they can't get into the required courses when they need to.  State schools are cheaper but they often screw you into staying a ninth semester or extra year by limiting access to vital courses.  By getting college credits in high school you stand a better chance of bypassing that nonsense, or you have some "wiggle room" in your schedule if you can't get into a course, or worse, fail or withdraw from it the first time.

Good luck!

 * in your Junior year, it would be good for you to take your ACT/ SAT during the January/February time frame.  That way, you'll get your test results back in time for you to study and analyze to see where you need to improve, then at the end of your Junior year in June, take the SAT again.  In the fall of your senior year, Sept/Oct take which ever test you think you'll do better in.  My son, retook his ACT and did better in a couple of the areas.  Also, with the ACT test, you are not required to take the writing portion (unlike the SAT).  There are different stratagies for taking the SAT vs ACT.  www.collegeboard.com  and actstudent.org to get yourself signed up, and this will also let you take practice tests.  Your counselor at high school and at the college you want to go to, might have extra practice tests.  Also, if you can afford it, you can purchase the books on SAT/ACT, that will have practice tests in them.  Do use a timer, and simulate a testing environment and practice, practice, practice.  

 Your scores and your high school rank and your high school gpa will help you get into college.  So your ACT/SAT scores are your first hurdle. 

 Typically, seniors are the ones only eligible for applying for scholarships, or early graduating juniors.  There are a few exceptions to that, like the prudential life scholarship, which is a leadership scholarship.  That one you can start apply to, as early as 5th grade.  But you need to be doing things like leading a Relay for Life, Leader in your school, an officer in the student organization, foreign language club, etc. That type of thing. You should be doing some type of leadership thing anyway RIGHT NOW (junior year), because a lot of what is asked on your scholarship applications are the projects that you led, how you influenced others.  It could be that you could do something all on your own, say a clothing/food drive for a local shelter/food bank.  It is a good place to start.  Or doing something at the kindergarden, possibly volunteering to read stories to the kiddos, or doing something with an afterschool program.  My oldest daughter arranged and led the effort to do routine cleaning of an abandoned veteran's cemetary.  

 Maybe your senior year, you could also be an office aid to the counselor's office?  Start talking to the counselor about this.  This way, you are in the office, and helping getting some skills, and getting inside information (plus a bit of spare time to do homework).  Typically, during class schedule times, the counselor's office need student workers to help go get kids out of class to talk to them about their high school schedules.

 Sign up for fastweb.com for scholarship notification, and also cappex.com for the same thing.  

 Doing the co-enrolled thing is good too! Especially History, Economics, Government, English.  Harder co-enrolled are the Chemistry, Calculus and other sciences.  You might be able to co-enroll your junior year, for a spring Economics or Government (or both).  Talk to your counselor.  The English and History is two semesters, but typically History is a junior year course, so you may have missed the boat on that one.  

Good Luck!

P.s.  Also start writing your high school resume right now.  Write down things like: a/b honor roll, freshman, sophomore, junior year.  Or A honor roll.  Trying to get into the National Honor Society.  Listen up for when deadlines are for this, try to become an officer for NHS (leadership stuff).

Write down all the hours you've done volunteering.  Habitat for Humanity a good weekend/Saturday thing, maybe volunteer at a local goodwill or thrift shop through a church.  Organize a blood drive at your high school or church or community (good leadership skills, plus the blood people help you do this).

Write down awards, sports.  Compete academically in one of your favorite subjects.

If need be, go and talk to your principle at your school.  Ask how you can help the student body.  There may be a project, like raising funds for school benches, a beautification project, cleanup project, that you might be able to do with principle approval.  Join the Key club (service organization) or Anchor Club (another great service organization).

Hope that helps!