<p>Hi. I'm having some trouble finding schools right now and I would like some help. </p>
<p>I'm a rising junior, and I'm interested in going into either engineering, math (or applied math), or neuroscience. I'm really not sure yet, but I've still got plenty of time. </p>
<p>I'm also looking for a school with plenty of merit aid. NOT Financial aid.</p>
<p>One thing my parents seem to be almost certain about is that I can only look at schools that are within driving distance. Anywhere that I have to fly to most likely won't work with them. I live in Oklahoma btw..</p>
<p>I have a 32 ACT, 4.0 GPA (it's doom to drop), and I will be attending an elite residential math and science school for my junior and senior years. By the time I graduate, I will probably have 6-9 APs, but I'm not exactly sure.
I played tennis (JV) and swimming (Varsity) for two years. I was active on my school's FIRST Robotics Team and helped lead the team to a regional title freshman year. I will have about 150 documented service hours, and some more that I forgot to document.
I have also had work experience. I worked at a iPod cover business for about 2 years as a seasonal sales associate. and I also worked at a concession stand for a local baseball park during the summer after my freshman year.</p>
<p>So, thank you so much for helping!!!! :D</p>
<p>Do you want a large school or a small one?</p>
<p>Within driving distance of Oklahoma (more or less), one of the best concentrations of small colleges that offer merit aid is in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest ([ACM</a> ? Associated Colleges of the Midwest — Home](<a href=“http://www.acm.edu/index.html]ACM”>Associated Colleges of the Midwest)). Other good schools that offer merit aid, and are more or less within driving distance, include Rice, Vanderbilt, Tulane, and WUSTL. For engineering or math, along with your other criteria, my top pick probably would be Rice.</p>
<p>^ Not all the colleges listed in ACM offer much merit aid (Carleton offers $2K).</p>
<p>And of course you should consider OU and OSU for their merit aid.</p>
<p>I agree with tk21769 and Erin’s Dad, but I would want to know a few more things about your preferences.</p>
<p>1) Size of school
2) Location (urban, suburban, rural)
3) Weather preference (warm, medium, love snow)
4) Are sports important. either as a spectator or a participant?
5) Are Fraternities/Soroities in your future?
6) Anything else that is of particular importance to you personally?</p>
<p>It will be much easier to help knowing these things. Also, where in OK are you? A days drive varies in a state that size.</p>
<p>I’m around the southwestern part of Oklahoma, about 45 minutes from the OK-TX border.</p>
<p>Size of school - Anything not too terribly small (>2000). I’m not very picky about that.
Location - Anywhere besides the middle of nowhere.
Weather preference - Warm/hot weather will be perfect. Just not freezing cold everyday.
Sports are pretty important. Not a deciding factor, but sports are always good.
Not sure about the fraternities…I’m open to it though
Umm…nothing else I can think of at the moment</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad - OSU is definitely on my list. I really like that school. But I’m never going to OU. I love their football team, but I just do not want to go there.</p>
<p>OK, that helps a lot. I am going to use Altus OK as a reference point, hopefully you are somewhere around there. And I will take a 10 hour drive as the “circle of acceptability”, lol. Give or take that is 600-700 miles. That puts a lot of schools in the mix, although for the most part I won’t go too far north.</p>
<p>I am also going to assume that you will take the ACT again after your junior year, and that likely you will get a higher score than 32 (which is excellent, don’t get me wrong on that). If you got it up to a 34 and you keep your GPA high, like 3.8+ UW, you would have an even better shot at merit awards that are quite substantial at a lot of schools. Consider taking the SAT also, just to see how you do on that. Of course in that sense you are asking a bit early. Knowing what your test scores are after your next round of taking them and what your GPA is after your junior year would be a lot better info. Also knowing if you are NMF or not would be a big help. But I’ll assume that you get a 33 ACT and you have a 3.85 UW GPA after junior year. I think that is a realistic scenario.</p>
<p>Those stats will get you into a lot of schools, but since you need substantial merit aid, you can look at SMU in Dallas, as well as UT Dallas. I would leave Tulane in the mix, even though it is slightly outside the zone. WUSTL is unlikely for significant merit unless you get the test score to 34+. Rice is a good choice, merit scholarship is a possibility. Vandy is outside the zone, about a 12 hour drive. Trinity University in San Antonio is a fine school that has some significant merit awards. Rhodes College in Memphis has some high merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Going towards the colder weather, Creighton in Omaha and Drake in Des Moines have some nice scholarships. Drake especially is a fine school, but Creighton is a very good school also. Creighton is Jesuit though, and I don’t know how you feel about that.</p>
<p>Certainly there are a lot of other schools, these are just some examples that seem to fit your description. Look into them, they will probably generate more leads as you put them into something like Princeton Review and it shows you similar schools. However, like I said earlier this will all be more meaningful this time next year when your stats are more firmed up.</p>
<p>Everyone is going to have a different definition of what plenty of merit aid is. What is the amount your family can afford?</p>
<p>Missouri University of Science and Technology might work for you. You would be eligible for $10,500 off the price right off the bat based on your ACT. There are other scholarships that you might be eligible for too. For example:</p>
<p>The FIRST Robotics Scholarship is available for full time undergraduate students who have been a member of a FIRST Robotics team in high school. The scholarship is for $500 per year and is renewable for up to 4 years as long they maintain full-time status and a 3.25GPA. The application along with a 500 word essay about their FIRST Robotics experience and leadership roles is required for consideration. The applicant must also have an ACT of 24 or SAT of 1100 and a 3.5 GPA.
The application deadline is February 1 </p>
<p>Each department may have scholarships available for high ACT students too.
[Missouri</a> S&T, Departmental Scholarships](<a href=“http://sfa.mst.edu/scholarshipsgrants/DepartmentalScholarships.html]Missouri”>http://sfa.mst.edu/scholarshipsgrants/DepartmentalScholarships.html)</p>
<p>Here is the link to financial aid and scholarships:
[Missouri</a> S&T, Student Financial Assistance Office](<a href=“http://sfa.mst.edu/]Missouri”>http://sfa.mst.edu/)
[Missouri</a> S&T, Costs Index](<a href=“http://sfa.mst.edu/costs/index.html]Missouri”>http://sfa.mst.edu/costs/index.html)</p>
<p>[Missouri</a> S&T, Undergraduate Degree Programs](<a href=“http://futurestudents.mst.edu/degrees/undergraduate/index.html]Missouri”>http://futurestudents.mst.edu/degrees/undergraduate/index.html)</p>
<p>Look at the usfirst website for scholarships offered at specific schools. They vary quite a bit. I am amazed at the universities that do NOT offer money who have obvious connections with usfirst This would be in addition to merit aid you qualify for.</p>
<p>twomules suggestion of Missouri S&T is a good one, the only caveat being that Rolla is a fairly small town not particularly close to anything larger. St. Louis is 2 hours away, Columbia (Mizzou) about 90 minutes. I know it quite well, family connection. It does have the feel of being a bigger place than the population would indicate, because it serves a wider area, as well as Fort Leonard Wood, a big facility. And there are 3 Rolla exits off of Interstate 44 which runs right by it. Still a small town though. It is an excellent school for engineering and science, and with the guaranteed scholarship the total COA would be about $20,000 per year. There is other money available as twomules says. You should talk to admissions when the time gets closer, if you are interested.</p>
<p>fallenchemist - I actually have taken the SAT, but I took it cold and didn’t do so hot (1880/2400). I believe that will increase, along with the ACT. I understand about it being better after junior year, but right now I’m just wanting to create a decent-sized list of colleges so I can learn about them throughout junior year and figure out what I’m gonna do. Thank you so much!!!</p>
<p>Also, I have looked at Missouri University of Science and Technology and have really considered it. Thank you by the way!</p>
<p>You are welcome. I didn’t mean to imply that you shouldn’t be planning. Quite the opposite!! I think it is great that you are looking ahead. It will just be easier to get really specific when you have all the stats after your junior year. But for general searching and getting the feel of how this all shakes out, you are very wise in how you are going about it.</p>
<p>I understand what you mean fallenchemist. And thank you!</p>