<p>I am asian american with a 2390 on the SATs, 2400 superscored. (took twice) I have a 4.0 and am ranked 1 or 2 out of a class of over 300. I have excellent extracurriculars too, (a couple of leadership positions, a paid internship, co-founder, etc)</p>
<p>What are some great colleges I should apply to like Duke?</p>
<p>Also, what are some colleges that are known to give full rides to exceptional students? I cannot afford to pay. Right now I have University of Maryland and University of North Carolina. </p>
<p>Do sit down with your parents and any other family members who might be able to help you pay for your education, and find out just exactly how much they are ready, willing, and able to chip in. You will need some money to help you move to college and get set up at the beginning of the year even if you do land a true free-ride that covers tuition/fees/housing/meals/books/materials/etc. If you don’t have a job yet, you should get one and start saving for the start-up costs.</p>
<p>Please note that most of the scholarships in these threads have very early cut-off dates for applications. That means that you should start filing the paperwork as soon as you can. If the applications are live now for fall 2014, start applying now.</p>
<p>I got a 227 on the PSATs, which definitely made the cut off for National Merit semi/finalists. </p>
<p>My parents can pay a little, but the bigger scholarship offer I get, the better. What they can pay is almost negligible (at most $5000 a year). However, my household income is high enough that I probably won’t get financial aid. </p>
<p>I do have a job now (an internship) and I should have $9000 by the time I go to college. But besides that, nothing.</p>
<p>And what do you mean by assured full rides? And competitive full rides? For assured full rides, does it mean you will definitely get a full ride?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of good schools that don’t have an application fee? For example, I know Tulane doesn’t have an application fee.</p>
<p>Tulane – last I looked, Tulane offers a partial scholarship (I think it’s $27,000 a year) to many, but only offers a full ride to about 25 or 50 a year – it’s a separate competition after you’re accepted.</p>
<p>Otherwise, check out the Financial Aid Forum, I think there is a list of schools that offer serious merit money there.</p>
<p>The automatic full rides are the ones that you get for your GPA, rank, and/or test scores (though you may have to apply early). You can consider those schools as safety candidates.</p>
<p>The competitive ones are not assured, but you can apply to them and see if you get them.</p>
<p>There may be additional large scholarship opportunities in your home state’s public universities (e.g. New Jersey residents sometimes report full rides from Rutgers).</p>
<p>No offense but retaking the test a second time after such a high first time score shows a shockingly lack of knowledge about statistics and the process. You likely studied a hundred hours to answer a few additional questions right. What do you think the admissions committee will think about your values and life priorities?</p>
<p>Okay, to clarify, I NEVER mentioned my first time score, I got a 2390 the SECOND time I took it. I did not score very well the first time I took it. If I had gotten over 2300 the first time I took it, I would not have retaken the test.</p>
<p>And it really annoys me when people assume that those who do well on the SATs study hundreds of hours and have no life. I actually did not study that much more between my 1st and 2nd takes. The 1st time, I was nervous and made a bunch of careless mistakes and scored a whole lot less than what I was getting on practice tests at home, which was why I retook it.</p>
<p>If you end up a national merit scholar you should definitely apply to USC (Cal) in my opinion. They give Half off tuition to national merit scholars and your SAT/Class Rank makes you competitive for even more scholarships on top of that.</p>
<p>Miscellaneous thought – you are hoping for up to $50 K a year in scholarships. Don’t sweat the application fees! Would you really not apply somewhere which has excellent aid just to save $55?</p>
<p>this student needs at least full tuition scholarships, if not full rides. With her parents’ $5k and a student loan, that’s about $10k. Then add in a share of the $9k ($3k for the first year, and earn more during future summers), the student would have almost enough to pay for room, board, books and fees.</p>
<p>Lets try to give some answers: If you have good leadership you may have more options: Here are some to check out: Notre Dame, Duke, UNC, Washington and Lee, Davidson, Northeastern, Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>Hopefully, people will have more suggestions.</p>