Am I undershooting?

College Search & Selection
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<p>This fall, I'm applying to three schools. University of Georgia (Foundation Fellowship), Georgia Institute of Technology (President's Scholars), and Emory University (Emory Scholars). My parents are willing to pay $10k/year for college, and they make to much to qualify me for financial aid, so that obviously limits where I can apply. I don't really know what I want to major in, except that I won't be pre-med, pre-law, business, or any social science. I'm really interested in all science, literature, and mathematics.</p>

<p>I'm submitting only my ACT scores: C33 (E35 M33 R34 S28) and C34 (E34 M31 R33 S36). I have an unweighted GPA of 3.92, top 5% of class. By the end of high school I will have taken 9 AP's (most rigor). I have pretty good EC's, essays, and rec's.</p>

<p>I just feel too discouraged to apply anywhere else (I wouldn't apply to Emory if it wern't for the fact that my counselor begged me to do Emory Scholars), but I'm also worried I'm giving up opportunities. I like UGA and Georgia Tech just fine, but I feel like there may be something better, a school with more intellectuality and individuality.</p>

<p>So my question is, are there any "better" schools I could go to with my current stats for $10k/year or less? I just fear I may be giving something up.</p>

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<p>your parents suck…you could’ve really gone places</p>

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<p>Wouldn’t you qualify for a HOPE scholarship at UGA (and GA Tech?) anyway? Don’t tell me Georgia got rid of them!</p>

<p>You’re applying to some very good schools, so I’m not sure you’re undershooting, but you <em>are</em> limiting yourself (there are, as you know, a lot of other good schools).</p>

<p>Make sure that your parents actually <em>do</em> make too much money for finaid. Some do, of course, but for some schools, the cutoff is higher than a lot of people think it is.</p>

<p>Are you willing to do and qualified for military service (as an officer)? If so, consider ROTC - a ROTC scholarship will fully pay your way at most schools with programs (which includes some of the best schools out there, e.g MIT).</p>

<p>Since you like science and have good stats, also look at the SMART scholarships (if you are a US citizen). Most people think of them as being for grad students, but they fund undergrads as well (you already have to be enrolled in college, though, so you might have to take loans for your freshman year or something). They will pay your way <em>plus</em> a salary and book allowance <em>plus</em> mentoring and guaranteed paid summer internships in exchange for you working as a scientist in a DoD lab for one year for each year they fund you (a guaranteed prestigious job after graduation!). And they can be used at any accredited school in the US.</p>

<p>Look at the University of Chicago. It has the individuality and intellectualism that you want. And they give 30 full-ride scholarships and 100 partial (10k/year) scholarships per year to incoming freshmen.</p>

<p>I know that Vanderbilt, which has great sciences, also gives generous merit aid (they offered me some back in the day). They may not be culturally what you want, though.</p>

<p>My overall point is that you might as well apply places, as long as the application fees aren’t a big financial strain. You have great stats. You can always decide not to go if the funds don’t come in, but as the examples that I’ve given indicate, there are other ways to fund your college studies besides parents and need-based aid.</p>

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<p>Hey, haven’t talked to you in awhile :slight_smile: haha
Well, I personally think that you have a good shot at Emory Scholars (I think I’m applying for it too). You’re a strong writer and have plenty to talk about. Your ECs are strong and diverse, so you can pull from that too.
I wish that you’d go to St. John’s in Annapolis, because I think that you’d be most fit for that school; however, they don’t really do financial aid unless it’s need-based and it’s way expensive.
What about smaller liberal arts schools like Ogelthorpe in Atlanta or try to get the scholarship for Mercer? There’s also the University of the South (Sewanee) in Tennessee. </p>

<p>You should be looking at larger schools with major scholarships based on merit. Do check out University of Chicago. Also, there are lots of Georgia Scholarships (especially in the local area..) that you would be competitive in. Also, the Ayn Rand scholarship (you’d have to read ‘Fountainhead’, which you may enjoy..) is $10,000 for 1st place and very prestigious. My friend got into the semifinals. check out some literary scholarships in general.</p>

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<p>Rice and University of Rochester are supposed to be very good with aid.</p>

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<p>Why don’t you spent some time and go through this thread on the Parents Forum, which directly addresses the issue of merit scholarships: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Rochester is an excellent school with great programs in both the sciences and humanities, and it has very significant merit aid scholarships, for which I think you would be competitive. Key point for major scholarship consideration there: INTERVIEW!! Their admissions people conduct local interviews all over the country in the fall. If you go to their web site, you’ll be able to find a schedule. It would also be a good idea to apply reasonably early, don’t wait until after Christmas.</p>

<p>The U of C does have some highly-competitive merit scholarships, and if would be great if you got one, but other than that their FA has a somewhat poor rep. I believe that the University of Pittsburgh also has some excellent merit aid, and their Honors College is supposed to be very good.</p>

<p>With your stats, you should be looking seriously at some of the schools that meet 100% of need for students with family incomes that are quite high: HYP and others. Your family may be favorably surprised at how much FA you would qualify for at those schools, <em>if</em> you can get in. On stats alone, you certainly have a shot.</p>

<p>If you added Rochester, Pitt, and one or two of the above to your list, you would probably be giving yourself a decent chance at getting the money you need.</p>

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<p>Since it sounds like you are only considering schools in the area that you live in, I think that Emory could suit you quite well. As the husband of a financial aid advisor at an expensive school, I can tell you that it is not the price that keeps people out of certain schools. It is the willingness to take on private debt. If you want to attend any school, if the experience would be worth it, you should consider it despite how much your parents are willing to contribute. My wife had no financial support from her parents during college and it simply means that we have to adjust our finances now to accommodate student loan repayment.</p>

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<p>It’s not that I’m only considering schools that are in my area; I can attend UGA and Georgia Tech with Georgia’s HOPE scholarship and it just happens that Emory is in Georgia.</p>

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<p>Not sure what else you are looking for in a college and certainly the flavors of U Georgia, Georgia Tech and Emory are different, but another top college that is very generous with merit aid is Wash U. On this site, it doesn’t get the respect it deserves, but it is a terrific college with many excellent students and a beautiful campus to enjoy four years of college.</p>

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<p>Georgia Tech and Emory aren’t “places”? Do you understand that there are very few states in the union with better schools than those 2? I would have killed to have gone to GT on HOPE. Let’s be realistic: this kid wasn’t getting into MIT or Harvard, and GT and Emory are the next tier down, and to be able to get a huge break on cost going there is a huge boon.</p>

<p>I don’t know what your background is, but I suspect you are not old enough to have an bird’s eye view of this kid’s situation.</p>

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<p>Given the OP’s stats, he is in a good situation to go to well-respected universities for virtually no debt. There is no reason to go anywhere else, and I completely reject the idea of acquiring so much debt for college. You speak almost as if paying out the yin yang for school and then paying it off 20 years later is character-building.</p>

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<p>Character-building? I think that I said that the OP shouldn’t allow finances to impose a limitation on him if he truly believed that a different place would be worth it. I illustrated that this situation is doable by giving my anecdotal situation. You may have read too much into my response.</p>