<p>I got a 34 on the ACT (10 on writing), and have a 4.0+ gpa along with loads of extracurriculars like national honor society, volunteering, sports (cross country, track, nordic) and am captain of varsity nordic. I am looking to go to a top business school for undergrad and plan on majoring in finance. Does anyone know of some highly ranked institutions that offer full ride (or at least big) merit scholarships? I would be willing to go to a slightly lesser college (but still in top 50 or so) if I could get a big scholarship. I am primarily looking in the midwest (home area) and the mid-atlantic/east coast (pennsylvania). I will most definitely NOT qualify for need based aid so I will not be filing for FAFSA at all. I understand that most of the top schools like penn do not offer much merit money, but do any of the slightly lower schools have full or half ride scholarships? Any suggestions are helpful. Thanks!</p>
<p>You will need to file the FAFSA anyway (even if you don’t qualify for need based aid), or the colleges can’t assign financial aid to you. </p>
<p>How about Case Western?</p>
<p>acuraman- i didn’t file the fafsa and got merit scholarships at several colleges.</p>
<p>"Does anyone know of some highly ranked institutions that offer full ride (or at least big) merit scholarships? "
U Southern Calif offers 1/2 tuition for all NMF’s and over 100 Full tuition scholarships [= ++$150,000/ for 4 years] each year to top students. All you have to do to be considered for Merit $$ is be SURE to have your complete USC application submitted by Dec 1 . Submitting your app early does NOT prevent you from also applying to early admissions programs, such as YHS.</p>
<p>Acuraman is confusing merit scholarships with financial aid. It’s a really common mistake, even among those who have received FA - sometimes they believe it to be a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, a true merit scholarship won’t require any submission of financial data. If anybody knows of exceptions, I would appreciate knowing about them.</p>
<p>^ Not true. This is dependent on the college. Some colleges require a FAFSA only in the first year (like my DD1’s school) while others require it annually. Merit scholarship OFFERS don’t require a FAFSA but to actually get the funding you may have to file. You’ll have to check with the school FA office.</p>
<p>OP, are you by any chance a NMF? There is a thread in the FA forum by Keilexandra that lists great NMF scholarships. And there are some large Us like Bama and Auburn that offer full scholarships for high scores and grades.</p>
<p>There are several threads on this topic in the Financial Aid Forum. Go to that forum and scroll down until you hit them.</p>
<p>Ohio State gave me a full ride and I had slightly lower stats, it’s top 50 as well! Look into Penn State (they give good aid to Schreyers Honors College students). Tulane gives 20-25K scholarships automatically, and then you can apply for a various number of other scholarships that can add up to a full ride. Boston University gives some very generous merit scholarships as well.
University of Pittsburgh, University of Minnesota also give some great aid. You can’t really go wrong with applying anywhere in the Big Ten, they’re known for great aid.</p>