My daughter is looking for a small to medium college that would give her the best chance at a full scholarship (merit not need based.) She has a 36 ACT and will most likely be named a NMF. Has received awards in writing and some smaller math/science awards. Volunteer work every summer and Varsity sports/ captain.
Can anyone suggest some schools?
She’s a bit of an introvert—outgoing once you get to know her but prefers small get together to big parties.
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Probably bigger than she would want but she might be competitive for a full tuition scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh.
I forgot to add that! It’s actually the only school we visited… I loved it but she didn’t love the urban campus. Still keeping it on the list and will definitely apply.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com
If your daughter is anticipating NMF she must be a senior, right? Many schools tie merit scholarships to priority/early application deadlines, and many of those deadlines have passed, so please check on that with any of the schools you’re serious about. Good luck!
How about Case Western in Cleveland? It gives lots of merit aid. Or Miami of Ohio. If you look on Miami’s admissions page for merit aid info, the school provides a one-page chart that shows a range of merit aid that students can expect to receive. For a 3.5 and a 33 or higher ACT (super-scored), the range is half to full tuition. I would guess that a 36 would get a prospective student full tuition, other things considered. Maybe Dickinson in PA–beautiful campus, quality LAC.
Nerdmom-- no, she is a junior. Just her score is 6 points higher than our states cut off this year, so not banking on it, but hoping it is a possibility.
TTG-- we should look at case. It’s so close to home and an urban campus so it wasn’t high on the list, but I will have her revisit-- I didn’t realize they gave good merit aid. She didn’t think she’d fit in at Miami, but I haven’t looked at Dickinson at all…will check it out-- thank you!
ucbalumnus-- thank you for the links! They are great!
Nerdmom, when you say early application do you mean early decision? We weren’t planning on applying ED anywhere so we could compare financial aid packages. Will that hurt us?
There is a big difference between merit scholarship and a full ride (meaning it covers tuition and fees, room and board). Which one are you looking for?
I would definitely go to the websites for the schools on your list and see what their merit scholarships cover. My guess a full ride will be difficult at most of them. Allegheny may be your best bet.
CWRU offers merit but not sure if they offer a full ride. My D got a $28,000 merit scholarship last year but when you are paying $60,000 that still is a lot.
My S got the Cinncinatticus scholarship and another award awhile back but again that was only a partial award off of the huge price tag.
For a full ride, there are threads that cover this. Search those out although I’m thinking that the schools are perhaps a tier down from those above.
If she will consider the South there are some really good deals out there- UT Dallas, Trinity University,University of Houston and Loyola New Orleans give out full or almost full rides.
Honors programs for a small school feel at large schools like Ohio State, Pitt, U Indiana, Michigan State, U Maryland
Goingnutsmom, yes I’m looking for the best chance at full tuition. As I have done the net calculators I have run into the same thing you described with Case… even the top tier scholarships (of course they don’t factor in full tuition) are 20-30 thousand which still means tuition is 30-40. I also forgot Loyola of Chicago is on our list, and this summer hoping to visit university of Indiana and OSU (interested in the honors programs that nw2this mentioned) but skeptical about a huge school like that for her even with an honors program. We havent looked at any southern schools mostly because of distance, but also because she actually prefers the cold! Maybe should give them a second look.
If you visit Dickinson, you may want to schedule a visit to Muhlenberg as well. You could visit both schools on the same day.
Boston College, Boston U, Centre, Clark U, Clemson, Davidson, Denison, Drake, Duke, Furman, IIT, JHU, Knox, U Maryland, Miami U (OH), Northeastern, OSU, U Pitt, U Richmond, U Rochester, St. Lawrence U, Stevens IT, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, W&L, WPI.
Her best shot is hard to say.
GPA?
Class rank?
Type of high school?
Classes/rigour?
Recs?
If you attempt to visit Dickinson and Muhlenberg on the same day watch your time carefully. I would leave a good 2 1/2 to 3 hours of drive time between the two schools. So you will have to start early and plan on finishing late with little time in between.
I don’t think Loyola of Chicago gives a lot of merit aid. But maybe they’ve changed.
Michigan State offers some competitive merit scholarships: https://admissions.msu.edu/cost-aid/merit-based-aid/freshman/high-achieving.aspx
OP, have you run the Net Price Calculators at any of the colleges that meet full need?
Kenyon does give merit, but I have not heard full tuition merit awards there, mostly $15-20k rather than something which brings the tuition way down. At the same time, Kenyon is one of the schools that gives merit awards for Scholastic national awards, that list is available on the Scholastic website.
At a Denison admitted student day, my kid met a number of full tuition award winners – they were choosing between full tuition merit award at Denison vs. Stanford or HPY full pay. A 36 alone may not be enough for full tuition at Denison, though a 36 plus high gpa and rank and a coherent picture of leadership and engagement might do it. I also cannot recall if the full merit awards at Denison required additional essays or if they were awarded automatically with the acceptance.
Kalamazoo might give full tuition merit, another school we loved. For comparison, my well-rounded athlete/musician received half tuition merit awards at Kzoo, Wooster, Beloit, Lawrence, Knox – he was in top 25% of stats. How much higher would a student have to be to move from 1/2 to full merit? I think those are questions that can be asked in interview. My student got “previews” of possible merit range in a number of his campus one-on-one meetings with admissions officers.
Dickinson caps merit at about 1/2 tuition, as I recall, St Lawrence the same, I believe. Loyola Chicago gives good merit awards but again, I don’t know specifically if it goes as high as full tuition.
Bryn Mawr might be a possibility.
The Kiplinger’s “best value” rankings provide data on the number of merit scholarships, and the average amounts, at private universities and LACs:
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts
Kenyon, for example, awarded merit scholarships to 21% of a recent freshman class. The average award was about $15K (a bit more than the cost of R&B).
Each school’s Common Data Set, section H2A, provides similar information (without details about the range/distribution of competitive merit award amounts). The online Net Price Calculators generally focus on need-based aid, although in some cases they do also show merit grants.
It’s easier to determine just what to expect if you focus on schools that promise automatic merit scholarships, in specific amounts, for minimum qualifying stats.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Dunboyne,
GPA 4.33
Class rank (school does not rank)
Type of high school? Private, Catholic all girls
Classes/rigour? She will have 9 AP and 8 honors classes completed (2 more than is allowed)