<p>Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about UNC and hear good things from quite a few students that are currently there. My only concern is that from what I heard, their OOS admission is very selective (since they have to sustain about a 80% in state enrollment) and with that the scholarship might be difficult for OOS students.</p>
<p>that's true, getting a scholarship is quite difficult at unc, especially for oos students, but often the monetary award is greater for oos as well. Also, i personally would rank difficulty of getting a scholarship at unc below rice, wash u, and vanderbilt, all of which offered me no merit aid and little financial aid. i think this shows that college admissions and scholarship selection has many factors that are completely out of the candidate's hands.</p>
<p>Just making sure, it's UNC at Chapel Hill, right? Thanks for the info and ideas. From what I heard, we have eliminated Vanderbilt, Emory, Northwestern, Hopkins because of their lack of merit aid. Rice is still in play because at least the tuition is cheaper than the rest.</p>
<p>^^^krug, maybe I missed an earlier post that explains your statement better, but Emory, Vanderbilt and Hopkins all offer merit aid. For the most part, NU does not, although they have a relatively new program that offers a combo need/merit scholarship. Vanderbilt has a variety of merit scholarships, including some that include a significant service component. </p>
<p>The merit scholarships are not by-the-book formulas that give discounts for any particular combination of statistics; they are very competitive and most require applications and interviews.</p>
<p>Between Rice and Emory, which offers more merit-based aid? Also, doesn't Hopkins offer only a limited number of merit scholarships?</p>
<p>What I was asking from an earlier post is for D who is a junior. ACT 34, 2200 SAT, 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.5 weighted, the average amount of extracurricular activities (NHS, class rep, science olympiad - 2nd in state, piano, Tae Kwon Do, volunteer at library, math club, french club). We needed suggestions for schools that we have a good chance for some merit aid. The schools that I mentioned above are getting so selective that although she might get in, she is not likely a candidate for merit award.</p>
<p>yes, UNC - Chapel Hill...That's true that Rice has fairly low tuition although it goes up yearly. Rice does take itself very seriously, ranking itself on par with the ivies in selectivity and education. Its scholarship are definitely difficult to get.</p>
<p>Krug:</p>
<p>Washington and Lee is a terrific school for the right person, both academically and in terms of connections after graduation. But it is really Southern and really traditional. Merit aid is very hard to get at most of the other schools that have been mentioned--no sure thing even for one as accomplished as your D.</p>
<p>If you and your D are willing to consider a step down in selectivity, you might think about the University of Richmond as a financial safety. I believe they give 50 full tuition scholarships each year.</p>
<p>Krug -- There are several web pages that give information on merit aid for many (not all) colleges and universities. Check out this one from U.S. News & World Report: </p>
<p>Don't be fooled ... the URL says NEED based aid, which is there, but so is MERIT AID! See the lat two columns which list the percent of students offered merit aid and the average amount of such awards.</p>
<p>Kiplinger's web site has a similar kind of listing.</p>
<p>Ohio Northern, a small LAC like U in Ada Ohio, gives up to $27K for a $37K cost to attend. It's a very intimate place (3600 students) with some major building and renovation going on. They have colleges for engineering, pharmacy, business, and arts and sciences (covers most everything else).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I have been following avidly on the goings on with college applications and feeling discourage because even with a fairly decent academic records, our chances for aid is slim because of the stiff competition. We are hoping to narrow our search and only apply to the schools that has a decent chance of aid since we are an academic family with one income. We are very puzzled on why college costs so much since from personal experience, professors are not well paid (and we are in the sciences!). You all have been so great and helpful.</p>
<p>krug,
just to let you know, University of Pittsburgh offers many full rides. Daughter #1 got it with stats that were what i'd call decent but not fantastic</p>
<p>krug,
Other possibilities to consider: Grinnell, USC, Tulane, Kenyon, BU, UMichigan, UMiami, Lewis & Clark, Whitman, Willamette, Bard, Smith and Scripps. </p>
<p>I personally might rate Rice as easier to get merit aid from than WUSTL, but harder than Vandy or Emory (but agree about the lower starting tuition factor). However, I admit I'm a year behind as my D graduated last year and I haven't been paying close attention to this year's results. Good luck!</p>
<p>krug: with your D's stats, definitely UMiami and Tulane......It also depends on what her academic interests are......I wouldn't however exclude Vandy or Emory but understand that it will be more competitive for the merit awards.....</p>
<p>My D was interested in Chem but yesterday came home thinking that she wants a chemical engineering option at the school that she will be applying to (she is asking my help in coming up with a list). Any suggestions for chem eng schools with good merit aid?</p>
<p>Case has a well-known engineering department, great merit aid and a "one door" admission policy. Maybe check it out.</p>
<p>Any geographical region in mind? Some top chemE programs I have listed in an older Gourman Report are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Berkley, Cal Tech, Stanford, Delaware, MIT, Illinois, Houston and Purdue. I don't know if the data is still relevant, but it might be a place to start.</p>
<p>Look at Santa Clara University and Arizona State (Bartlett honors)</p>
<p>The claremont colleges, Mudd, CMC, scripps (but not pomona), give merit scholarships ranging from 10K per year (fairly common) to full tuition (a handful). Top credentials are needed. Cooper Union is free if you can get in. Tulane purportedly is increasing money because it is having difficulty attracting students to New Orleans. Tulane is still beautiful by the way. I have also heard that the midwestern lacs are fairly good.</p>
<p>Both University of Maryland and especially Towson University ( which is part of the Maryland state university system) give out a lot of scholarship money,which includes possible full tuition.</p>
<p>I do know that both Pittsburgh and Miami, Syracuse and RIT give some very good merit aid. In fact, many of the better private schools ( other than the top 1%) usually give out merit aid.</p>
<p>You might even be able to get merit aid from some of the top private schools. We know of one kid who got a complete free ride to Carnegie Mellon. They are known to give out merit scholarsips if you are top notch for the school that you are applying to. We met an Asian girl from Ohio who turned down her instate university to study design at CMU. They gave her enough aid to equal what she would have paid to attend her state university. In fact, she stated that she came out a bit ahead. I think she got this aid because art and design students don't normally get very high SATs, and her SATs were in the top 10-20% of the design students.</p>
<p>Taxguy states "I think she got this aid because art and design students don't normally get very high SATs, and her SATs were in the top 10-20% of the design students."</p>
<p>I agree. My DD got a merit award at RIT from the School of Design and there was a SAT requirement to be eligible. I believe up to 10 kids can get these awards. After freshman year, she was given another merit award, based on GPA, I believe - this one I believe is from her department. So, academics do play a role for design students. My DD was also offered a nice merit scholarship ($12,000/yr I think) from Syracuse University. If I remember correctly, that also was based on portfolio, GPA and SATs.</p>
<p>UMiami does offer some nice merit scholarships. The minimum requirements are posted right on their website, so you have a good idea ahead of time if you are eligible - not sure if they're automatically guaranteed though. My son was offered the Singer Scholarship, which is full tuition.</p>