<p>My son has a cumulative SAT of 1340 and an overall 2020. He took the Subject SAT recently and scored 750/800. His GPA is 3.8. He is President of the Advanced Drama Department which he became a member of in his Freshman year. He will need a full scholarship to go to the east coast schools he is looking at. I would like to know if my son would be a candidate for the scholarships I see offered by these schools, i.e. the ones they grant automatically? I should also mention he is a 6'3 caucasian young man which I'm guessing is a factor as well... thanks in advance for the feedback!</p>
<p>If his GPA and SAT CR/Math scores are a match for GUARANTEED scholarships…he would get them. Why wouldn’t he if they are guaranteed?</p>
<p>If the scholarships are not guaranteed and are competitive, there is no way for anyone here to predict whether or not your son will get one.</p>
<p>What is a “cumulative SAT” score? Is that his CR/Math?</p>
<p>You mention “full scholarships”. Do you mean he needs tuition, room, board, fees and personal expenses? If so, very few schools offer these awards for all students with certain stats.</p>
<p>What schools are you talking about?</p>
<p>How much will be available through family and self each year to pay for college? Run your financials through a FAFSA EFC estimator, and that result is about the least you are going to be required to pay before you are eligble for financial aid. If you want another indicator, run some numbers through some schools that your son is eyeing, via NPC and see what they come up with.</p>
<p>If the nubmers are more than you can or are willing to pay, then your son needs to look at schools that have large merit awards. He needs to be in the upper echelon of the students, stats wise to have a half a chance for all but guaranteed awards. The performing arts talent may increase his chances somewhat and if a school has specific scholarships for that, he would be eligible for those too.</p>
<p>My actor son’s stats were similar toy your son’s, and though he did get a lot of scholarship awards, they were all under $5K which was still a drop in the bucket, given the schools were 10X the price. Our state school was by far the best deal with a $3500 against a low sticker price. That was the best he could get. Getting a full ride is not easy; they are scarce. </p>
<p>Though his acting credits will help in terms of acceptance to highly selective schools, many of them have only need based awards. If he could get accepted to one of them, they may meet full or close to full need. But if the need is not there by the schools’ definitions, he won’t get that money.</p>
<p>Is your son planning to major in drama?</p>
<p>Full ride drama scholarships are extremely rare. Especially is he is looking at the schools that would be considered the usual suspects. I did get money, sometimes alot. But still nowhere near a full ride to the really expensive programs. If he is looking at a BFA stats don’t really matter at all. That’s all about talent.</p>
<p>Full ride merit scholarships are quite rare for any major. Full tuition scholarships are more likely, but also rare. Start running NPC at the schools… that will give you a better idea of estimated costs. Good luck! </p>
<p>PS - It’s always a good idea to limit loans, but more so for a drama major.</p>
<p>Have you looked at:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html</a></p>
<p>lol, I have not so far seen height as a factor in scholarships.</p>
<p>Hopefully the OP will clarify whether this student plans to major in drama…or whether she hopes drama interest will help with acceptance and scholarships.</p>
<p>I will speak to the second. If the student is NOT majoring in drama, it is unlikely that his drama interest will be viewed as a “hook” for scholarships. His GPA and SAT scores will be the things that get him merit awards. </p>
<p>As others have noted, full RIDE (scholarships including all costs) are very rare. Full tuition is not all that common either.</p>
<p>Some schools do NOT give merit awards at all.</p>
<p>Even IF your kid fits the criteria for a scholarship, unless it is guaranteed for ALL who meet that criteria, there is no way anyone here can predict if YOUR kid will get the nod.</p>
<p>If you have found a guaranteed FULL RIDE scholarship on the east coast that fits you kid’s stats, please post that school here. It would be very helpful to know it, since there are so FEW of these awards.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, tall men are very desirable in acting programs. That said, the question is impossible to answer without the talent portion which is, of course, very subjective. I wouldn’t count on it.</p>
<p>to answer your first question yes its CR/math. I used to think it was just the overall SAT, but no one seems to care about that. i guess I shouldn’t have used the word ‘guaranteed’ if I did that was misleading. i was on merit.com last night looking at scholarships from colleges he is interested in and they all seemed to be ones that he could not apply for, but rather ones that, if he met certain criteria, he would simply GET. I am WAY out of my depth here. This is my only kid and a year ago I lost a high six figure job and because of some other personal events, had to sell my home, etc. As a single Mom I am currently living off what I would have sent my son to college on which is frankly not unlike the desperation many others are facing. perhaps I’m just a bit dumber, not having saved more extensively and not knowing anything about things like scholarships. I was blown away to see nine responses.
He wants to go to NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Pace, Yale, Ithaca, SUNY Purchase, USC, UCLA.
Thanks for any help you can give me.</p>
<p>Thank you Thumper1 for your respnse, unfortunately it looks like I responded to flossie, who tells me the programs like Tall actors (yea!!!) and talent may help him…oh thank God. I know you all are going to groan when I say this but he IS incredibly talented. The last play he was in, the lead, there was a talent scout there and he asked to represent him.
o answer your first question yes its CR/math. I used to think it was just the overall SAT, but no one seems to care about that. i guess I shouldn’t have used the word ‘guaranteed’ if I did that was misleading. i was on merit.com last night looking at scholarships from colleges he is interested in and they all seemed to be ones that he could not apply for, but rather ones that, if he met certain criteria, he would simply GET. I am WAY out of my depth here. This is my only kid and a year ago I lost a high six figure job and because of some other personal events, had to sell my home, etc. As a single Mom I am currently living off what I would have sent my son to college on which is frankly not unlike the desperation many others are facing. perhaps I’m just a bit dumber, not having saved more extensively and not knowing anything about things like scholarships. I was blown away to see nine responses.
He wants to go to NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Pace, Yale, Ithaca, SUNY Purchase, USC, UCLA.
Thanks for any help you can give me.</p>
<p>Yes he will major in Drama. he wants to get a BFA in acting.</p>
<p>Thank you Colorado Mom. I told him NO LOANS. and he said but but but how how how. because there is literally the dregs of unemployment fourth tier here and I said hey where there’s a street corner and a tin can baby…I am NOT going to let him head into an acting career with loans it just cqan’t be. something will happen. it must</p>
<p>I should also mention he is a 6’3 caucasian young man which I’m guessing is a factor as well</p>
<p>Dang…if only he were 6’4"</p>
<p>jk</p>
<p>Any “full rides” are hard to come by without NMF status. </p>
<p>What is his home state? Take off any Calif publics unless you’re instate (does your screenname indicate CA is home state?). Take off NYU and Pace. Take off the SUNY unless you’re instate.</p>
<p>He’s not going to get any merit from USC…certainly not a full ride.</p>
<p>Once you tell us what his homestate is, we’ll be able to give better advice.</p>
<p>Your son is going to have to go down some big notches if he hopes for a full ride.</p>
<p>Are you working at all? Have you run the Net Price Calculators on school’s websites?</p>
<p>They may want tall actors and quality actors, but that’s not likely going to translate into a free ride…or even close to it. And, being very tall can be a negative since you’re taller than the others and it makes close-ups difficult. </p>
<p>Don’t see how this will be done w/o some loans…which can be bad for T majors.</p>
<p>Which Calif publics did he apply to? I hope he applied to A LOT!!! (assuming instate)</p>
<p>Oh, Oh. You need some safeties. Stats are not much of a factor in BFA admissions. It’s an audition based process that is completely baffling to most guidance counselors. All of your schools are highly competitive…Ivy level competitive… but talent, not academics. None of them are cheap with the exception of UCLA if you are in state. They take 20 people out of easily 100’s, maybe 1000. Find a safety.</p>
<p>CMU for example takes 5 male actors in a typical year. 5. It’s scary. And, you need money. Safety. Safety. Try, and good luck. But it would be awful to get into one of these top programs and then not be able to attend. You have two problems. Is he a HS senior?</p>
<p>Does anyone know which CSUs and “lower UCs” have good T programs?</p>
<p>I think Fullerton has a good program.</p>
<p>A lower UC with good theater may prove to be a good safety because the mom is saying “no” to loans. A lower UC may replace loans with merit. </p>
<p>It sounds like this family will qualify for Blue and Gold with the UCs…but usually the FA pkgs have FULL LOANS in them…including Perkins…so the kid could end up with $35k in debt. 
But, merit from a lower UC could replace those loans…</p>
<p>Is he applying to Chapman and LMU?</p>
<p>CaliforniaM, what schools is he interested in? You should really be posting in the Theatre forum. I can tell you from experience, as I have a daughter who is an actor and has a BFA in Drama, and I know hundreds of actors, I don’t know of even one who got a full ride to study theatre in college. It just doesn’t happen. So, if you’re talking about a true full ride, I wouldn’t count on it at any BFA program.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/</a></p>
<p>I’m assuming your son is a junior who will be applying and auditioning next year?</p>
<p>I agree UC’s and CSU’s are probably the best bet. CSU Fullerton is a cut program…meaning you have to audition into the BFA and may not get it. It’s a risk. UC Irvine has a good theater department but the BFA is musical theater only. Look at UC Santa Barbara or maybe UC Santa Cruz and Cal State Northridge.</p>
<p>" I have a daughter who is an actor and has a BFA in Drama, and I know hundreds of actors, I don’t know of even one who got a full ride to study theatre in college. It just doesn’t happen. So, if you’re talking about a true full ride, I wouldn’t count on it at any BFA program."</p>
<p>I agree, so maybe the goal shouldn’t be “full ride merit” for being a T major. Maybe the goal should be:</p>
<p>Full ride merit at a school that gives everyone with certain stats a full ride (not many w/o higher stats).</p>
<p>Or, a Calif public that will give him Pell (if mom’s EFC is low), a Cal Grant, a UC grant and some merit…like a low level UC.</p>
<p>Did the mom post something that indicates that he’s a junior?
If he’s a senior, then UC and CSU apps are due this weekend (I think).</p>