Please could someone tell me if I have a chance of getting a full or almost full ride to any of these/any suggested. I am a permanent resident of FL, but have British high school credentials.
AS Levels: A, A, A, A (4/4)
GCSEs: 9A*s 2As
SAT superscore: CR=730, Wr=770 Math=710
I would like to take the SAT again as I think I can get my math score up
Subject tests: Math 2=730, Physics=710 (I might also retake these)
My ECs include club level soccer + school varsity rugby, grade 8 cello + school orchestra, MUN, co-founded a student run debating society in school, Sports Leadership (british thing), Lamda Verse and Prose Grade 5.
As for colleges, in this post I’m mainly asking about state schools with good honors programs. So far I’m considering:
UVA (honors or not I intend to apply but would need aid/scholarship)
ASU Barrett
UT Austin (honors or not I would need a scholarship)
UF with donors program (my backup, but even with instate tuition I may still need some help with funding)
UNC
Penn State Shreyer honors
Also considering the UCs but i know scholarships for non residents are very competitive.
I would also be applying after a gap year (I have to unfortunately), so hopefully will have some work experience. I hope that I’d be able to get into some of these schools, but I’m not sure if I would get enough funding, so any info/advice would be great, thanks!
Are you set on a large university? If not, you should consider New College of FL as a state resident. They are a separate Honors College, and quite generous with aid. UNC is very difficult for out-of-state applicants, and UT is also since enacting a policy of automatic acceptance for the top 7% of students at every high school in the state. You have great qualifications, but most of the public colleges on your list are pretty stingy with non-residents. Try Pitt instead of Penn State. Temple has a good Honors Program, with generous merit aid, that you would almost certainly qualify for.
@woogzmama I’ve considered and actually been to New College in FL, but in a way I am set on a university of at least 4,000 people, and prefer colleges with good sports teams. I will look into Temple and and Pitt. Do you know if ASU Barrett and UVA are stingy for non residents?
I think UVA has a history of meeting need, but it’s hard to get into. I really don’t know; I’m sure plenty of people on CC could answer your questions. It accepts more out-of-state students than many flagship universities. I think ASU might be pretty generous, in order to attract a critical mass of high-performing students. I understand your feelings about NCF. I have a son there now (out-of-state, but it costs about the same as our own state public colleges would), and I think he is very grateful to have a car and needs opportunities to branch out whenever he can.
p.s. One appealing aspect of Temple and Pitt is that they offer combinations of urban settings, public-college price-tags, and D-1 sports programs. Temple had to cut some sports a year or two ago, but they still have pretty good basketball teams ( Men’s and Women’s - omission from NCAA tournament was controversial, and they had top seed at NIT). Their football team isn’t great, but they’re playing Notre Dame and Penn State in the fall (albeit with very poor odds), and are in a competitive league. Pitt has even stronger athletics.
University of Southern California might be an option. Good football team. It really depends on how much money you can pay and f you need a full ride or not.
You might consider Texas Tech or Baylor for a scholarship. Also University of Alabama. These schools have strong sports programs and lots of school spirit,There is a list of automatic scholarships on CC under the financial aid tab.
Your chances of a scholarship at UT are slim.
You need to know your EFC to determine if you should apply to merit scholarship schools or “meet full need schools”. And you also need to know if your parents can pay the full EFC.
@woogzmama Thanks for your advice.
@txstella USC is one of the private universities I hope to apply to, and I would probably prefer it to most of the State Universities I listed in this post. USC claim to meet full need, but I’ve heard they aren’t as generous as the Ivies etc. They also have a few merit scholarships I will look into, though these will be very competitive. I will look into what my ECF would be, but I’ve heard this is just an estimate and my circumstances could make this vary. (My parents were never married; my mother has a small income. My dads is larger but he has his own family and no legal obligation to help with funding, (he will do what he can though).
The one thing about UT Austin I’ve heard is that if I get a scholarship I automatically get in state tuition at most.