Chance me for merit?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m hoping for merit scholarships of 15k+ from Brandeis, Tulane, Smith, Mount Holyoke, USC, Claremont McKenna, UW Madison, UIUC, Boston U. Chance me?

SAT I (breakdown): 1550
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: biology e: 770 math II: 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.72
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s: APUSH, Lang, Macroecon, Microecon, Calc BC, 4: French
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Comp Sci, AP Lit, AP Art History, AP Euro, AP Bio, AP Gov, Philosophy A
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nmsf, science olympiad medals and club awards, math team, school awards, local essay contest

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Junior States of America 11-12 (President), Math Team 9-12, Science Olympiad 9-12 (Treasurer), Scholastic Bowl 11-12, Junior Economic Club of Chicago 11-12, Yearbook 10,
Job/Work Experience: Student Election Judge, worked for local political campaign
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteering for Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, Contestant, Volunteer, and Organizer for Survivor (like the tv show) roleplay game orchestrated w friends which eventually became a huge thing
Summer Activities: Appalachian backpacking trips (x2), study abroad in France, Backpacking in Wyoming (x2), SCA National Crew

Gender: Female
State: Illinois
Major: Economics
Income: 250k+
Hooks: none

2

I think you probably have high chances at most universities to get at least some merit scholarships. The question I think would be more of a “how much would you get?”. 15k+ may be a little harder to get (also, I’m assuming that you mean 15k+ per year), but I have a feeling you might get around that value from some. Bear in mind, though, that your essays and letter of recommendations also play a large role in this decision-making process for universities, so it is a little hard to judge. You also need to consider if you applied before the “Priority Deadline” that some universities, such as BU, have for merit awards. Some universities also have rolling admissions, so applying early may help you get better scholarships too.

3

What can/will your parents pay for college…do you have a budget? Will they pay full tuition at the private schools on your list?

If you become NMF that will give you your best chance for significant merit. USC is the only school on the list above that provides merit (1/2 tuition) for NMFs (and they don’t accept all NMFs that apply).

At all the other schools, merit will be competitive. Some schools like Tulane and BU are shifting financial aid dollars from merit to need-based.

Publics have very little merit for OOS students (UWisc for example). UIUC will likely be your least costly option (of the set of schools above), as you are in-state…merit aid isn’t too great there either. If you need merit to afford any of the schools on your list, they should be considered reaches…even the ones that aren’t as selective.

To get a sense for how much total merit aid ((total $, number of students who receive it) that schools give out look in the financial aid section of their common data sets.

4

Hey! You play ORGs too? Drop a social or pm me, and I’d love to talk to you privately about my experiences (: