Chances and shot at getting merit money.

Colleges and Universities A-Z New College of Florida
1

<p>Do I have a chance at getting some merit money? I'm out of state, obviously. And could I apply to NCF as a safety because I'm sure to get in?</p>

<p>Female from Tucson, AZ.
GPA - 3.8 maybe (they don't tell us UW), 4.3 weighted. Upward trend.
ACT - 29 (30E, 28M, 31R, 25S)
SAT - 1890 (700CR, 570M, 620W)
Class Rank - No clue. Probably between top 15-20%.
Class Size - 75.</p>

<p>I also re-took my ACT recently so we'll see if I score higher. I think I'm just going to send my ACT.</p>

<p>Freshman year: Honors Biology, Honors English, Honors World Geography
Sophomore year: Honors English, Honors Geometry, Honors World History
Junior year: AP English, AP US History, and Honors Algebra II
Senior year: AP English, AP US Government, Honors Physics, Honors Functions, Stats, and Trig, and Honors Bible (which isn't given extra credit).</p>

<p>AP Scores: APUSH - 5, AP Lang/Comp - 4.</p>

<p>ECs, Awards, Work, Volunteering, etc.
- Freelance graphic design and web development for private websites.
- Director of Design for 2007 Dance Show.
- 2 years of Yearbook, and I'll be an editor this year.
- National Honors Society
- 1st Place in Southern Arizona Language Fair for a Sign Language Dramatic Interpretation.
- High honor roll every semester
- Honorable mention in the science fair
- Award for Excellence in Beginning Dance
- Volunteer at church and the library. </p>

<p>Intended major: Classics</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

2

<p>I'm just the mom of a First Year, so I really could only guess based on what I've seen. It looks like most kids there had high GPAs and test scores, but I think they put a lot of emphasis on your essay...so be sure to do well on that. I'm really not sure if you should consider NCF a safety school, but your chances should be best if you apply sooner than later.</p>

<p>I have heard they do give merit aid, but you should check with the school to see what's available.</p>

<p>I think it's a great school to study the Classics and Literature...good luck!</p>

3

<p>Does anybody know how generous NC is with financial aid? It seems that NC is relatively generous compared to other universities, is this true?</p>

4

<p>They have very clear rules based around SATs, National Merit status and GPA. I'm not sure if there's merit $ if you don't meet those sorts of standards.</p>

5

<p>Well I know my stats put me in the middle 50%, at least for my ACT score. I think the middle 50% range was something through 30.</p>

<p>Is it really much harder to get in from out of state? I've read that they want to admit well-qualified, OOS students. I don't have like a 35 ACT but I've got a strong record.</p>

<p>Oh, and + my extracurriculars: I'm Editor In Cheif of the Yearbook this year, not just a regular editor. So I was hoping to use that as my "leadership role" that colleges look for.</p>

6

<p>My d is a third year out of state. They have a fairly straight forward calculation for merit money that is fairly generous . I think you would get a good discount off the out of state tuition. Ask the admission office - they can tell you what the calculation is. They use to have it on their financial aid web site. I was able to make the case for more money once my d was admitted and we did not do the FAFSA for her. Also, when she did the National Outdoor Leadership School semester, her scholarship helped discount that experience.</p>

7

<p>Does anyone know how much more difficult it is to get in as an out of state student?</p>

8

<p>There seem to be lots of first years here from out of state and the US. We were very suprised by this, thinking the school isn't all that well-known. So my guess is they look at the applicant, not where they are from.</p>

9

<p>NCF admissions are compared to ivy league admissions in some respects. I don't think it could be counted on as a safety. This also makes it sound like you aren't especially devoted to this school. As I saw someone write in another thread, NCF wants students who want NCF. You may want to re-evaluate your reasons for applying. I don't mean to sound so negative, just want to offer good, down-to-earth advice. Good luck.</p>

10

<p>For me, I'm trying to make a list of colleges such that both my reaches and my safeties are places that I would love to attend. And I would love to go to NCF. The reason that I denote it as a safety is because the acceptance rate is much higher than most of the other places I'm applying to. However, it has the same caliber of challenging academics--which is what i'm looking for most in a college.</p>

<p>I'm only applying to four places as of now (Reed, Chicago, St. John's College, and NCF) but I need a place of those where I'm -sure sure- to get in. So I'm looking at NCF as a positibility for that position. However, I'm thinking that it's more of a semi-safety than anything else.</p>

<p>I think I'll write them an email about this, just because I'm so on the fence about how much my oos status is going to affect my application...</p>

11

<p>When we were there last weekend, they said they would be offering merit $ for OOS students. But don't let the high acceptance rate fool you into thinking NCF is a safety, it has a very self-selective population that applies. Many FL kids don't apply because they are too afraid of the academic rigor and upset by the lack of football. It's also not the school for students who want majors outside of the liberal arts, like business and engineering.</p>

<p>It's likely being OOS will help, but not as much as submitting a great essay and applying early.</p>

12

<p>Yeah, I'm going to be applying as soon as possible. I'm still working on my essay, though, but I'll have the application in before November, I'm sure.</p>

<p>Thanks for the insight!</p>

13

<p>You have a good shot of getting in. The only red flag in your application is that you only took 4 AP's, but that's all I took and I'm a thesis student there right now. </p>

<p>There is a scholarship calculator on this site: <a href="http://www.ncf.edu/financialaid/scholarshipftic2.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ncf.edu/financialaid/scholarshipftic2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The list of schools to which you are applying is a bit interesting, because there is a sense in which St. John's and NCF are antithetical. The former has a completely required curriculum-- that is, you don't choose ANY of your classes-- whereas the latter has a much more open curriculum. Reed and U Chicago are somewhere in between. They're all good schools, but the low math SAT suggests to me that U Chicago is a high reach. I know someone who went to St. Johns in Maryland and then transferred to New College.</p>

14

<p>My school only offers 6 AP classes, and one of them is AP Calc which I'm not far enough in math in to take anyways.</p>

<p>As for Chicago, I have been told--and others have confirmed--that standardized test scores are one of the least important parts of the application. I'm hoping that my essays, recommendations, and solid courseload/grades will make up for that deficiency. I plan to be a classics major, not a math major--so I'm hoping that they'll take that into consideration. :)</p>

<p>How soon do you think I should submit my application? It's pretty much 100% ready--I just need to wait for my parents to give me the $$ to pay the application fee.</p>