I’m a junior in high school, and UTD is my best shot at college, but I need to be able to go with scholarships. On a 4.0 scale it’s looking like I can pull together a 3.0 by the end of the year if I really try (I’ve made some bad decisions and my mental health meant my grades slipped). I’m in all AP and honors classes, have a 1470 SAT and 1420 PSAT score, I’m currently studying for the ACT and I have quite a few extracurriculars. What are my chances for merit-based scholarships?
You have got the SAT score but your GPA and probably your rank is a problem. I would try to explain the problems but in a positive manner in your essays and recommendations. If you show that you overcame adversity and are doing well now now, it might help. Also, don’t put all of your hopes into a scholarship. Start working now and saving. Depending on your families income, you might be elgible for financial aid. Take the AP tests and dual credit courses to reduce the number of GE courses you will have to take later. All of that helps to reduce the costs.
As far as scholarships are concerned, Texas schools are looking at rank around the top 25%. You do have some options out of state. Mississippi State offers a partial scholarship for high SAT scores and a 3.0 minimum. It comes out to $14,000. The OOS tuition is 22,000, which basically comes out to $8,000 a year. That’s about $2,000 cheaper than any Texas school. A lot of deep south schools offer good OOS scholarships. You can also check out Ole Miss, Alabama State, LA Tech, and LSU.
Also, if money is an issue, private schools tend to be more generous with need based aid. You could get your parent’s tax return and use the net price calculator for TCU, SMU, and Baylor. In fact, you could do that with any private school because there’s no state boundaries. Good luck!