<p>I am wondering what level of school my son will be able to get a full-ride scholarship to. Does anyone have similar qualifications, or know someone who does, and who got a full ride to someplace pretty good? Any suggestions where he should apply with these kinds of stats? He is interested in physics or chemistry and will definitely go to grad school after his bachelor's degree.</p>
<p>STANDARDIZED TESTS:
SAT=800/760/780. ACT=35. PSAT=237 (assume he will be National Merit Finalist). No SAT Subject Tests yet, but will take 3 and ought to have very high scores. (He does very well on any standardized test.)</p>
<p>AP TESTS:
Will have four AP exams when he applies: Spanish (5), AmHist (4), Calc AB (just took it, expecting at least 4), Physics C (just took it, expecting 3 or 4). Will be taking AP Stats, Chem, and equivalent of Calc BC as a Senior.</p>
<p>CLASS RANK:
About 15-20 out of 120 students in a statewide, residential math-and-science magnet school.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.5 unweighted (no weighting at this school, but highly competitive and all classes taught at honors level or above); most classes that aren't AP are concurrent credit at the local state university</p>
<p>RESEARCH:
Doing Summer research in nanotechnology at a local (decent, not great) university. This will become his ISEF project for next year.</p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
Founded local environmental organization that lasted only one year.
Male lead in two plays including one musical.
Dance club.
Martial arts club.
Model United Nations.
Quiz bowl team was #3 in the state.
JETS TEAMS (engineering competition) team was #3 in the nation at Junior Varsity level.
Will be a Community Leader (sort of like an RA/RM) as a Senior.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for sharing your opinions! I only went to a basic state college, so the world of prestigious institutions and scholarships is new to me. I'm excited to find out what my son qualifies for and where in the world his abilities will take him!</p>
<p>Are you speaking of purely merit based aid?</p>
<p>The elite private colleges have little merit aid on offer, they give primarily need based aid which can be very generous if you qualify. For a free ride if you truly mean a free ride of full tuition, room and board, you will most probably have to go way down the college food chain and public colleges will be big on the list.</p>
<p>Of the fairly top colleges, those that give some merit aid include Duke, USC, UVA, UNC but I’m not sure about free rides.</p>
<p>Certain public universities recruit National Merit Finalists and offer a full ride. The ones of which I am aware include U Oklahoma, U Alabama, U Tulsa, and Texas A & M. These universities have large numbers of National Merit Finalists, most of whom are in their respective Honors Colleges. </p>
<p>Though your son’s qualifications clearly could gain him admission to much more highly ranked universities, merit aid is limited and unless you qualify for need-based aid, a full ride will be difficult to obtain. Some of the larger public universities offer full-tuition + scholarships to out-of-state students, but there are only a limited number of those offered each year. I believe Indiana University is one of those (Wells Scholarship link is [Wells</a> Scholar Program at Indiana University](<a href=“http://www.indiana.edu/~wsp/]Wells”>http://www.indiana.edu/~wsp/)). Other colleges and universities offer similar merit scholarships. A search of the threads on CC may identify these, as well as a search of the scholarship/financial sections on the websites of colleges and universities that interest you.</p>
<p>I find it unlikely that he will be able to get the Georgia Tech scholarship based simply on the fact that he doesn’t rank in the top 10% of his class. Georgia Tech is unlikely to treat every class he took in high school as an “honors class” for this reason alone–and unless they do, he won’t beat the 3.9 weighted GPA they use as a “cutoff criteria” (note that only 1% of those below this level qualified for the scholarship).</p>
<p>Still worth a try, though.</p>
<p>P.S. The Ivies also are all about rank–and this could work against him there also. I think the best chance for full-rides is at the National Merit places mentioned by zapfino, or at Indiana University (a school that my son, coincidentally, happens to be attending).</p>
<p>It’s definitely tough to find a school that will give you a free ride based solely on merit. You might get full tuition, but it would have to be below, uh, probably the top 50. It’s a little easier if you have financial need. WashU has a great financial aid program. If your PROFILE EFC is really low, you can get a full ride through need-based aid.</p>
<p>Yeah, I doubt he’ll get the PSP from GT considering that his GPA is below the average admit. He might not even get into the honors program because of that GPA.</p>
<p>Regardless, I was pointing out that you don’t have to go that far down the “food chain” to find full merit-based scholarships.</p>
<p>Two good schools that offer full rides are Washington and Lee and U Richmond. But although those are some awesome SATS, the GPA may not be good enough. These are very competitive awards.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that a full merit ride is likely to come only from a school that is a couple of tiers below the best schools to which a student could gain admission. Many of these schools are “really good,” but they may not seem that good to a student who could go to a better school.
I think the idea of looking for a “free ride” is not the best way to think of this. Rather, I would think in terms of how to obtain the best education that is reasonably affordable. This might be a free ride, but it also might be the honors college at the state university (with instate costs), or it might be a more selective school with good need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you so much, everyone who replied. It’s great to have to much to think about.</p>
<p>I don’t expect my son to attend a school just because it offers good merit aid. I am very willing to pay some money to attend a top school. I am asking mainly because my son is currently looking for good backup schools if he doesn’t get into his first choice (Chicago). I want to encourage him to apply to schools that may be a small step down, but may offer much more merit aid. (We’ll qualify for some need-based aid, but not a lot.)</p>
<p>Thank you again, everyone. I am learning so much by reading these forums.</p>
<p>He should definately checkout the University of Southern California, Washington University in St. Louis, Vandy, plus Duke. There are a variety of state universities, which have honor’s program for highly talented students–i.e. The Ohio State University, University of Michigan, and Maryland.</p>