Chances for a full-ride?

Applying to College
1

Hello everybody,

I am a currently a junior in a small town called Melrose in New Mexico. I recently scored a 35 on my ACT and I have a GPA of 3.92. I can’t remember my PSAT score, but I’m pretty sure I am in the 99th percentile. My top three school choices are NYU, USC, and Florida. I was wondering if any of you guys know whether or not I have a good shot at getting a full ride for any of these schools.

If not, what schools are known to give full-rides based on merit?

More about me…

Extracurriculars:

FFA (Future Farmers of America)-
2 1st Place State Teams (Homesite and Quiz)
1st High Individual State Quiz
5th High Individual National Homesite
Participated on numerous other teams.

BPA (Business Professionals of America)-
1st High Individual State Financial Math & Analysis
Participating on Parliamentary Procedure Team

4-H-
1st Place State Land Team

Class Officer Every Year (Pres. Fr, Sec. Soph, VP Jr)

Basically all of my extracurricular activities are related to agriculture…but I live on a farm and ranch, so that isn’t unusual. As far as my GPA goes, it should increase incrementally if I don’t get anymore B’s. (4.0 scale) Unfortunately, my high school does not offer AP or Honors classes and I am having to take an online course just to get my 2nd foreign language credit.

2

<p>basically, the top schools rarely ever give out full rides (unless ur from the same city or something)
but it can happen</p>

<p>but, u may wanna try for a top 20-30 college or so, maybe even higher</p>

3

<p>FFA will be rare for USC and NYU applicants! :)<br>
I would guess that you have an excellent chance at a full ride at Florida. Good merit aid at USC and NYU is a possibility, particularly if you raise your GPA a bit and most of all write an excellent essay and have strong recommendations.</p>

4

<p>Cross NYU off of your list because they state in their financial aid policies that they are not need bline, do not meet 100% of your financial need, and they Gap, and do not give generous scholarship aid. I have never heard of anyone getting a free ride from them</p>

5

<p>How did you come up with those three schools? What are you thinking of majoring in?</p>

6

<p>If you are likely to be a NM scholar (which based on what you remember of your PSAT seems a strong possibility), here's a list of colleges giving great scholarships to NM Scholars: <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I imagine, too, that you'd have a great chance for a full ride at your state public and private universities.</p>

7

<p>The reasons I'm applying to NYU and USC are opportunity and location. I'm not sure if I will continue to be heavily involved in agriculture when I graduate. If I decide not to, I will try to pursue a career in writing of some kind. I've always had a knack for it and I think being a writer for a TV show or a freelance columnist would be great. I'm sure there are other interesting jobs in that field I'm not even thinking of. If I was at USC or NYU, I would have an opportunity to get pretty good internships in the entertainment industry. I would also have the opportunity to dabble in acting and things like that, which I have also had an interest in. I have traveled to both areas and think that they would be a great change of pace from the farm...and that I would also grow as a person just from being in a more fast-paced environment.</p>

<p>As for Florida....I have family there and also love the environment there too. They also have a good agricultural program so I could go there for either career path I choose.</p>

<p>In case I decide to stay close to home and make a commitment to continuing our family tradition of farming and ranching, I am also applying to New Mexico State in Las Cruces.</p>

8

<p>LA and NY are key intership places, but there are TONS of major cities that offer those types of interships. Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston/DC (both have easy access to NY) are very good places to look for colleges.</p>

9

<p>Northstarmom's reference to National Merit would really fit. If you become a Finalist, I believe UFloriday will give you a full ride. If you check out the site she has referenced it would tell you what schools will give you something for that honor. USC and NYU are very expensive schools, and though they do give merit scholarships, if you do need financial safeties, the National Merit list is a good place to start. Coming from an unusual area will really help you out in merit aid in Boston, Philadelphia, other east coast cities and in the midwest.</p>

10

<p>Also closish to home is Arizona State, which offers that glorious automatic $90000 scholarship to NM finalists (or scholars, I can't remember which.) Excellent school.
Maybe BU would be a good fit for you?</p>

11

<p>I would add Rice to your list of schools that give generous merit aid along with demonstrated need.</p>

12

<p>Florida waives out of state tuition and gives $9500.00 per year, which is basically a free ride, for NMF. My son is definitely taking advantage of that! Go Gators!!</p>

13

<p>Hey fiddlefrog (or anyone else who knows, of course)</p>

<p>To tell you the truth, I hadn't even considered BU...but after looking at the website, I'm definitely interested. Are they a lot more generous with merit aid than NYU?</p>

<p>What is considered to be a strong recommendation?</p>