Chances of a scholarship?

Paying for College
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<p>I am currently a senior in the Magnet Program at my high school in Georgia. I am hoping to attend an OOS university with a great pre-med or biology major. My parents purchased the Florida Pre-Paid Plan when we lived there, however I'm not sure I want to go to school in Florida. This plan will transfer some money to any public university and a little less money to most private universities.</p>

<p>Here are some OOS universities I have looked at:
- Duke University
- University of North Carolina
- Vanderbilt</p>

<p>In-State (FL or GA):
- Florida State University
- University of Florida
- University of Georgia
- Georgia Institute of Technology</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
GPA: 3.96 unweighted / 4.45 weighted
ACT: 35 Composite / 35 English / 34 Math / 36 Reading / 34 Science
I am in the top 3% of my class.
Classes: 9th grade: all core honors classes offered
10th grade: AP World History, many honors classes
11th grade: AP Psychology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, AP US History, rest honors
12th grade: AP English Language, AP Computer Science, Post-AP Multivariable Calculus, Post-AP Advanced DNA & Genetics, rest honors</p>

<p>My only "B" was honors physics.</p>

<p>I have had 3 years of Spanish.</p>

<p>ECs: National Honor Society, President of Habitat for Humanity (held a lower position for 2 years), Student Government, Junior Class President, Senior Class President, over 1,000 hours of community service. I participated in marching band freshman year, and auditioned into Honor Band three times and All-State once.</p>

<p>Any idea what my chances are of getting into some of the Ivy League schools or "upper-level" schools such as Stanford or Duke?
Also, what are my chances or recieving a scholarship from any of these (or any other) schools?
Do you know of any "guaranteed" scholarships at any schools? (Based on ACT scores, etc.?)
My parents may help a bit with undergraduate costs, but most of the financial burden will fall on me. Our family has about a $70,000 income, yet we have 0 debt on the house, cars, etc. My parents have a bit of stock, and my grandfather has a large sum of stock. For these reasons, I'm not sure that FAFSA will give any money. My mom did the "easy calculator" for several colleges and it came up with $0.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Ivy league schools don’t offer scholarships. Their aid is all need based. The same with Stanford. Duke has some scholarships but they are highly competitive. For guaranteed scholarships look at the pinned threads at the top of this forum. And FAFSA does not give money. It is a application for federal aid. With your family income that will probably only be a $5500 loan as a freshman.</p>

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<p>Your grandfather’s assets are irrelevant unless your parents’ names are on them.</p>

<p>If your grandpa lives with you, he does NOT count in your household.</p>

<p>Are your parents self-employed? </p>

<p>what state do you live in now/??</p>

<p>if you want med school, then you should go where you will get a high GPA. Too many premeds aim for tippy top schools and then get weeded out. Med schools don’t care where you go to undergrad.</p>

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<p>there is no pre-med major. major in whatever you want as a premed. however, there is a glut of bio majors, so maybe pick another strong subject in case you decide against med school.</p>

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<p>How will the financial burden fall on you when you have only the ability to borrow 27k over the 4 years? </p>

<p>As mentioned there is a list of schools offering full and half tuition and even full ride automatic scholarships and UA is about the top one. But there is also a list of competitive scholarships you likely would qualify for, though hard to actually get.</p>

<p>I have not heard of ‘easy calculators’ but there is an NPC on each college website to get an estimate. HYPSM give super aid so you can compare estimates between those and your other schools. Do fill out the FAFSA even though you will not get the Pell Grant or federal w/s that the FAFSA qualifies you for. It will at least give you access to the student loan. And most colleges require it for their own need based aid and sometimes merit aid. Usually they also require another form, often the CSS Profile.</p>

<p>Chances are just a guessing game. You can play that in the chances forum. You know as well as anyone else if you are ‘in range’ or not.</p>

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<p>0 for aid? </p>

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<p>@mom2collegekids‌
My parents are not self-employed. My mother is retired and my father works for a fairly large business. I currently live in Georgia. And yes, the easy calculator said that we qualify for 0 dollars in aid and could be expected to pay the “ticket price.” For that reason, I am weary of applying early to “binding” early application schools. I understand that this is just an estimate, but it’s quite concerning…</p>

<p>I really appreciate the help by the way :)</p>

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<p>The net price calculators are good estimates of your aid in cases where the parents are married, not self employed, and where additional real estate isn’t owned. If the NPC says you won’t receive any aid, it is likely because your parent income is high enough that you don’t qualify for any need based aid.</p>

<p>The MOST important thing you need to know is what your parents CAN contribute annually. </p>

<p>Doesn’t Georgia have the Hope scholarships? Are you eligible for that? Perhaps with that and your FL prepaid monies, you could afford college in Georgia at a public university.</p>

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<p>Florida prepaid is a great deal for a Florida public school, but doesn’t pay very much for a private school or an OOS school. You’ll basically get what you paid in plus a little in interest. Sure it helps to have a few thousand for another school, but it is designed for best use at a Florida public school. Depending on when the plan was purchased, you may also qualify for in-state tuition in Florida.</p>

<p>You have great options in GA and FL. Start there.</p>

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<p>$70K salary should mean a fair amount of fin aid at the Ivies & equivalents unless you have a gigantic amount of assets (and what grandparents have don’t count) Run the NPC for each school, rather than some “easy” calculator.</p>

<p>If fin aid is still poor, look in to taking advantage of the FL pre-paid or Hope scholarship. As other people have said, the name of a school doesn’t really matter for pre-med (and the science curriculum of any state flagship and up will be plenty rigorous enough). The two main things are avoiding places with tons of other pre-med gunners and looking for places with good pre-med counseling (which is idiosyncratic and not completely correlated with prestige, but the best would be at some privates; both Rice and Harvard seem to have really high admit rates, but Stanford’s isn’t so hot, etc.). The advantage of the Ivies/equivalents would only come if you decide against going to med school (and decide to go in to finance or something). Oh, and you can try to get the full-tuition scholarships at not only Vandy/Emory but also Wake/BC/Miami/etc.</p>

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<p><<<
Do you know of any “guaranteed” scholarships at any schools? (Based on ACT scores, etc.?)</p>

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<p>There aren’t any at tippy top schools since most/all of their students have high stats.</p>

<p>Yes, there are mid-tiers that have assured scholarships for stats…such as your ACT score. Alabama is the highest ranking school that gives assured full tuition merit for an ACT 32 or higher plus 3.5 GPA. And, if you major in some kind of engineering discipline or CS, you get an add’l $2500 per year. </p>

<p>Are you a likely NMSF??? What was your PSAT? If you end up being a NMF, then the awards can be larger.</p>

<p>Do your parents own any land/properties other than their home? Any rental income? Are you including your mom’s retirement income in the family’s income? If so, then your family must have a lot of assets. Are any of your grandfather’s assets in a parent’s name also? Does one of your parents have a trust fund from grandpa? I suspect that there is some asset (or assets) that are driving up EFC.</p>

<p>Your biggest problem is an unaffordable EFC since you will be full pay, but your parents won’t pay much. That eliminates nearly all the top schools. Even the ones that might give some merit, will still leave you with an amount that won’t get covered (a $20k award against a $60k bill leaves you with $40k and no way to pay). That makes schools like USC (calif) unaffordable even with a merit scholarship. </p>

<p>Definitely apply to GT and UGa. With HOPE (you probably qualify for Zell Miller, right?) and your FL prepaid, you should have most costs covered. Your parents wouldnt have to contribute much more…and a small student loan could cover the rest. </p>

<p>Apply to a couple of schools where your stats give huge merit…full tuition or more. </p>

<p>How sure are you about med school? Is it something that you are sure about? You really should try to pick another major in case you do decide against med school. There isn’t much you can do with a bio degree and there is a GLUT of grads with that degree…and few jobs. My own son was a ChemE premed. He chose that because of interest and in case he didn’t go to med school. He is in med school and his engineering training has served him well. I am not suggesting that you major in something that you have no interest. </p>

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<p>It sounds like the “easy calculator” is not the NPC and did not ask for stats. OP needs to try the NPCs on the individual college’s websites. I have similar income level. We did not qualify for need based aid at any of our instate options but we received some decent aid from privates, and D’s stats were FAR below the OPs!</p>

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<p>Stay in GA and try some of the state schools - Valdosta State, Kennesaw, GA Southern, etc.</p>

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<p>As others have said, your grandfather’s money, unless it is a parent’s name does not enter the picture. Yes, if your parents own their home and have what schools consider a lot of assets, it is possible you are bumped out of the financial aid that a $70K AGI would likely qualify for aid at those schools that use PROFILE. Also, you might well have an EFC that means state schools are supposed to be affordable to your family.</p>

<p>In FL, you have the prepaid (also usable to some extent for other schools). In GA, you may qualify for the state awards like HOPE and Zellwig(?} that could bring your costs down. Your stats might qualify you for some merit money at some other schools. Look at the stickies at the top of this part of the forum and you can see some schools that have guaranteed awards at certain threshholds and schools that do have hefty merit money, as well as low cost schools. You can put together a list of schools from that list and give some of your schools that you want but look out of range a go as well Be aware, that they may be lottery tickets in terms of not only getting accepted but getting enough money to be able to go to them. </p>