I am finishing up my junior year of high school and have started looking at colleges. My top choices would be American University, Berklee, NYU, Syracuse or University of Denver. (going for the music production or business degrees). These schools are all crazy expensive though, (aside from DU since I’m in-state), so I would just like some advice on whether it’s possible for me to get a good scholarship to any of them.
I go to the #1 high school in Colorado and it’s at #60ish in the nation. It allows me to take classes at the local community college and I will graduate with two associates degrees - one in liberal arts and one in recording arts technology. I have a 3.6ish GPA unweighted, weighted it is probably around 4.1-4.2 but I don’t know for sure. I got a 1350 on the SAT (new, out of 1600). I do weekly volunteering at church and I’ve been on 2-3 mission trips to Guatemala. I play football, but I don’t really stand a chance for an athletic scholarship. I will probably graduate in the top 3 of my class.
So…what are my chances?? Thank you.
Need based aids for oos is not likely (except for federal loans). For merit aids, you need to be among the very top admitted students. You should look for their admission stat to see if you are clearly standing out from other admission students (i.e. better than at least the 75th percentile).
It’s extremely hard for an out of state student to get good financial aid because of the money that the school makes off of you. I wouldn’t bank on getting anything near a full-ride, definitely apply to in-state backups but also don’t feel too discouraged; apply to the schools you want! But generally, out of states get the short end of the stick. Academic merit scholarships are VERY hard to receive. The best support you will ever get is the state you are a resident from, unless you’re very low income (like under at least $50k income) where you might get better aid
Berklee is a private school so it is the same price for everyone. Do you play an instrument? I didn’t see you mention that in your post. If not, cross Berklee off your list as you must audition to be considered.