<p>I want to get merit scholarship at the colleges that I apply to considering how expensive they are, but I'm wondering how realistic it actually is for me. Some schools that I'm looking at are: Northeastern, BU, American, and GW.</p>
<p>My stats:
ACT: 35 (34 science, 35 reading, 34 math, 35 writing)
SAT II: 750 biology, 740 math 2
GPA: 4.0 unweighted (according to online calculators, roughly 4.6 weighted)
APs: biology (5), euro (5), micro/macroeconomics (5,5), literature, AB calc, spanish, psych (taking the last four this year)</p>
<p>If you need any other information, feel free to ask! Thanks so much</p>
<p>Information on merit scholarships can be found on the college’s admissions pages. You need to look at the requirements and to see list of what’s available at each of these schools. Pay attention to how many years the scholarship is good for and what you have to do to keep it. Call admissions officers and ask some questions. Run NPC to see what they cost. Some schools have very few merit scholarships even available so even having excellent stats make it hard to get one. Your stats are high enough for merit at lots of schools.</p>
<p>This is something you and your parents should be researching.</p>
<p>The BU net price calculator is a pretty accurate one. I believe it includes merit potential. Run that.</p>
<p>ETA…BU, Northeastern GW and American are all very pricey colleges. Unless you get their top merit awards, the schools could still be unaffordable. How much will your parents contribute annually?</p>
<p>Are you applying for the BU Trustee scholarship? I believe that is full tuition and is their top award. It has a special application. You need to do that to apply for this award.</p>
<p>And, you want to go to law school (has that changed?)</p>
<p>You also have siblings in college. When will they get their bachelors degrees? (or are they in grad school now or soon)?</p>
<p>Are you saying that your parents’ divorce agreement was that they would pay $25k a year for each child ? And your mom only earns $60k (and neither parent has remarried)? </p>
<p>How is your mom supposed to contribute for 3 kids in college at the same time? Is she supposed to pay half? That would be about $37k per year!</p>
<p>Anyway, if your mom is supposed to come up with an unreasonable amount, you’re wise to identify a couple of schools that give you large merit schools…because this could get sketchy if your mom can’t pay for 3 at the same time regardless of the court order. </p>
<p>Your current thread sounds like you’re trying to get a $35k merit award to reduce a $60k school down to $25k…is that right?</p>
<p>No, I’m not trying to get $35k in merit aid - I need a total financial aid package of about that, but it doesn’t necessarily need to come from all merit based scholarships (my brother got only $20,000/year, but with need based aid the net price of the university was reduced to a little over $25k). My brother is currently a freshman and my sister a senior (so my mom will only be paying for two kids while I am in school).</p>
<p>I know about the different scholarships offered at each school, my only question here was how competitive I would be for each one (dean’s scholarship from NEU, presidential scholarship from GW, presidential or dean’s from American, ect)? Basically would I be likely to get any of the larger merit scholarships at the schools I listed, based on my stats?</p>
<p>So you takes your chances when it comes to merit awards that are not guaranteed. Make sure you have some options on your list that you KNOW will take you and that you know you can afford. Look at schools that have guaranteed awards. Understand that those competitive scholarships are just that, competitive, and it depends on luck, who else is in the pool this season, and what the schools specifically want, not raw numbers in a vacuum which is what you are presenting to us. </p>
<p>Apply to those schools and hope for the best, but also look at the threads in this forum for schools with guaranteed merit scholarships. A school that you can afford is better than a dream school that you cannot.</p>
<p>My son is currently attending Northeastern in his first year. Based on your stats, I would say you have a very good chance for at least some merit aid. My son’s stats were 3.8 weighted GPA (the weighting was only 5% for AP classes at his HS, so much less than yours), SAT Math: 750, Reading: 680, Writing 640. He was also a varsity athlete, took only AP and Honors course (the most advanced available including a college level science research class for three years) and is of hispanic decent. He applied early action and was awarded a $17,000 merit scholarship. Bear in mind that the Northeastern scholarship does not go up every year, whereas the tuition does. You don’t pay tuition (only housing) during co-op, so that does spread out the four year cost over five years. Good luck!</p>