I have been looking through the threads that list the automatic and competitive scholarships, and I was wondering what the odds were for actually receiving a competitive one for full tuition or possibly a full ride? I understand that obviously each school is unique, but I was wondering in particular about the full ride scholarship offered at Alabama.
I have a 3.8 UW/4.2 W GPA and a 33 ACT. Is it normally very difficult to receive a full tuition/ride scholarship with stats like mine at most schools (not Alabama in particular, just any school)? Any information or experience you have on these competitive scholarships for any school is really appreciated!
That is not good enough to be competitive for the (nearly) full ride at Alabama, which is called Academic Elite.
Louisiana Tech would give you a full ride automatically, so you would want to look at colleges comparable to that.
Most competitive scholarships are looking for more than just stats. Stats get you in the door and then “soft” factors get the scholarship, things like essays, ECs, community service, leadership, interview, etc.
Some of the LACs from ctcl.org would be good targets.
What major and type of college interests you?
I’m interested in majoring in neuroscience, or possibly biology with a minor in psych if the school does not offer it. From the schools I’ve visited, I’m mostly attracted to medium size schools with a strong campus life and a lot of spirit. I live in Michigan, so anything down south is definitely a reach location wise, however I do know that many schools down there offer great scholarship money, which could make it a possibility for me to be able to afford traveling so far.
Have you found out how much each of your parents will contribute to college?
Are you going to retest? You should. Another bump could mean more merit at some schools.
You can think of full ride scholarships the same as admissions, you can have safeties, matches, and reaches. Based on your interests, I would consider:
Full Ride Safety: Louisiana Tech, Troy
Full Ride Match: Kentucky, Louisville, Mississippi State, UNC-Greensboro, Toledo
Full Ride Reach: Michigan State, Georgia, Ole Miss, UNC-Charlotte
Yes my parents will most likely be able to pay around 5-6k per year, and I will hopefully have about 8-9k of my own savings that I can access if need be.
I am not planning on retesting, I got a 29 the first time and a 33 the second time after several months of prep, so I doubt that my score would raise any higher (and the tests are completely mind numbing). I did take the PSAT but did much worse on that than my ACT.
Wow I never thought of it like that Bob, thank you!! I will definitely look into some of those.
The scholarship competitions are like buying a lottery ticket in my experience. I suspect that some of the full scholarships from these competitions are awarded to students who have no intention of using them - and that the schools that sponsor such competitions are well aware of the yield. The ADS competition at Michigan State, for example, was pretty much a marketing weekend.
I agree with those who are advising you to find scholarships that you automatically qualify for and work from there.
You can access ‘if need be’? Your assets as a student will be assessed at 20 pct for financial aid. So, unless you do get full ride, that is part of the efc formula. Where parent assets are assessed at 5.6 pct.
That’s a fantastic increase on your ACT score, congrats on that. What did you use to prep?
I took several practice tests and used the Kaplan online prep course! I was really surprised to see the number rise so much honestly!