<p>a quick resume:</p>
<p>grade: junior
gpa: 3.9/4.4
sat: 2320 (composite)
sat II: 730 bio, 740 chem, 780 math IIc, 800 US history
APs: calc AB, us history, human geography (all taken this year; probably atleast 4s or 5s)</p>
<p>activities:
taekwondo - 9, 10, 11
cross country - 9, 10, 11
music (in and out of school) - 9, 10, 11
volunteer locally - 9, 10, 11
active in church youth group - 9, 10, 11
local community college classes - 11
national history bowl qualifier - 11
tutoring - 10, 11
math/bio/chem varsity
governor's school of sciences - this summer!</p>
<p>As for my major, I haven't picked one yet but I'm interested in environmental or civil engineering, geo or conservation scientist or possibly even business. </p>
<p>I live in the east coast, so I would prefer a college in other parts of the country, but I wouldn't mind an east coast college. </p>
<p>I definitely need some kind of need-based/need-blind (what's the difference?) financial aid becuase I'm not sure if I would qualify for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>any suggestions?</p>
<p>do you play the clarinet?</p>
<p>need blind admissions means that the admissions office doesnt take into account your financial situation into account during admissions.
need based aid means that there is no merit aid, all the aid is based off your family’s financial situation</p>
<p>you might want to look at haverford ¶, wesleyan, and then there’s pomona (a bit higher tier than the other two) in california. these are all small liberal arts schools…do you want a bigger or smaller school? suny binghamton is very cheap as well i think, then there’s rice in texas but that leans more towards engineering iirc</p>
<p>Nice stats. They should be competitive for just about anywhere. Does your family make very little money? That is where a school that fills full need will help, but they are very competitive. With your stats you could get a full tuition scholarship or better at schools like U Alabama.</p>
<p>I would say that if you are definitely interested in engineering, then you should go to a bigger university that has engineering programs. I love my LAC, but we don’t have an engineering department, so that would be difficult.</p>
<p>@squidgetx, no I play the oboe. Do you play an instrument too? and I prefer a college/university anywhere from 2000 to 6000 kids, so I guess a medium-sized school suits me.</p>
<p>@Erin’s dad, yes relatively. My parents want me to apply to ivys and other private colleges so that I would have a greater chance of receiving more financial aid. </p>
<p>@jvtDad, thank you for the link! It was quite helpful.</p>
<p>I definitely need some kind of need-based/need-blind (what’s the difference?) financial aid becuase I’m not sure if I would qualify for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Why do you think you wouldn’t qualify for merit scholarship? </p>
<p>I think some clarification is needed.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are given to those with high stats…which you have.</p>
<p>*gpa: 3.9/4.4
sat: 2320 (composite)
sat II: 730 bio, 740 chem, 780 math IIc, 800 US history
*</p>
<p>Why do you think you wouldn’t qualify for any merit scholarships???</p>
<p>Need blind just means that a school will admit you regardless of your financial need. That does NOT mean that a school will give you aid. A “full need” school will give you aid IF the school determines that you have need AFTER it looks at your family’s income and assets.</p>
<p>Are you low income? middle income (under $80k)? Upper/middle (up to $150k)? Or upper income (over $150k)? Does your family have a decent amount of savings/assets/home equity?</p>
<p>How much will your family pay each year?</p>
<p>*@Erin’s dad, yes relatively. My parents want me to apply to ivys and other private colleges so that I would have a greater chance of receiving more financial aid.
*</p>
<p>You will ONLY get aid from those schools IF those schools determine that you have “need.” Those schools may give great aid, but they won’t give much or any to families that they believe have the money to pay. And, of course, many privates don’t meet need.</p>
<p>And, Ivies and some other top schools don’t give any merit.</p>
<p>
Note: That <strong>they</strong> believe have the money to pay. Check out FAFSA 4caster to get an idea of what schools will think your family can afford. If your parents make $200K and you’re an only child, you won’t get any need based aid even if your parents don’t think they can afford more than $15K a year.</p>
<p>There are a few smaller schools with excellent engineering programs (Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, Caltech, Case Western), but the first three on the list would be bad if you decide you’re interested in a non-tech field like business.</p>
<p>Potentially Michigan - Ann Arbor which has both very highly rated Engineering and Business (Ross). With your stats, if you decide to try to enroll directly into Ross, you have that potential to be a 1st year admit. </p>
<p>Also, Michigan is very well recognized on the East Coast should you want to return after graduation.</p>