I’m from CA looking to go to college in north/middle east coast. I’m not going to be able to get financial aid, and it’s hard (at least for me) to find a really good school that will give merit partial/full scholarships that are not nearly impossible to get. Any suggestions?
junior, 4.0 gpa unweighted, ~4.4 weighted, 202 psat (no studying), 8 APs including senior year, lots ECs
Probably majoring in either education or writing/journalism
Currently considering UVA, chapel hill (both have mainly FA), uconn, etc.
Why are you considering out of state (OOS) public universities? Focus on private universities for OOS. They are generally better values and you’re more likely to find merit aid. For public universities it is hard for an a CA resident, from the perspective of both cost and academics, to find better options than the UCs.
Ohio University in Athens is surprisingly close to the East Coast and has a good journalism program. OU’s tuition for OOS students is fairly low and there are automatic merit awards available. If you’re willing to look further inland, the University of Iowa and the University of Missouri-Columbia have excellent writing and journalism programs respectively. Both schools offer good merit aid to top OOS students, much of which is also automatic. You might want to investigate their admissions websites and net price calculators for specifics. All three schools have very good colleges of education, as well.
I think I’m sticking to schools a little more east
I am a female, and I think the amount my parents would pay depends on the school, but maybe 20-28,000ish. Like I said, for a better school I would need better merit aid @intparent
Then you are going to have to go where you are the top student as you are asking for 2/3 to 3/4 merit aid. That is not easy to find on the East coast—very slim pickings. Well there are a couple state u’s in Maine that are about 25k all in, does that interest you?
There are colleges where you can get 10 or even 20k merit but those colleges will still cost you 40 or 50 per year. Mt Holyoke for instance will give you some merit. Try their Net Price Calculator. BU gives about 20 pct of students $18k. You could luck out with a college like Brandeis, I have seen a full ride offer here, but for a URM.
Temple PA would give you an automatic award. If you like NC, Davidson gives some good avg merit to the top 4 pct and I know of a student awarded a full ride (URM). GWU, Fairfield CT, Lafayette PA, University of Richmond VA, Providence, Wells are all ones to look at if you don’t want to try for the more high profile competitive ones here, some you can be in the running for:
For UVA and UNC it is very hard to get into from OOS without a hook (athlete.) I don’t see you getting any merit aid from those two. fyi, no one uses psat for college admissions, so they don’t care if you 'studied, most people don’t. No one will care if you prep for the SAT or not either, your score is your score. Do you have your SAT yet?
A lot will depend on your SAT scores. Have you taken yet? Your PSAT is solid and with some studying you should do well on SAT. You might also take ACT. And subject tests. Hopefully, you’ve scheduled SAT for March, May or June… ACT for April. That will give you a much better idea of where you have a shot at merit $$$ as many schools have cut-offs. There are plenty of schools that offer substantial (Full tuition - $10K) merit money.BrownParent above mentioned Richmond (some full tuitiions) and Lafayette. Also in PA, Dickinson, Gettysburg and Muhlenberg award nice merit packages. Hobart and William Smith in upstate NY does, too. You didn’t specify small LAC vs. larger school. Stony Brook University on Long Island is solid for education and also has journalism school. Northeastern will award some merit $$$. Boston University has Trustees Scholarship (full tuition) which you can apply for (separate essay). As for journalism, Syracuse and Penn State are both strong. Good luck.
Dickinson awards a fair number of merit packages, but I think few are over $20K, so you are still looking at a bill of over $40,000. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is relatively inexpensive for OOS students.
You would almost certainly qualify for some merit aid at Temple, and they are a public university. You might also get decent merit aid from Pitt, University of Miami (if you are willing to consider Southeast), Fordham, American, GWU, and - if you want a smaller school - Goucher or Eugene Lang/New School.
First…get a clear amount that your parents will pay. don’t guess. Kids OFTEN assume wrong…they often assume a lot more than their parents can or are willing to pay…particularly if you have less expensive instate options…like Calif schools.
Second…the NE isn’t the best area to find large merit without super high stats…at least for the schools that seem to interest you.
UVA and UNC are in the south. That’s fine, but they also are not known for merit. They are very hard to get into from OOS and any merit is usually reserved for highly competitive applicants (near perfect stats, spectacular ECs, etc). You sound like a “nice applicant from Calif”…not someone who’d likely be a recipient of highly competitive merit.
