<p>Hello, all!
I am a rising senior who is going through the college search process. I've been looking/dreaming about some prestigious universities, but I've realized that even if I'm lucky to be accepted, the price tag will most likely not be feasible. Therefore, I'm lookin for some merit! Could any of you list off some schools where 31 ACT (33 superscore), 3.95 GPA, and quality extracurriculars will get a decent merit scholarship? Places where the average ACT is a 26 or so? I have preference for schools in the Midwest.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for the help, and good luck with your college searches!</p>
<p>My son had a 31 ACT (I don’t think his super-score was any higher). His unweighted GPA was lower than yours; his weighted was higher. He did not apply to any schools in the Midwest, but received very nice merit awards from Guilford, Eckerd, New College of FL, and Willamette. Whitman offered only a modest ($7500) merit scholarship. I think you could qualify for one at Earlham, probably. If you’re looking at large research universities, you probably need to look at the less prestigious ones, instead of Michigan, Wisconsin, et al. </p>
<p>Major: Political Science, environmental science, or international relations</p>
<p>Parents will pay for 1 year of college, whether it be 45k or 10k. If I can snag enough scholarships from my school, outside sources, and the college to bring it below 10k, then they’ll consider paying those costs for all 4 years. </p>
<p>Be aware that outside scholarships are usually only good for freshman year. You don’t want to pick a school betting that you can make that up in future years at the school. </p>
<p>Wow, that one needs to go in the “restrictions” thread…</p>
<p>Even if it makes no sense to me why your parents would only pay for one year and then make you drop out or take loans for you, I guess that’s what you have to live with.</p>
<p>Is that 10k plus transportation, books, and miscellaneous? Or 10k total (because that doesn’t seem doable these days…The cheapest universities are often in the 20k range).</p>
<p>Does your state university offer large merit scholarships?</p>
<p>Because otherwise it means you need to find at least a full tuition scholarship (with federal loans, savings, and work, you should be able to pay for R&B I think) and those are not easy to come by.
I strongly agree with the recommendation you get your ACT score to 32 one sitting, or 1400 CR+M one sitting.</p>
<p>It’s not in the midwest, but Nova Southeastern could work out for you if a state school doesn’t interest you and work out similarly in cost. Nova Southeastern is in Ft Lauderdale, FL and gives out really good merit aid. They are a newer school, esp for undergrad, but we were pleasantly surprised with it when we visited this past year, so it’s worth a recommendation with your cost constraints. A visit in the winter would be a nice advantage too…</p>
<p>I love American University and University of Virginia, but I don’t know how feasible those would be financially. My parents are divorced, but my dad makes a good deal of money. My mom won’t be contributing to my college education; we have a ton of medical bills from my step father’s cancer.</p>
<p>okay, that rules out merit from your flagship in Madison, which gives its merit to matriculated students.</p>
<p>That means for you one of two things: two years of community college or a full tuition scholarship. For a lot of reasons, the latter is to be preferred but the former remains a possibility. The ACT score must be improved or ignored in order for the latter to happen, and the essays need to be sterling and addressed to the individual schools to which you apply.</p>
<p>You can have a look at the full tuition/ride and automatic scholarships by going to the FA forum on CC. But spend the summer prepping to kill the ACT or SAT. People will tell you you cannot improve your scores by much. But faced with community college for two years, I believe you can find the motivation to do so. CC has a forum directed at the standardized tests. There are good tutors out there, but I know of none in WI. Could you afford one of these?</p>
<p>I know that I can hit at least a 32; my score was a 31.25 this time. Going to a community college will cancel my AP credit when transferring to Wisconsin, so it would make taking 10 APs a waste of time. There has got to be some generous small college that will be able to help me out. </p>