<p>I know I am not the best student, but with my stats is it possible that I could get a substantial merit scholarship from any semi-respectable school?</p>
<p>----GPA- 3.83 W, probably ~3.6 UW (only will have taken like 3 or 4 APs when i graduate but more preAPs...</p>
<p>----SAT- 690 m 760 cr 740 w</p>
<p>----EC's- 4 year basketball(2 year letter), 4 year cross country(1 year letter) at a 5A school with 2600+ students, National Merit Qualifier(waiting to see if it is commended scholar or semifinalist, probably just commended) NHS, maybe 60+ hrs community service, worked on and off for 2 years at baskin robbins and refereed youth basketball, aau nationals basketball every summer, cerebrals society member (not sure if that even counts)</p>
<p>What schools if any would give me significant scholarship/ grants?</p>
<p>It can depend on how your financial situation looks. If you have high demonstrated need and can get in, many top schools could offer you the equivalent of a “full-ride” through a combination of scholarships and grants. In addition, some schools (e.g. Harvard, Amherst, Williams) have need-blind admissions and/or pledge to meet 100% of a student’s demonstrated need and/or provide loan-free financial aid. Some schools may have all three, while others may have none, so you’ll have to check the individual schools’ policies.</p>
<p>Alternatively, there are some state schools (University of Alabama comes to mind) which waive OOS tuition and/or give scholarships to students who meet certain GPA/SAT requirements. </p>
<p>Another way of minimizing college costs is to apply for outside scholarships. People are always talking about how so much scholarship money goes unclaimed every year. $1,000 here and $500 there can add up and will definitely help to defray your college costs. Books, for example, or your meal plan.</p>
<p>If you have a lot of free time, this topic is discussed *at length<a href=“I’m%20not%20kidding”>/I</a> in this thread:</p>
<p>In conclusion, if you keep an open mind and do some research, opportunities at full-ride scholarships or something close will present themselves.</p>
<p>Oh I forgot one thing: get a fatty basketball scholarship. Scholarships for athletics are usually of the full-ride variety. You just have to deal with other students always thinking of you as a second-class citizen :)</p>
<p>Well that’s always the issue, to get anywhere near a full ride you have to be a truly exceptional candidate at the school. This is how they get their top students. So you would be looking at schools like U Alabama for any chance of a full ride or close.</p>
<p>Is it correct to assume you think you won’t qualify for significant need-based aid, but your family is not so wealthy to easily afford full cost at a top private school? If that is your situation, then you need to consider how much less than full cost your family is comfortable paying.</p>
<p>The most famous, selective northeastern schools generally don’t award merit scholarships. They don’t need to do this in order to attract many more strong applicants than they can accept. However, many excellent midwestern or southern schools do give merit scholarships (though not necessarily full rides).</p>
<p>The University of Chicago awards merit scholarships to about 10% of admitted students. These do include some full tuition awards, but these go to the strongest applicants in a very competitive pool. Tulane is a less selective school that gives merit aid.</p>
<p>I think you’d have a good shot at a $5K-$10K merit scholarship from a selective midwestern LAC such as Macalester, Oberlin, Colorado College or Grinnell. Some of these schools are thousands of dollars cheaper than the New England LACs to start with. They tend to be a little less selective than the top New England LACs but offer a similar educational experience. </p>
<p>To review how much merit aid a school awards, google for the “Common Data Set” of any school that interests you, then go to the tables in section H1 of the downloaded document.</p>
<p>That is exactly my situation tk, thanks for the info. A $10k scholarship from colorado college would help tremendously and I am very interested in that school. </p>
<p>I have another question though… If my parents have recently become divorced and my dad moved out of the country and I live with my mom who has no job and thus no income as of now, could this situation qualify me for financial aid? I also have a brother in college which they must pay for. Please help</p>
<p>I think Macalester, Oberlin, Colorado College or Grinnell are very tuff. I had similar stats and go rejected from Mac and CC and waitlisted at Grinnell. A friend that was 3rd in her class with a 31 ACT was waitlisted at Oberlin. They are a lot more competitive then a few years ago.</p>
<p>Your situation could qualify you for aid at FAFSA only schools, mostly state schools, that only look at the income and assets of the custodial parent and don’t consider home equity for your primary home. At most privates, which use Profile and/or IM, they will also look at the income and assets of your father no matter where he lives and assets of both parents and your home/s.</p>
<p>also note, however, most FAFSA only school do not meet full need so this will not guarantee aid though it should at your own state schools. This assumes your father is giving your mother no money. They will want to know how the family is living.</p>
<p>OTF, don’t lose heart. All the factors you describe would play into a financial aid decision. Yes, if you work at the application process, you may have a reasonable shot at both need-based and merit aid from a good midwestern liberal arts college. But as hmom5 suggests, the need-based aid calculation can get dicey in a divorce situation. This is a difficult time for you, so try to keep a cool head and good communications with your Dad, if possible.</p>
<p>SmallCollegesFTW is right, too, some of these schools have become more competitive than they were a few years ago. So you do need to be sure to have at least one good financial and academic safety (such as your state university). </p>
<p>That said, one of my kids was accepted to both Colorado College and Macalester this past year, with merit scholarships. His M+CR total was higher than yours but his W was lower (and his cumulative was lower). His unweighted GPA was a little lower than yours (though he was in a full IB program). So on balance I think your stats are comparable. The essays, letters, etc., will be important. Stay positive but realistic.</p>
<p>There are a bunch of other good LACs throughout the midwest that you should check out, but definitely apply to Colorado College if it appeals to you. The non-binding EA option is great because you could get an answer from them as early as late December. A decision on merit aid would come then if you are accepted. You would not know about need-based aid until later.</p>
<p>I think schools that you would recieve large merit scholarships that are very similar to the LACs you are looking at are:</p>
<p>Knox College: Very generous with merit aid. Could easily pull total cost down to 20000 dollars a year. Has scholarships based on both academics and specific things like music, writing, theater, community service. Very strong academically all around. Small LAC. I strongly considered attending. Very similar to schools like Macalester, Grinnell and Colorado College, though less selective. Merit ranges to 15000 a year, and the smaller ones are 4000 a year. Scholarships are stackable. Total cost without scholarships is around 40k.</p>
<p>Beloit College: You would qualify for a presidential scholarship, which is given by on campus interview one weekend (offered in January or Febuary). Scholarships are 12k, 15k, and 17k. In addition there are other scholarships such as music, theater and dance worth 4k a year. Very similar to Knox, except a little more artsy, almost everyone I talked to at Beloit (i overnighted twice) seemed to have applied to knox. Brand new state of the art science center that is beautiful. Very strong in social science, hard sciences, creative writing and theater. Nicest students i have ever talked to in my life. Very beautiful campus that is modeled after the traditional new england LAC. Very diverse, 10% international. 40k a year. Super generous with FinAid.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for the advice! So I probably shouldn’t apply to CC ED if I am not sure if we will be able to pay for it right? EA sounds good though.</p>
<p>With a school like UAlabama is it likely that my need and merit aid could cover all costs?</p>
<p>I don’t know a lot about your question, but my best friend had a 1390 (CR and M), 4.0 average, was a white male (like you said you were), and just got a full ride to Harvard. He does not play any sports but was involved in several academic activities.</p>
<p>For an academic safety that might appeal to someone who likes Colorado College, check out Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington. It is a public liberal arts college on the “Colleges that Change Lives” list ([Colleges</a> That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)). The full-price cost of attendance, for out of state students, will be about $15K-$20K cheaper than private LACs. However, after financial aid from all schools is factored in, it may not be any cheaper than those schools. So it’s not an ideal financial safety but still worth a look (along with many others on that CTCL list). They do award some merit scholarships but I don’t know how much of it might go to out-of-state applicants. Apparently they award finaid to some international students, so you’d think a Texas resident might have a shot at it too.</p>