Hello everyone!
I just finished my junior year of high school and I’ve got a really good SAT score (1550). I also have a NMSC selection index score of 219. I live in North Carolina so I have a very good shot at being a NMS Semifinalist and possibly a Finalist as well.
I’m currently really confused because whenever I tell people about my scores they always say something along the lines of, “With a score like that you could go to college for free!” However when I look at most college websites I’m not seeing anything that leads me to be confident that I’ll get a good scholarship. I know of a few schools that offer hefty scholarships for NMS Finalists but for the most part most of the colleges I’m looking at don’t have anything like that. Am I simply looking at the wrong places? Do I need to get in touch with admissions and ask them directly?
Basically, I’m just trying to figure out how to maximize my scholarship potential using the test scores that I have. I’m not really looking for any one school in particular, I just want to know the best method to get colleges to be upfront about what financial aid they will give me.
What are the colleges that you are looking at? Financial aid comes in two basic flavors: merit aid and need-based aid. Your post concerns merit aid. Some schools do not give any merit aid. Some schools that do give merit aid are very explicit about how much they give for what kind of scores (or other achievements). Other schools that give merit aid are less transparent. To better help you, we need to know which colleges you are interested in.
go to each schools Net Price Calculator to get an idea. And if you may qualify for need-based financial aid fill out the FASFA to get an idea of your EFC (the form will be simplified next fall but it will give you an idea). Keep in mind some NPCs are more accurate than others but it will give you an idea.
If you are a NMF, then you would likely go nearly free to Bama, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech (amongst other schools). You would receive a half tuition scholarship at Southern Cal (if accepted…still expensive). You would receive in-state tuition plus additional scholarships at Texas A&M.
Said differently, every school maintains a website with information on scholarships. Some scholarships are purely merit based (i.e., get X on such test, receive Y scholarship). Some are based on NMF status. Some are competitive. Check them out.
Your NMSC score is right at the cutoff for North Carolina. The NMSC website says that you need a score of 4 to 5 points above the cutoff for a better chance at a scholarship from them.
The top tier schools typically only give need based scholarships as most of their students have top scores. The next tier down will many times offer merit money as they are trying to attract those top tier students.
Those next tier down schools can be a very good place to go. They offer the money as well as a great education. Being a top student there will allow you to stand out somewhat.
Hello! I’m considering a number of schools of various sizes including Berry College in GA, NC State University, Appalachian State University, Vanderbilt University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Princeton University, University of Louisville, and Wake Forest University. It’s a pretty wide range of schools. I guess what I’m trying to figure out is which schools would be the best targets financially given my academic standing. I’m worried that schools that are too small/uncompetitive won’t be capable of offering good scholarships and larger schools will be too competitive for me to have a good shot at aid even with my SAT score and such. I’m not sure if there’s a sort of middle ground of school where they aren’t super competitive but will still have the means to offer me a good scholarship
Hi! I don’t live in any of those counties (I live in a fairly rural county). I’m homeschooled so I don’t really have much in the way of class rank but I’ve got an uwgpa of 5.16 and I dual enroll at a local community college where I have a uwgpa of 4.0.
Hello! Thanks for the advice! What schools would you classify as “next tier down”? Do you have any specific examples in mind? I’m looking at a pretty wide range of schools from really competitive (like Ivy League level) to much smaller private schools. Is something in the middle the way to go? Would you recommend looking at schools based off of their average SAT scores and judging that way? (like perhaps going for schools where my SAT is in say the 75th percentile as opposed to the 50th percentile or the 95th percentile?)
For need-based financial aid, colleges have net price calculators on their web sites. Some of them also estimate merit scholarships if they ask for stats (GPA, rank, test scores, NMF status). Other merit scholarships may or may not be listed on the college’s web site.
However, be careful in the following situations:
Divorced parents – check the college’s web pages carefully if it wants both of their finances.
Parent income includes small business, self employment, rental, farm, etc. where some colleges tend to add back deductions used in tax calculations.
If any of these applies to you, check very carefully on the college’s web site on how to use the net price calculator, and contact the college directly if the answers are not given there (unfortunately common).
Not all schools (in fact, I would say most schools) do not lay everything out in a chart for you to find out, especially if you are looking for a full ride. And some universities are more generous than others (whether for merit aid or for financial need).
At U. of Louisville, costs for out-of-state students is about $38k. It lists merit aid for out-of-staters which includes $28k/year for National Merit Semifinalists or $15k for someone with your stats (who is not a semi-finalist). On that same page there is information on the Brown Fellows Program which would grant a full ride to winners, but it’s a competitive process, not automatic. This information is found in the financial aid section of the university’s website.
Looking at each school’s website is going to give you the most comprehensive information. This website lists the average merit aid award and the percentage of students without need who receive one. It doesn’t include all colleges, but it has several hundred. If a college is not in the table, you just need to do a search for the college’s Common Data Set. Doing a search there it shows that 100% of Berry’s students without need receive merit, averaging $19,228. As your stats are much higher than Berry’s typical ones, I would expect your merit aid package to be much higher. Looking at its website for details be your best bet, and then reaching out to the admissions office if you don’t find what you’re looking for.
If the Net Price Calculator does not ask for GPA, test scores, etc, you could also send an email to your admissions rep asking what would be a typical range for merit aid for someone with your profile. The worst they can say is that you would have to wait until you receive your admissions results, but I’ve heard of other colleges giving an expected floor/minimum that your award would be.
If you’re looking to investigate more schools that might be likely to give you a full ride, or close to it, these links may be helpful:
“Next tier down” is kind of a vague concept as rankings are so subjective. I our family’s case, my daughter wanted to do engineering. It would have been quite a long shot, as it is for every applicant, to go to MIT. She was interested in Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) which I consider about that one tier down level. She was accepted with a fair amount of merit aid. We do not qualify for any need-based aid. It wasn’t a full ride but made it quite affordable especially compared to other colleges she was looking at.
WPI was looking to increase the number of women in the college to get a better balance between the sexes. I believe that helped her get a little more money to entice her to attend.
Most, if not all, colleges publish a document called the “Common Data Set”. Google that with the college’s name and you can find it. Section H describes that college’s financial aid picture. They break out the “need-based” and the “non-need-based” aid. The top tier colleges will have all, or almost all, their aid in the need-based column. So, you can do the research and find out how any particular college hands out their aid.
My daughter got a full ride to Texas A&M with National Merit and a generous amount of additional scholarships stacked onto that. It is not advertised like that. She is now a grad student at Stanford so we feel like she got a great education. Basically, many opportunities hinge on getting that National Merit designation.