East Coast Engineer wants out

College Search & Selection
21

<p>I guess I should mention; I’m not looking for a “top 10” private school or ivy league.</p>

<p>Looking around on these forums I see a lot of prospecting students who are well off with grades and test scores (3.8 - 4.0GPA). I did what I could. I mean, I can take the SAT again and raise my score maybe up to 2000+, but as far as GPA, colleges are going to see a 3.1 student who has A’s & B’s in math, lab science, and Engineering; with B’s and C’s in English, History, Foreign Language.</p>

<p>I know I’m not going to get into Ivy League or a top private school with numbers alone, nor would I qualify for much of their merit. However, I don’t really care for going to Harvard.</p>

<p>I’m not going to accept that “because I failed to get A’s in everything that I’m out of luck getting the education I want.” I’m not an all around student, I’m a student looking for a university I’m capable of getting into. I don’t think there is a cut off at 3.8 GPA and 2000 SAT that says, “Sorry, you won’t be attending college or getting any money.”</p>

22

<p>The main problem you face is that out-of-state public universities, and private universities who would admit a 3.1 GPA student, will come up short on financial aid. You can check the net price calculator on each university web site to see its financial aid estimate for you. You are really looking for a net price of under $10,000 (after subtracting grants and scholarships, not loans, from the list price) to be within reach of small (Stafford) loans and a reasonable amount of student work earnings. Since you don’t want to stay in Maryland, that eliminates the common route of going to a lower cost in-state public university, or starting at a local community college and then transferring as a junior to an in-state public university.</p>

<p>Louisiana Tech is the most obvious full ride to shoot for – you need a 32 ACT or 1400 SAT CR+M. The other automatic full rides tend to require higher GPAs than 3.1 (though some may be possible if they consider weighted GPAs).</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-19.html#post16145676&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There are also competitive full rides, but many of them are as selective as the super-selective universities (MIT, etc.):</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-2.html#post15889078&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;