Financial Safeties anyone?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, I have a pretty good list of schools that I consider match/reach, so I was wondering if you guys could help out with my safety search. What I am lookin' for is a financial safety (i.e. full-ride possibility). Below is what I'm looking for, and below that are my stats. Thanks! :D</p>

<p>Size: Small to medium. 2,000-8,000 would be best, though I could go bigger.</p>

<p>Location: medium to large city. I would prefer a city that's at least 50,000+ people</p>

<p>Surroundings: Beautiful, with lots of green and trees (or in other words, at least a pretty town). Weather isn't an issue, except I don't really want it really hot (i.e. not Texas/Cally) . I love winters. Want to be able to at least drive someplace (i.e. within 1 hour) to go camping,fishing, etc.</p>

<p>People: Prefer a socioeconomic and ethnic mix of people. I come from a public school of 500 where there are literally about 6 non-white people...so I'm looking for some variety (maybe lots of international students).</p>

<p>STATS
================================================== ======
I'm a white male from WA state (eastern part, not Seattle), and will be a senior.</p>

<p>SAT I NEW: 2200 (740 M, 730 CR, 730 W)
SAT II: (760 Chem, 800 IIC)</p>

<p>My school doesn't offer AP's, but I'll graduate w/ an Associate of Arts degree from my local community college. But, if this is going to cause problems (i.e. transfer student status) then I won't accept the degree, and I'll just have a bunch of credits.</p>

<p>GPA UW @ High School: 4.00
GPA UW @ College: 3.95-3.97 (still one year left)</p>

<p>Classes:</p>

<p>4+ yrs. HS math w/calculus as sophmore, 3 quarters college calculus 4.0 GPA
2+ yrs. HS science
3 quarters "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry" @ college w/ 3.76 GPA (93% avg.)
1 (maybe more) quarter of 200 level Physics @ college (haven't taken yet)
4+ yrs. Social Sciences/History
3 quarters Japanese @ college 4.00 GPA</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>4 yrs. varsity Math Team, 3 yrs varsity captain w/ state level finishes
4 yrs. varsity Knowledge Bowl, 3 yrs. varsity captain
2 yrs. National Honor Society Member (that's the max @ my school)
Eagle Scout
9 years private guitar instruction (I ROCK!!!)
participant of UDOC (a competitive pre-med interested program)
80+ hrs. volunteering @ local hospital
200+ hrs. volunteering in ER</p>

<p>Hope this is enough. Feel free to post any questions, advice, or random thoughts! ;o</p>

2

<p>Furman would meet nearly all your criteria - 2800 students, town over 100,000, at the foot of the mountains, fabulously beautiful. You'd probably get full tuition, definitely 3/4, maybe a Lay Scholarship worth tuition, room and board. What Furman lacks is diversity. Miami and Tulane are both bigger, and you should get a healthy merit scholarship at each. Miami has great diversity and if you can get 1500 Math + CR and finish in the top 1% of your class, you'd be competitive for full tuition (3/4 tuition with a 1450). Both places are hot and muggy though.</p>

3

<p>I'm going to be valedictorian btw, so that covers that. As for the M/CR thing. I still can't believe it. I got two, yes TWO, questions wrong on the math and got a 740...ridiculous, lol. I take it that you mean U Miami? I've looked at Tulane too. You think that'd be a safety for me? wow, I feel special :D</p>

4

<p>Any body have any other suggestions?</p>

5

<p>Lotus123, as I think you have figured out admission's safeties and financial safeties are two very different things. There are very few full-rides. Very few. D has approximately the same stats and I have researched until my fingers are bloody to find all of the "best deals" . A book by Bruce Hammond is probably your best source though it's 3-4 years OOD, I think it is "Best Deals at Top Colleges" or something similar. Search by author.</p>

<p>To use these schools as a financial safety-the Tulane's, or Furman's would not IMO be wise strategy. Your stats although exceptional are probably below that required to get a full-ride at Miami, or Furman , or Tulane (and I think Tulane tops out at Full-tuition. No full-rides. I could be wrong.)</p>

<p>Example. Rhodes College is USNWR 45 or so on National LAC's . Great school. Rapidly climbing stats. Top scholars are Bellingrath finalists. Last year's Bellingrath finalists, not winners, finalists, had a 1509, I believe, SAT average. I would expect the Lay winners at Furman to be the same. Although I believe you would get substantial merit aid awards at the schools mentioned, to adequately address your safety needs financially (and your question was about full-rides) you will need to lower your sights substantially. PM me if you want ideas. Good luck.</p>

6

<p>hehe, I like your screen name! Perhaps I inaccruately posted. What I meant to say was that I was looking for schools where I had a good shot at some merit-type financial awards (i.e. 1/2 tuition, $5000, or whatever). However, I certainly be open to just admission safeties!</p>

7

<p>lotus123, you are a great merit aid candidate anywhere that grants merit but how much merit do you need to be able to attend a particular school? Will you qualify for need based aid at a school with a COA of $45k+? or is need out of the picture entirely?</p>

8

<p>Well, you'll probably have to tell me that one. I'm from a family of three (my parents and I), and our yearly income last year was like $41,000. So, I think that a 45k+ school would be unlikely ;). Also, we have no substantial assests (i.e. don't own our house or car), and no savings accounts w/ more than $500, so you can see why merit aid is somethin' I'm looking for, because I don't want to rely on need only.</p>

9

<p>isnt your state school your financial safety? and you^ are definitely eligibile for financial aid</p>

10

<p>Lotus123, go to your parents. Get their accurate tax return numbers. Plug those numbers into the aid calculators on the college websites. Princeton's and Williams' are generous, Dartmouth's is not. Assume someplace in the middle. Don't give up on need only schools. Don't. Clear enough? Y'alls EFC should be fairly low. I didn't say reasonable because at those #'s I don't know if any would be reasonable. Be aware that a new Harvard initiative pledges full aid with zero loans to families with incomes under $40k. I do not know the specifics. </p>

<p>With what I contemplate will be your EFC, with a little luck reaches that my daughter with the same stats can only dream about may come true, for you. Punch in some numbers and you might be surprised. The way merit and need mesh together can give you some opportunities also. Your need package at school A that grants merit awards may include substantial loans but your merit may wipeout the notes leaving only the grants in your FA package. Very sweet result which has the added benefit of freeing up those unused loans to help your family meet the calculated efc.</p>

11

<p>Thanks for all of the info; I know that will certainly come in handy. Anybody else have any suggestions of schools where I might have a shot at a scholarship? So far I have this:</p>

<p>Tulane, U Miami, Furman</p>

<p>Any others?</p>

12

<p>University of Southern California a good school that gives very good students like you full or substantial scholarships.
With your stats you should also be applying to national scholarships too...</p>

<p>EDIT: Sorry, USC is a huge university, over 30,000 students I believe...</p>

13

<p>Lotus are you from teh Okanagan?
I have heard good things about their high school.
You might want to look at the honors program at UW. yes it is bigger than you want but a free ride possiblity might be very doable as well as a chance to have smaller classes and some good professors.
You also might look at Lewis and clark in Portland and Maclester in Twin Cities.
Your income is such that a need based scholarship would be available to you at most schools with a healthy endowment- and if you apply to schools a tad below in your stats you might get a package that is weighted heavier in grants than loans.</p>

14

<p>Lotus123, if you are simply looking for a list of scholarships available at your SAT level, simply google (SAT+1400+merit scholarship+2005). There are literally hundreds.Enjoy and good luck, and I hope if you find something interesting from this suggestion you'll post it for the rest of us.</p>

15

<p>emeraldkity4: No, I don't go to Okanagan actually. However, I have played their school in Knowledge Bowl and Math Team! Actually, I go to a pretty small public school (like 500 people total) a little outside of Spokane.</p>

<p>I did the suggested Google, and came up with the following:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wabash.edu/admissions/finances/scholarships%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wabash.edu/admissions/finances/scholarships&lt;/a>
(The Pres. Scholarship)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.etbu.edu/Admissions/scholarship05-06.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.etbu.edu/Admissions/scholarship05-06.htm&lt;/a>
(Earl & Patsy Hollandsworth Academic Fellowship)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.ehsbr.org/usmain/college_counseling/scholarships.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ehsbr.org/usmain/college_counseling/scholarships.htm&lt;/a>
(This is a pretty good site!)</p>

<p>davidav87: Yeah, USC is big, but if it's paid for I'd certainly have to change my mind :></p>

<p>emeraldkity4: I'm applying to UW as my big safety (even if I don't get a scholarship it's still only like $5000 a year). Macalester, however, only gives $5000 (I think) to National Merit Scholars, and my PSAT's were lackluster :< I'll have to look at LC, though.</p>

16

<p>lotus123, I have found that if you go to the hotshot high school websites, and nose around you can stumble on things like really good scholarship lists at Thomas Jefferson , or at Choate Rosemary Hall, or-you get the drift I'm sure.</p>

17

<p>I gotcha ;D</p>

18

<p>Lotus - you will need to cast a wide net. Try to being your SAT up a little - not because it is not good, but to improve your admission/aid chances.
I would recommend concentrating on schools with need-based aid for reaches, and state schools providing substantial merit scholarships for safeties. Add a sprinkling of private merit scholarship schools, but be aware that you will require substantial aid for a $40K COA school, so even a half tuition may not help much.
Look at some of your local LACs and see what the COA is vs what their merit scholarships are, then go a little farther afield. Southwestern in Dallas? (Curmudge, where are you), and Depauw, I think, have charts online that tell you how much scholarship you get for X grades and scores - compare that to their cost of attendance. Schools in the South, Midwest and Mountain Wes will be you best bargains, but you have to factor in travel - you will provide geographic diversity to some of these schools.</p>

<p>Digmedia's son is going to a very interesting program at Ohio University, and there are other niche programs at some lower cost institutions around the country, if you willing to travel a little. If you want to stay closer to home, state unis and possibly some local LACs will be your best financial safeties.</p>

19

<p>Local LACs, as in the ones EK listed ;). One thing that will help at LACs, and prevent me from suggesting forget them, is that because of the nature of the beast, the number of students they can attract and afford in your family's income range is small. If you luck up and get one of their generous aid packages, that's great, you may have to apply to a few extra to get the best deal, or as I said, look a little further afield.</p>

20

<p>Well, I live in WA state, so these are the schools that are around which are worth going to: UW, Whitman, Reed, Willamete, and maybe Lewis and Clark? Oh, and I don't really care whether the school is close, so that's not much of a problem.</p>

<p>As far as bringing up SAT I scores, I don't see how, lol! I only got 2 Q's wrong on the M and W sections, and I attribute those to stupid mistakes (i.e. not likely to change on a retake) The only section I could improve would be CR, so would it really be worth it?</p>