With stats like these, what are the odds of me getting any merit-based financial aid from schools like UF, UCF, USF, UNF, and FSU? I’m also a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, if that carries any extra weight in determining how much aid I get.
Unweighted GPA: 3.71
Weighted GPA: 4.88
Community Service: 171 hours
SAT Score: 1990
Class Rank: Top 5%
You are well above average for all of those schools except UF(and you should still get in there).
Perhaps you should take SAT again if you were in the top 1% on the PSAT?
I would say you are in except maybe UF. Merit will be most at USF, none at UF.
bump.
Any other opinions?
The question isn’t whether you’re in, but whether you’d get scholarships. Most of these universities have a profile of the freshman class: if you’re above the top 25% mark, your odds increase; check college data and see whether your score place you in the top 10%, top 5%… then yes you’d get major merit.
Run the NPCs for all of these, as many will ask for your GPA and scores to factor in merit.
Thanks for your input! I’ll definitely check out the freshman class stats for these schools and see how I stack up.
Also, make sure you have the scholarship deadlines down, whether you need to apply or you’re automatically considered, and whether you need to send extra essays, recommendations, etc (which take time to prepare).
@MYOS1634 - generically the advice makes sense - but for some of these schools the merit is automatic:
http://www.usf.edu/admissions/freshman/admissions-scholarships/
^covered: “whether you need to apply or you’re automatically considered” 
Not considered - it’s automatic. Far different.
Thanks for the help guys. I contacted the UCF financial advisor and he told me I’m guaranteed a full ride scholarship to UCF as long as I make it to Finalist standing, which I hopefully will. Hopefully, I can graduate debt-free with a Chemistry BS from UCF.
^Great fallback plan if UF doesn’t work out - but I think it will.
Don’t forget to apply to Honors Colleges where consideration or admission aren’t automatic (see, adding detail ClarinetDad )