<p>I know there are plenty of threads about full ride schools, but there are too many for me to apply to all of them. I am looking for a challenge in college, so I would prefer schools that are stricter academically, but not top tier like the ivies as I doubt my chances of admissions there. I have a 34 on the ACT, 2200 on the SAT and a 3.90 for GPA (My grades are either As or Cs..., mostly As though). My main problem when applying for college is the sad lack of extracurricular and leadership position, so I have no idea what type of college would accept me. While I'm a member of plenty of clubs, I don't think I have a single item I can put in the recognition/achievement section of application, so help someone help!</p>
<p>For safeties, look here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>There are competitive full ride scholarships at places like NCSU, Georgia Tech, and others.</p>
<p>If your goal is to be an officer in the military, there are the service academies and ROTC scholarships to try for.</p>
<p>You’re probably going to get some decent aid from your local state school.</p>
<p>momfromtexas has excellent advice about finding full-ride scholarships. These threads are older, and many of the scholarships named may no longer exist, but her research strategies are unbeatable.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>What do you mean by “full ride”? Do you mean “free tuition” or free tuition, room, board, books"?</p>
<p>Are you a National Merit Semi Finalist? If so, there may be some full or near full rides out there.</p>
<p>Many big scholarship deadlines were Dec 1, so you’ve missed a number of app deadlines.</p>
<p>If you want a true full ride, you’re going to have to come down academically…way below ivies…WAY below.</p>
<p>Agree. Scholarship applications usually have earlier deadlines.</p>
<p>Elaine: Your numbers are outstanding. Often the most elite colleges & universities offer generous financial aid grants for those in need. Try to get an experienced counselor at your school to view your activities & to offer suggestions as to how to best present them in a college application. Don’t sell yourself short.
Also, look into flagship state universities honors colleges. Be open to both LACs & National Universities if seeking money.</p>
<p>It is so funny that all of those posters were so negative back in better economic times. I wonder if any of them are regretting that they dismissed graduating debt-free so casually (and meanly, in many cases).</p>
<p>Urg, I know my academic scores are good, which is why I really don’t want to go to a community college although it would be cheap. Ivies are impossible as apparently lack of EC = lack of leadership, which is true. I honestly just want to get into a decent college and hopefully get into one off the really good graduate schools. Hence the search for fullride schools that aren’t so elite that ECs are one of the deciding factors for admission.</p>
<p>Were you a national merit finalist?</p>
<p>I score 209, which qualified based on score. unfortunately I’m on an H4 visa and was not eligible for the competition, so nope I wasn’t</p>
<p>If you’re not a citizen or PR, then a number of scholarships aren’t available to you. </p>
<p>What is your situation? How much will your parents pay for college?</p>
<p>It’s not likely that you’re going to get a full ride because you’ve missed a lot of deadlines and you’re an int’l. Another problem is that the kind of schools that give “free rides” are usually going to be far less competitive than you may want. You say that you don’t mean ivies…well, we’re not talking anywhere close to ivies. To get a free ride, you’re probably going to have to look 3rd or 4th tier.</p>
<p>Elaine95,</p>
<p>Your problem is not your lack of ECs. Your problem is that you are an international applicant. Not all of those full rides are available to internationals. </p>
<p>What can your family pay? Are you willing to convert your visa to an F1? Do you classify as in-state for the public colleges and universities where you are? What are your options in your home country or other countries? Is your family on track to get green cards before you finish high school?</p>
<p>Go to the International Students Forum and read everything b@r!um has written about finding aid. She is the expert you should be communicating with.</p>
<p>Ack I know. Right now, for full rides, I don’t care about the tier of the school, only that I don’t have to pay. I’m sure this is possible even for international students, as I have relatives that came here from China without top notch grades but without her family paying. As yeah, I’ve began looking at the international forums too.</p>
<p>One of the more generous state schools I’ve seen with a late scholarship deadline is University of Kentucky. Your PSAT score looks like the cutoff for Alabama (I’m just assuming at this point), so UAH would be a viable option if you were in-state. Miami and Case Western are still open if you’re looking for fairly solid schools, and I’m pretty certain you could try Howard and Tulsa as well. I know nothing about policies for international students, so the best thing you can do at this point is try to contact them before their respective deadlines. Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, if it’s past a school’s deadline you can still try to contact a few program directors and see if they’ll maybe extend their deadlines for someone in your situation. University of Alabama, for instance, likes to buy students with high stats, so it may be worth a shot.</p>
<p>If your EFC is low try applying to some of the need blind schools for internationals even if you don’t have great ECs one that I know of is Dartmouth College</p>
<p>Alabama’s deadline was Dec 1.</p>
<p>I have relatives that came here from China without top notch grades but without her family paying</p>
<p>What schools did your relatives go to?</p>
<p>Try:</p>
<p>UAB
Troy Univ</p>
<p>* Your PSAT score looks like the cutoff for Alabama (I’m just assuming at this point), so UAH would be a viable option if you were in-state. Miami*</p>
<p>The student is an int’l…so not “instate”. And won’t qualify for NMSF/F.</p>
<p>Darn, I realize that I’m way late in applying to college. Anyway, Dartmouth is way too selective for me to stand a chance, but I’m going to try my luck with Brandeis and Amherst. Are there any schools, I don’t care about the tier, that would give international students aid with good grades? Most of the schools I’m applying to now range from extremely to quite selective, so I’d really like a backup school. Thanks</p>
<p>Amherst is just as selective as Dartmouth?</p>