<p>Hello everyone I'm a member of the class of 2011, and I am wondering about potential scholarships offers i may receive. I've always wanted to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology but oos tuition is expensive. So i'm wandering if i could receive a presidential scholarship to Ga Tech.</p>
<p>Here are my stats:
IB program
Ranking: 9/515
GPA- unweighted = 4.0; weighted = 4.8302
Act- 30 (33 in English and 30 in Math)
National Merit- Commended student (still in the running)
ECs- Executive President of S.G.A, President of National Honor Society, Model United Nations, Students Working Against Tobacco, Spanish Honor Society, and National English Honor Society
Community Service: over 120hrs</p>
<p>Son was a NM student, with 2300 something SATs, lots of APs, well known prep school with a 3.0 unweighted average, got into Cornell and other such selective schools. was accepted to GIT but did not even make the first round of the Presidential Scholarship. Certainly I encourage you to apply, but the competition is extremely steep. The kids who ended up getting those awards were truly up there in special research projects that were the caliber of the Sieman Westinghouse awards. THough my son did have a specialty research project, it was pretty clear that he was not going to be in consideration seeing who was in the running.</p>
<p>GT doesn’t have a big National Merit scholarship. </p>
<p>What was your PSAT score and what state are you in?</p>
<p>Georgia Tech
Test Scores Middle 50% of First-Year Students<br>
SAT Critical Reading: 580 - 680<br>
SAT Math: 650 - 750<br>
SAT Writing: 580 - 670<br>
ACT Composite: 27 - 31 </p>
<p>Unfortunately, an ACT 30 puts you in the middle 50% of students. That’s not close to being high enough for a Presidential for GT. To be in the running, I would imagine that you would have to have at least an ACT 34 and 3.8 UW & 4.5+ W GPA - at least (and probably higher).</p>
<p>To be in the running, I would imagine that a student would have to be in the top 2% of their applicant pool. </p>
<p>To get good-sized merit scholarships from schools that give them, you need to be well within that upper 25%. I would say at least in the top 5%. That can be hard at top schools and/or schools that only give a few big merit scholarships.</p>
<p>If you need a scholarship in order to afford an out of state school, then you need to consider ones that will give you merit for your stats. GT isn’t one of them.</p>
<p>Doesn’t hurt to try. My son did. Didn’t get one but a kid with similar stats as his, but a higher gpa was awarded one a few years back from his same school which was why the GC pointed this out to S. </p>
<p>However, this award is among the top awards that colleges give, and as a result, getting it or any of such awards such as the BC top applicants’ awards, the Johns Hopkins big award, Dukes’s full scholarship, Uof Ch’s scholarships has very small odds even with stats in the running. More likely to get into the most selective schools in the country, which those kids who get these awards often do get. Kids turn down HPY to go to those schools that give these merit scholarships. I know kids who turned down Yale for the NC Morehouse award, for instance.</p>
<p>Look for scholarships where you are in the top echelon of kids competing for them. You can shoot for the pie in the sky but if you need the money, make sure you hae some realistic targets too.</p>
<p>I got a 215 on the PSAT and I’m from Alabama</p>
<p>The 215 makes you Commended, I believe, not Semi Finalist. Lots of NSM scholars in the bunch. But more importantly is independent research that you have done. The kids who get this award are impressive indeed. I saw their resumes from last year as my son competed for this. </p>
<p>Lots of kids from the southern states too. Georgia borders Alabama. Some of the schools up North or in the Midwest might want some Alabamas in their mix. You won’t get any points for geographic diversity. However, I don’t think they look at that. The quality of the work these kids have done was truly incredible. All of them looked like Harvard material to me.</p>
<p>Oh okay and the cutoff for previous years for Alabama has been lower. Do you really think I won’t become a semi-finalist? And when do you find out if you became one?</p>
<p>Last year the Cutoff was 208</p>
<p>I thought you said you were Commended. Once you are designated as a Commended student that means you are eliminated as a finalist. However, the scholarship seemed to highlight kids who put together some unique, incredible project. Truly unusually gifted students. </p>
<p>By all means, apply. My son did. It was not that big of deal to apply. Just some essay and an early deadline, if I remember correctly. But none of these top merit awards are something anyone can count upon. They are that selective.</p>
<p>I graduated from Georgia Tech last month. I applied for the PS as a high school senior but also did not even make the semi-finalist stage. Like cptofthehouse, I strongly encourage you to apply.</p>
<p>Though some of the PS recipients were indeed those students who engaged in “special research projects that were the caliber of the Siemens Westinghouse awards,” I don’t think all were necessarily that accomplished, and I mean that in a more general sense, not just in elite science competitions. If you ask me, a non-recipient, I think the committee is looking for strong evidence of “leadership.” Not all of the PS recipients I encountered were academic superstars, but I couldn’t deny that they get involved on campus. They’re the ones who run for the big Student Government roles, who serve on the editorial staff of the student newspaper, represent their fraternities or sororities during Homecoming, and so forth. In other words, people around campus “know” their names even if they don’t know them personally.</p>
<p>Congratz. As a person looking to attend Georgia Tech do you have any advice?</p>
<p>You will be a NMSF for Alabama with a PSAT of 215. (I think he meant that he knows he’d be at least Commended if somehow he doesn’t make NMSF. But, he will be NMSF.)</p>
<p>You will find out in Sept - mid Sept at the latest. Some principals let kids know in late Aug.</p>
<p>However, that’s not going to help you with Georgia Tech. GT gets a lot of students from AL and they don’t give a big scholarships to NMFs.</p>
<p>there really is no advice we can give except try to get an ACT 36 with your high GPA and maybe you’ll have a chance. You’re already at a disadvantage being from Alabama. GT uses their big scholarship to get super stats kids from unique states or for some other desired reason (URM or ???)…Being from right next door is not desirable. </p>
<p>Really, the best advice is…If your parents can’t pay for OOS GT, then that school cannot be your number one choice. It can be a “maybe” choice…apply and see what happens…but you have to work on more realistic choices, so you don’t end up disappointed.</p>
<p>Where else are you considering? (Keep in mind that with an ACT 30, your stats aren’t high enough for big merit at most better schools. However, as a NMF, you could get a good scholarship to schools that give them. )</p>
<p>Have you taken the SAT? You have to do that to become a NMF. Sign up for the Oct and Nov exams and have your scores sent to NMCorp.</p>
<p>There are a number of schools, discussed and listed on CC, that give automatic awards to NMS. Take a look at those along with the more competitive awards. There are also a number of threads on CC about going for these competitive scholarships and some individual quests. Truly not an easy journey. Curmudgeon, whose daughter was accepted to schools like Yale and Colgate, to name a couple went on such an odyssey. Momfromtexas also has threads on how to get full ride scholarships, again that are not such lottery tickets.</p>
<p>Not to say, not to go for ANY of these awards that you think might work for you. Just vary the selectivity to give yourself a chance of getting some choices.</p>
<p>I think Curmy’s D was accepted to Yale for med school. I don’t know if she was accepted for undergrad. She went to Rhodes College (I think) for undergrad on a big scholarship with stellar stats. But, maybe I’m remembering wrong. It was awhile ago when Curmy and his D were going to those scholarship competitions. </p>
<p>I think this student is interested in high ranking engineering schools, so that can be a problem if big merit money is needed to attend. Unless this student gets his ACT much higher, his chances of getting big scholarships is slim with his current ACT.</p>
<p>USC would give him a half tuition scholarship, but that still leaves about $35k per year to pay for. If OOS GT is unaffordable, then probably the balance at USC might be, too.</p>
<p>
Yep. Her last two standing for UG were Yale and Rhodes. She took Rhodes and the money. For med school the final decision was Yale or UT-Southwestern (with $) . This time she went with Yale.</p>