http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968 has a list of large merit scholarships for stats, as potential safety options if they have your major.
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/ has a list of competitive large merit scholarships as reach options.
Check school web sites because some have changed since the lists were made. Note deadlines for some of them.
I am Filipino, southeast asian, so technically yes. However, I am not submitting race/ethnicity info on my apps because of affirmative action in most states.
Are there any schools you would recommend with guaranteed merit for my academic stats?
From http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968 :
3.84 GPA and 35 ACT gives:
Somewhat less than full tuition:
University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa
Full tuition:
University of Alabama - Huntsville (not Tuscaloosa)
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Louisiana Tech University
University of Mississippi
Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University - Kingsville (not College Station)
Full ride:
Tuskegee University
Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University
Check on college web sites to verify.
Thank you, I will look into these. For UAH, I cannot find an application deadline, do you know what it is? Also Florida A&M is a HBCU so I’m not going there
SOSConcern, thanks for your input. I read the admission and scholarship application section of the U AL Tuscaloosa site. It says to submit the scholarship app by 12/15 but the admission app by 2/1. Does that mean I can submit my scholarship app before my admission app?
as are Tuskegee and Prairie View. But you asked for help on where you could go for free tuition, and @UCB answered your question.
Not exactly sure what your issue is with FAMU being a HBCU. My husband graduated from the Architecture program there and had a great experience.
The application to the school happens first for UA. The automatic scholarships can occur for students who apply by that deadline. It is a quick and easy application on line, but of course as with all schools, they want your HS transcript and test scores to them (even if your transcript has test scores, they do want official ACT/SAT information to them).
UAH has rolling admission, but do look at their scholarship deadline.
Essentially the scholarship deadline includes having admission application or acceptance.
Don’t play around with deadlines. Apply early enough not to miss the boat.
You have to use the @ sign for me to get a notification. @talexr
Depending what you want in your campus experience and what you think of their academic programs of interest, and what financial constraints you have, I would apply and later decifer from schools. UA and UAH offer different things. I also would not rule out your in-state schools. Apply to enough so that you can mull over all the pros and cons. You don’t want to rule out a financial safety.
Unfortunately, many southern universities are either historically white or historically black as a legacy of previously required segregation. But many of these schools are still predominantly their historical race (e.g. compare UAH/AAMU and FSU/FAMU), indicating that segregation take many generations to go away (if ever) even after the legal requirements are abolished.
But you are neither white nor black, so you are likely to be part of a very small minority group at most or all of these universities.
Look at Lehigh. Great engineering school and merit aid (competitive).
No real deadline for UAH application. Scholarships will be automatic upon acceptance. Application is online and very easy to fill out. You could do it 10 min. or less.
However, honors housing is first-come-first-served, so it’s in your best interest to go ahead and send in the application if you are interested.
Technically, the separate application for department/general scholarships has a Dec. 1 deadline. However, they will let you submit it after you have been admitted up until the end of February/beginning of March. Still, earlier applicants get priority over late ones, according to their financial aid department.
How long would it take U AL Tuscaloosa to admit me, I plan on applying today. I am freaking out because I thought that you had to submit your application by 12/15 to be eligible for merit aid. Turns out you have to be ADMITTED by 12/15, which is a stupid way to define the deadline. “For an entering freshman, December 15 is the priority date to be admitted to the University and to have all required documents on file. Entering freshman admitted as of December 15 and have a scholarship application on file will be given priority consideration for a wide range of scholarships.”
Case Western and Wash U have up to full tuition scholarships through separate application. Check deadlines to make sure you don’t miss them. They are long shots for everybody but worth trying. Case also offers merit scholarships without separate application of up to 30K or thereabouts (as of last year). Both schools like high test scores and for both, demonstrated interest is very important.
Thank you guys for your responses so far, I really appreciate it. Besides the original eight schools I mentioned in the OP, I have since applied to nine other schools, mainly just for merit reasons and because most are in state (UA Tuscaloosa and Huntsville, UCF, USF, Embry-Riddle, Florida Tech, U Miami, U Delaware, and U Oklahoma). I am wondering what your suggestions would be for high-tier schools (e.g. Northwestern, Hopkins, and Ivies, etc), keeping in mind that I am applying for chemical engineering and that the applications for these types of schools are very long. Mainly, I am applying to these schools because they guarantee paying for your financial need and because of large research endowments. I would probably limit my high-tier school applications to 3 max, as they are due in early January. The top five high-tier schools I’m considering are Cornell, Northwestern, Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and Rice, but I am open to suggestions. One of my main concerns for these schools is that I haven’t done anything REALLY impressive, like gone to ISEF, published research papers, started a charitable organization or business, or anything like that. What would you suggest given my test scores, grades, course rigor, and my LACK of REALLY impressive accomplishments? Thank you.
Thank you guys for your responses so far, I really appreciate it. Besides the original eight schools I mentioned in the OP, I have since applied to nine other schools, mainly just for merit reasons and because most are in state (UA Tuscaloosa and Huntsville, UCF, USF, Embry-Riddle, Florida Tech, U Miami, U Delaware, and U Oklahoma). I am wondering what your suggestions would be for high-tier schools (e.g. Northwestern, Hopkins, and Ivies, etc), keeping in mind that I am applying for chemical engineering and that the applications for these types of schools are very long. Mainly, I am applying to these schools because they guarantee paying for your financial need and because of large research endowments. I would probably limit my high-tier school applications to 3 max, as they are due in early January. The top five high-tier schools I’m considering are Cornell, Northwestern, Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and Rice, but I am open to suggestions. One of my main concerns for these schools is that I haven’t done anything REALLY impressive, like gone to ISEF, published research papers, started a charitable organization or business, or anything like that. What would you suggest given my test scores, grades, course rigor, and my LACK of REALLY impressive accomplishments? Thank you.
Rice was a terrific suggestion. My next door neighbors daughter is a Junior ChemE major there and is getting a terrific education and already landed an internship.
Also, I happen to know that the U of MN has some flexibility on FA and/or Merit. If you get a better offer elsewhere, I would certainly not hesitate to reach out to admissions and see if they can improve their original offer. Sure can’t hurt to ask!
Good luck, and congrats on your accomplishments so far!
Would we get access to these merit scholarship applications after submitting our application through common app? In that case, by when should we submit our regular application to allow enough time to complete the scholarship app?
@pocketbody which school are you referring to? For most schools on this thread, you are automatically considered for merit scholarships. Some schools you have to complete a general scholarship application, and others you have to complete specific scholarship applications(U Wisc)/ Today, I actually called the admissions offices and financial aid offices of all the schools I mentioned in this thread, so I’ll be able to give you accurate info on the specific school you wanna know about.
@ColdinMinny Thanks! I actually called U MN today to inquire about financial aid, but they said they won’t really have any thing to tell me until they are done admitting the other students. But besides U MN, I got two more new acceptances. Bama and UA Huntsville. UA Huntsville is giving me full tuition, so that’s great, hoping to get some more money for room and board via the scholarship application and honors college. As for Bama, they do not do full tuition, but I am pretty sure I will be eligible for $25K a year merit aid. Rice sounds great too, I don’t know much, but I’ve only heard good about it.