<p>But wouldn’t it look better to major in psychology? Or should I major in another field then? Also, I know I can go to flu and ucf but I don’t want to limit myself. I am going to attempt to research as much as possible in the next few weeks colleges that will give me the most merit and also have scholarships I have a good chance for. The financial aid will hopefully be enough with the merit to allow me to take some student loans as well as work study to pull it off. I know money is the prime factor but I am going to try my best and hopefully something good will come out of this. </p>
<p><<<<<but wouldn’t="" it="" look="" better="" to="" major="" in="" psychology?="" or="" should="" i="" another="" field="" then?="">>>></but></p>
<p>Look better for what???</p>
<p>Major in something that will lead to a career in case you are one of the 75% that never go to med school.</p>
<p>So basically it seems like you have taken the advice and just swung yourself back to where you were when you started the conversation. You want to attend schools like x,y, and z, so how can you get enough loan money to make that happen. </p>
<p>It is a poor decision all around to approach college selection that way. There are really great opportunities at other schools for students who have the internal drive and motivation to find them and to make the most of them to make a name for themselves and do so with little debt.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to take the poor decision but I am just saying that I don’t want to limit myself to the max. For example, I was doing the NPC for Skidmore college. The tuition is about 64k. In total of loan, aid, and work study, I would make around 51k. That leaves 13k. Don’t you think I could qualify for a similar college like this but where my stats are well above theirs and receive merit aid to complete it?</p>
<p>No. It isn’t that simple. Full-ride scholarships are rare. Most schools expect you to pay your EFC.</p>
<p>How about this list (3rd list so far):</p>
<p>Safeties:
Temple University (full tuition + 12000 stipend to use on other expenses like living)
Louisiana Tech (Full ride with my stats)</p>
<p>Match:
Denison
Rhodes College
Samford University
Skidmore College</p>
<p>The match schools are in the top us schools that offered more than 38% of students merit aid and they offer generous amounts of aid and my stats are in the upper percentile of their upper percentile?</p>
<p>I would recommend you look at Birmingham Southern as an alternative to Samford.</p>
<p>You are developing a good list.</p>
<p>Do you mean Birmingham southern college? @BobWallace </p>
<p>Yes, that’s the one.</p>
<p>Is it known for merit like Samford?</p>
<p>You can assess merit aid trends by looking at the Common Data Set for each college, or with the summary data available at collegedata.com</p>
<p>Samford and BSC both give lots of merit aid. BSC seems like a better fit with other colleges you have considered.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion 
</p>
<p>Shockwave, I know nothing about Samford. Questions you need to know the answer to are Do they allow scholarships to stack? Is institutional aid reduced by additional scholarships? (typically the answer to the last question is yes. So, say they offer you $30000 in institutional aid, but then you win a $25,000 scholarship, your institutional aid drops down to $5000. The net gain is zero.)</p>
<p>Why do they take away aid with scholarships?</p>
<p>Exactly what I have been trying to explain. Most schools expect you to pay your EFC. It is rare that multiple scholarships are allowed to stack and not have it impact anything else. Navigating the FA world of colleges is messy.</p>
<p>Are temple and Louisiana tech still good safeties though?</p>
<p>You still have explained why going out of state is so important. Temple is not a ‘better’ school than UF or FSU or any of the other 10 public schools in Florida nor will it be easier to get into medical school from Temple. If you want to live in Philadelphia, go for it, but cost of living is not cheap.</p>
<p>I think you need to talk to your guidance counselor. GC may know of many in-state grants and scholarships you will be eligible for if you are getting free lunch. GC may have an ‘in’ with the admissions officers who want YOU and know of funding for private in-state. The farther away you go, the less likely that your local GC can help. We live about 60 miles from the FL/GA line, and no one goes to GA schools because the money just isn’t there. We have several students going to MS and AL schools because funding is better.</p>
<p>I do think your new list is more realistic.</p>
<p>The reason schools take away your need based aid when you get scholarships is because the NEED is no longer there - it’s been met. Not all schools do that (and most won’t take away merit aid) so look for schools that allow stacking.</p>
<p>I have emailed the admission offices of the schools on my list about merit aid and financial aid to see if they allow “stacking”. I put temple because it would offer full tuition as well as a generous stipend for living expenses. Louisiana tech is also from the link and offers me a full ride. The rest of the schools are known for giving a large percentage (38+%) merit aid to their incoming freshman and my stats are in their upper percentile so I have a good chance. I will go to my GC when school starts again as soon as possible.</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re looking at this before your Senior year starts.</p>
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<p>no because the merit aid would replace your need based aid. the merit aid is given first</p>