Hey! So I’ve been looking at really good colleges like Stanford, USC, Duke, UNC, UT Austin, and Michigan, which I’m not sure how much merit aid I’d be able to get as they’re really competitive (except Stanford which doesn’t offer any). I was wondering what really good schools with great sports programs (football and/or basketball) like the ones I previously mentioned offer a lot of merit scholarships to be cheap. I don’t qualify for financial aid, so I’m trying to figure out how I can make college cheap anyways.
White male in Texas
35 ACT (8/12 writing)
1490 SAT
Will likely be commended on NMSQT, very slim chance at at least semifinalist which I know would help a ton.
4.0 unweighted
29/545 rank
Undecided on what I want to major in but definitely STEM related.
I don’t really want to sacrifice academics or prestige though, I was curious about high merit for schools similar to the ones I listed initially, and wouldn’t really want to live in deep south if not Texas, although I didn’t say that beforehand so that’s my fault. I’m looking for academics first, sports second
I’m not much of a fan of downtown Austin (where I live), but am only looking at UT Austin because of auto admission. My parents can cover anything (before you ask, yes they can cover schools as expensive as Stanford with $65k), but that doesn’t mean I want to make them pay that much.
Thanks for input thumper!
I’m not at all trying to sound harsh but I think that any of the schools you have listed (other than UT Austin) would be a big stretch for you to get into unless you have a hook like you’re an URM or a football recruit. Do you have schools on your list other than Stanford, USC, Duke, UNC and Michigan?
To get merit aid you would need to look at least a tier or two down, and it’s not clear to me how competitive you would would be even at that level. Your activities/achievements (at least what you listed above) won’t be anything special in the applicant pool for the schools you’ve mentioned and may be pretty weak in comparison to most.
Off the top of my head, some good schools with some merit awards include SMU, Wake Forest, Washington & Lee if you are up for a small LAC.
ETA - just saw you mentioned you are a white male.
Thank you guys!
Yeah @GnocchiB I know I have pretty average/below-average extracurriculars but I like the schools. I’m applying to Baylor and UT as safeties that satisfy what I’m looking for so I know I’ll end up somewhere great no matter what, even if my activities hold me back from other schools I’d like to go to
As long as you have safeties you’d be happy to attend and your parents are willing/able to pay, then go ahead and apply to the whatever other ones that you have the time and application fees to spare.
The thing with merit awards is that they are designed to lure the really top kids from the applicant pool at whatever college gives them. To be the top of the heap and qualify for merit awards, you need to be at the top of the applicant pool for the school both academically and EC-wise, which means looking at schools farther down the rankings than you might otherwise be inclined to go, given that you are auto-admit for a school as strong as UT-Austin.
You might get anywhere from $15-20K/year to full tuition at University of Pittsburgh. Solid sports, urban location. What is your preferred geographical region?
You have an unweighted 4.0, a 35 ACT, commended National Merit, and within top 7% of your class. These are great stats!
The schools that interest you are reaches for OOS students (if public) and for everybody (if private). I think you have a reasonable chance of admission at USC. You might want to look at Syracuse (sports, and I believe some merit is available) and Pitt, if you’re willing to go farther afield. You’d also have a decent chance of admission at Rice and maybe Vanderbilt.
Merit scholarships are a whole different category above and beyond admission at these top schools. Try but keep expectations reasonable.
As you say, if you have two in-state safeties that you like, then why not aim high and see what happens. From my daughter’s experience, however, I’d try to limit applications to around 10. Otherwise you can get overextended.
Rice merit seems hit or miss to me. I had a relatively large number of friends with kids applying to Rice this year. Many were admitted, but the only one that received a merit scholarship (which is < 50% of the cost) did not stand out from the others in scores or ECs, but was is in an “under-represented group.” That does seem to be a pattern with the limited ($25K/year typically) merit scholarships that Rice gives…there are other factors at play. Rice also has an unspecified # of $10K/yer merit scholarships that are only available for early applicants.
Merit aid at UMich is not likely although not totally impossible. If you are lucky, you may get $10k-$20k per year which may be not too helpful for a $60k+ CoA. NMSF would not help at all for UMich as the cut off score is pretty much around the average of admission anyway.