<p>I am afraid we might be overlooking a great school where DS has the potential for a large merit scholarship.
Stats:
2330 SATs (only sitting)
Sat2s: Math 2 800, Bio 800, Chem 770, US Hist 780
APs -5 taken still waiting for scores but probably all 4s and 5s
GPA: 4.5+
Class rank: 1/360</p>
<p>ECs:
Tennis: County champ 1st singles (3 Years) also USTA ranked
XC: County champ (first one ever from our HS) - Junior year, hoping to repeat this coming season
Music: All -state frosh year English Horn; Regional Band - Oboe Soph year - quit music junior year :(
EMT certified - member of local first aid squad
Play with handicap child once per week for 3 years
Treasurer then president Latin Club
NHS</p>
<p>Summers:
Ball person at US Tennis Open - 4 years
This summer volunteering at NY hospital in research department
Running, running, running and playing tennis tournaments............</p>
<p>He wants to major in a Bio related field and pre -med. Also looking for a medium size university, location is not a factor. List so far:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Penn
Wash U
Rice
Brandeis</p>
<p>Since we will probably be looking at many $$ (college and med school) we are looking for a very good school that S has a chance for a merit scholarship. If he qualifies for need based fin aid, it will be a small amount. Any ideas would be VERY appreciated.</p>
<p>Is your child a likely NMSF? What was his PSAT?</p>
<p>I understand the undergrad/med school costs concerns…we’re in the same boat. Younger son will be applying to med schools next summer. Yikes!!! (they grow up tooo fast!!)</p>
<p>What else does your son want in a school besides obviously strong sciences for pre-med pre-reqs, etc? </p>
<p>Are Catholic schools ok? </p>
<p>Rural? City? Big sports to watch? </p>
<p>How large of merit do you want? Free tuition? More? Less?</p>
<p>Big sports school is not important but a school with strong club sports program would be great. He doesn’t want to play varsity tennis, but does want a strong tennis program.</p>
<p>Catholic schools are really not desirable (we are Jewish).</p>
<p>Would love to see free tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>He is a very friendly kid - no problem making friends but I wouldn’t describe him as being a partier. I would be surprised to see that change too much in him. He is not interested in a greek feel either.</p>
<p>He should also note that pre-med does not constrain him to be a biology major. He can take pre-med courses around some other major, if he has some other academic interests, or wants to major in something with better job and career prospects than biology for a backup option in case he does not get into medical school or finds it to be too expensive.</p>
<p>The Presidential Scholarship Program : Successful candidates are awarded this renewable scholarship, which covers tuition, general fee, room, board and books for eight consecutive semesters. </p>
<p>On the other side of Pennsylvania, your son should qualify for honors colege and full tuition and possibly a full ride (tuition + room and board, etc.) at the University of Pittsburgh. It’s a great school for pre-med studies with great research opportunities at the Pitt hospitals on campus. Pitt also has a nice Jewish community and an active Hillel.</p>
<p>The Ivies don’t offer merit money, but do have great need-based aid. For a lot of merit money, you will probably need to drop down a notch or two in the hierarchy. Consider Emory, for example.</p>
<p>You are looking for “a perfect fit” AND a large merit scholarship?</p>
<p>Large merit scholarships to highly selective schools are quite difficult to find, even for high-stat and otherwise-accomplished students. I think your son may need to develop a flexible definition of “perfect fit”. My son ended up accepting a full-tuition (plus) merit award to a school that didn’t really seem like a perfect fit at all, but he just graduated after enjoying a highly successful–both academically and socially–four years. (FWIW, it was Vanderbilt.)</p>
<p>You might want to add Vanderbilt and Emory to your list, but be warned that the full-tuition merit awards are highly competitive. If you are convinced you are not eligible for need-based aid, remove the first four schools you listed at the top of this thread; they don’t give any merit awards.</p>
<p>Agree with the schools mentioned above - Emory, WashU, Vanderbilt, UVA, and UNC all have highly competitive merit scholarships. That said, given how selective they are you probably would do best to also look for merit scholarships from lower-ranked colleges and universities.</p>
strong sciences for pre-med pre-reqs, etc? </p>