HELP I need somebody! Not just anybody!

<p>Senior Graduating 2012
GPA: 3.6 or 3.7 unweighted don't really remember
ACT 32
Will be taking SAT Physics and Math 2
Amnesty International
Varsity Tennis
100 plus hours of volunteer work
National Honors Society
State Qualifier For CAD Competition placed 2nd in regionals
I'm in the top 15% of my class which has 800-900 kids in it
Will have 9 AP courses by the end of senior year
I Have an upward trend I jumped .5 on my gpa from soph to junior</p>

<p>I think I want to go to be an engineering major (still don't know which though). The list I've thought up</p>

<p>Northwestern
WashU St. Louis (I know not a really strong engineering school but i loved the campus/type of people/atmosphere if you know a school which is similar to washu but has a stronger engineering program I am willing to listen I REALLY LIKED IT)
U of I Urbana Champagne
U of Michigan Ann Arbor
U of Wisconsin Madison</p>

<p>Sorry if it was too long. Could you help me out with some other suggestions and maybe leave a reason why? Your help is much appreciated.</p>

<p>What state are you in? How much can you afford to pay? </p>

<p>Your stats are borderline for UIUC engineering. Cost of attendance is about $33K instate, $47K out of state. You are very unlikely to qualify for merit aid, and if you’re OOS, there’s essentially no need-based aid available other than federal. </p>

<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>

<p>What’s your family’s college budget? Those public schools will offer you little or no financial aid if you’re not a resident of one of those states.</p>

<p>Hi thank you for replying
I live in Illinois and my mom and dad don’t really understand the gravity of paying for college. (I am not sure I do either) Because they come from a different country where the educational programs differ from America, they said that if I get into a school that is high ranked they would try their best to accommodate for it. Also what are merit based scholarships?
Thank You</p>

<p>Merit based scholarships are those that colleges give students they especially want to attract, most often because of academic potential. Your stats would likely qualify you for merit money at some colleges, but not at those you listed. </p>

<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>

<p>I agree completely with annasdad regarding your concern with merit based scholarships. Urbana-Champaign (do consider spelling it correctly on your college apps, haha; it’s just campaign with an “h”) has one of the top engineering programs, and it’ll be a good price range as of college tuition. If money isn’t too much of a problem, I feel like your stats would give you a good shot at UC Berkeley (rumor has it that it doubled its out of state/international student quota this year). With the bad economic situation right now, most state schools are aiming to admit more out of state students, so you might consider that.</p>

<p>You need to find out exactly what your parents can afford. Full cost of attendance for many “high-ranked” schools goes up to $50,000 per year. It’s no use being accepted somewhere if you’ll run out of money to pay for it by your sophomore year.</p>

<p>Iowa State and Michigan State are good choices for an Illinois resident.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone for telling me about the merit based scholarships.
Annasdad could you tell me some strong engineering schools that I can get merit based scholarships for?
Felicity404 haha yea should probably do that thanks. And I don’t think I can get into Berkeley cause I have talked to my counselor and the average weighted GPA was 4.5 and mine is 4.06 but thanks anyway.
All of you guys are probably right I will talk to my parents and get a specific range of tuition they can afford.</p>