Help Me Narrow My Selection

College Search & Selection
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<p>Note, however, the “meet full need” schools can vary considerably due to different expected family contributions and different expected student contributions. Run the net price calculator on each school.</p>

<p>Also note that “meet full need” schools are generally too selective to be safeties.</p>

<p>Is your other divorced parent cooperative with financial aid forms, and not a wealthy non-contributor? For FAFSA-only schools, the other parent is not considered, but most “meet full need” schools have additional forms and consider the other divorced parent’s income and assets in determining the expected family contribution.</p>

22

<p>alright, I got you a safety. UAlabama has a UA Scholar scholarship for out of state students who apply by Dec 15 and have 30-31 ACT and at least a 3.5 GPA: </p>

<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>

<p>It pays out $16046 per year and UA OOS cost of attendance is $19553. They have a compsci that’s part of their engineering college </p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Majors: Computer Science - The University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama) </p>

<p>I don’t know how good it is but it seems to be affordable even if you have to take out several thousand in loans each year.</p>

<p>I also suggest you look at UKentucky, Ohio University, UAlabama-Birmingham. I may have more on these possible “sure things” in the next few days. D took the SAT so I don’t have notes on ACT minimums for all these schools. An ACT score of 31 at UKentucky might mean full tuition or full ride, I forget tonight. It’s late.</p>

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<p>Run a NPC on UVA. Pretty sure they meet full OOS need.</p>

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<p>um, UVA? No.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Neither number appears to be correct.</p>

<p><a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/[/url]”>http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://cost.ua.edu/undergraduate-budget.html[/url]”>http://cost.ua.edu/undergraduate-budget.html&lt;/a&gt; (these are per semester costs, so double them for the year)</p>

<p>That Alabama scholarship covers full tuition plus $2,500 for engineering students (including CS). The residual cost is $10,156 per year, at the outer edge of what a student can reasonably self-fund with direct loans and work earnings. Living frugally can be significantly helpful, though you would probably want to ask on the Alabama forum how much cheaper one can live than the nominal cost of attendance.</p>

26

<p>Have you considered ROTC? Military will always need compsci majors and you seem to be really athletic.</p>

27

<p>The big ROTC scholarships are competitive, and the student needs to have an interest in a military career for that to be an option.</p>

28

<p>Just something for OP to think about.</p>

29

<p>Dang, my bad. ucbalumnus is correct that 19553 is a semester COA.</p>

<p>It gets worse. The scholarship page ucbalumnus pointed us to has the 2014-15 scholarships on it (mine didn’t), and the 2014-15 scholarship for which he now qualifies is nowhere near as generous as the 2013-14 scholarship. </p>

<p>The 2014-15 scholarship for which brogrammer qualifies reads, “Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (critical reading and mathematics scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive two-thirds tuition for four years.” This is quite ambiguous. Does it mean you will receive 16K relief from the 24K (2013-14) tuition, or does it mean you’ll only pay 2/3 of 24K and so get a mere 8K relief? Regardless, of the COA (2013-14), brogrammer would have to pay either 31K or 23K per year.</p>

<p>It’s neither here nor there now, but the language of the 2013-14 scholarships reads, “Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive a tuition supplement to bring their University-level scholarship offer up to the value of tuition. In addition, they will receive $2,500 per year for four years.”</p>

30

<p>might the OP benefit from something similar to ROTC called SMART? It’s a civilian DOD program and competitive: [SMART</a> - Science, Mathematics & Research for Transformation - Part of the National Defense Education Program](<a href=“http://smart.asee.org/about/benefits]SMART”>http://smart.asee.org/about/benefits) </p>

<p>Benefits Summary</p>

<p>Participants In The SMART Scholarship For Service Program Receive:</p>

<p>-Full tuition and education related fees (does not include items such as meal plans, housing, or parking)
-Stipend paid at a rate of $25,000 - $38,000 depending on degree pursuing (may be prorated depending on award length)
-Paid summer internships
-Health Insurance allowance up to $1,200 per calendar year
-Book allowance of $1,000 per academic year
-Mentoring
-Employment placement after graduation</p>

<p>Does anyone have any familiarity with it?</p>

31

<p>SD School of Mine is likely to offer him “OML” scholarships and Resident scholarships:
[Scholarships[/url</a>]
[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.sdsmt.edu/Admissions/Financial-Aid-and-Scholarships/Scholarships/South-Dakota-Scholarships/]South”&gt;South Dakota Scholarships]South</a> Dakota Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.sdsmt.edu/Admissions/Financial-Aid-and-Scholarships/Scholarships/]Scholarships[/url”>Scholarships for Incoming Freshmen)</p>

<p>UVA and UNC-CH are the only two public universities that meet full need for OOS students. UVA recently stopped its blanket no-loans policy with the possibility to retain it for some IS/OOS students it finds especially “attractive”.</p>

<p>There’s still time for you to late-register for the December ACT. if you got a 30 at your first sitting (already impressive), you should get to 32 without breaking (too much of) a sweat. Use number2.com, a computer program that targets your weaknesses. On Monday, get your vouchers from your counselors - you should be able to apply to 8 schools for free (tell your counselor: ACT + NACAC waivers) and if you’re on free lunch you’re eligible for free ACT. (You’re also eligible for free SAT and subject tests.) On the CommonApp, there’s a section for counselors where they click fee wiaver eligibility: your counselor MUST click “yes” and your justification (ie., free/reduced lunch, etc.)
Then, email the admission director for your region at every top school on your list, explain you’re from SD and on free lunch, come from a school where no one ever goes out of state, and would like to apply to their school but application fees prevent you from doing so, and you were told sometimes a fee waiver may be granted by out of state top institutions - will they extend a waiver to you?
I can guarantee they will say “yes, please please apply to our school, here’s a waiver” :stuck_out_tongue: Okay I may be exagerating a bit but not how the admission officer will react internally.</p>

<p>Prioritize 100% need schools; while these schools define what “need” is, these are typically the most generous. You may well end up with a full ride at these schools. Run the NPCs on each website.
Schools outside the Midwest will be looking for a high achieving SD applicant and will probably offer you preferential packaging.
[100%</a> Meet Need Colleges | CollegeGreenlight](<a href=“Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students”>Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students)
Some schools don’t include loans, such as Haverford or Davidson. Haverford has a special agreement with Penn (the Ivy league school) so that if you major in CS or physics and get a 3.0 GPA you’re <em>automatically</em> admitted to their Master of Engineering program and get your MAster’s in one year. So after your BA/Bs from one of the top schools in the country, in ONE year only, you’d have a Master’s in Engineering from one of the most prestigious schools on the planet. Haverford is also one of the friendlier elite schools so, coming from the Midwest, it would still be a culture shock but perhaps not as much. Although culture shock can be overcome when it means a free ride. :)</p>

<p>I entered 14,500 as your mother’s income (if it’s under $25,000 numbers aren’t likely to change anyway)
At Brown you would have to work during the year (likely 12hrs/week) but other than that you’d get a full ride without any loans for tuition, room, board, books, personal expenses, and transportation.
At CalTech, you’d get a similar full ride (tuition, room, board, books, personal expenses, transportation and even extra meals/other expenses, possibly study abroad/research stipend) and you would not have any loan, with only about 8hrs/week work.
At Haverford, you would get full tuition, room&board, books, and personal expenses, and your expected contribution would be $4,200, including a work study for $2,200 and $2,000 which you could get as a loan, summer work, or anything else.</p>

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<p>Re: #29</p>

<p>[Scholarships</a> - Undergraduate Students - The College of Engineering - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/]Scholarships”>Scholarships – College of Engineering | The University of Alabama) has the following:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>This looks like a university scholarship of 2/3 tuition, plus an engineering scholarship that tops that up to full tuition plus $2,500 per year, for a 3.5 HS GPA and 30 ACT.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the help guys! I really appreciate it!</p>

<p>I’m not so sure I want to enter an ROTC program just because I don’t think that’s the right path for me. But I will try to look into the SMART program.</p>

<p>I originally took the ACT back in February of my junior year. If I take it again do you think my score will really have that good of an improvement? If so, will I have to pay double to send both scores to every school that wants them?</p>

<p>I’m getting a lot of mixed responses right now as far as where I should apply. I was originally looking to apply to Brown and CalTech but after looking at all the admission rates and seeing the application fees I decided my top choices were already pretty ambitious. Do you think I should use a waiver and apply anyways?</p>

<p>Finally, where would be a good choice as a safety school? </p>

<p>Again, I can’t thank everyone enough for all the help!</p>

34

<p>You don’t have to pay! I can’t believe your counselor hasn’t taken care of it and had you pay for your test fees off food money. :s
GO -no,RUN - to your counselor and ask for your waiver. If your family is low income (it is based on what you said), if you are on reduced or free lunch for example, it’s your RIGHT to get a waiver for the ACT and for application fees.</p>

<p>Then you’d have your 4 “free” ACT scores from the retake + 4 extra scores (free).
If you practice diligently with number2.com, your score would very likely increase to a 32 since you got 30 “cold” at your first sitting.
<a href=“http://www.actstudent.org/faq/feewaiver.html[/url]”>http://www.actstudent.org/faq/feewaiver.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Do apply to Brown and CalTech… and a few others too from the 100% need schools which have CS or CS Engineering (both lead to good jobs - CS is broader, CS Engineering is more applied). </p>

<p>Ask for application fee waivers at all your schools and from your counselor – she should get you fee waivers for the ACT, she should also click the “fee waiver” section on the Common App, and get the NACAC waivers - [FAQs</a> for Application Fee Waiver Form](<a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/STUDENTINFO/FEEWAIVER/Pages/default.aspx]FAQs”>http://www.nacacnet.org/STUDENTINFO/FEEWAIVER/Pages/default.aspx) - you can actually photocopy it and send it to the various schools you’re interested in) </p>

<p>Sure, your top choices are already pretty ambitious. But don’t limit yourself to these. You have fee waivers and you WILL get into a school somewhere with a full ride because high stat, low income, SD applicants who apply far from home are really hard to find. Does that make you a shoo-in anywhere? No, of course. But I don’t think you believe being from SD would magically turn a reach into a safety. However, all things being equal, it may be the little nudge your application needs compared to hundreds of similar applications from, say, California.
In addition, there are some groups for which graduating from a top school actually makes a difference: URM, lower-income, or first generation students. In other words, if you’re upper middle class, it doesn’t really matter whether you attend your flagship or a “top 20” university, except for personal preferences. However, if you’re URM/lower-income/first generation (ie, your mother doesn’t have a 4 year degree), you benefit tremendously from attending a Top school, both for support and networking, leading to higher graduatio rates, better grades, higher paying jobs, etc.</p>

<p>SD School of Mines &Tech and UMN Morris would be good safety schools. :slight_smile:
Keep UMN and U-WI on your list, but you may want to include St Olaf (MN), Lawrence (WI), and Lehigh, Lafayette, Dickinson ¶, Connecticut College (Engineering division), or Grinnell. (Grinnell has one of the best endowments in the country so that translates into potentially lots of grants in financial aid).
Look into RIT, too.
Perhaps a school like Emory would also be interested in an applicant from SD.</p>