<p>Hi - I did search the forum but found no answer to this. Can anyone fill me in on merit scholarships? How do you know which schools give them? It seems like a selective private (note: not highly selective) LAC might be able to give our S money and make it affordable. Looking for someone to speak on this generally - I know the Fiske guide tells if schools give merit scholarships or not but IN GENERAL do you look for schools that aren't as competitive to get into for merit money? </p>
<p>S has SAT 1400 and 3.75 weighted GPA, about 7 AP classes; good extracurriculars incl. Model United Nations, Eagle scout, other clubs
He likes OSU honors program but may also apply to Miami of Ohio, Davidson College, Grinnell, SUNY Stoneybrook. Other ideas?T hanks in advance.</p>
<p>The Parents Forum has had threads on which colleges award a lot of merit aid. The key is to have excellent stats in relation to the applicant pool. What is your S interested in studying? Drew University is seeking male applicants with scores like your S. He could get a full tuition scholarship. Definitely check it out. Another LAC looking for males is Goucher, also good merit aid.</p>
<p>Have you thought about Tulane? There are a few parents in the Parents forum who have kids who are freshmen, have recieved merit aid and whose kids are having a wonderful experience there. Recently the school has also been gifted with a huge amount of $ for their scholarship fund. Also look at Emory. If you look at the old threads in the parents forum we recently discussed this. All the best</p>
<p>Its pretty simple to find out aid avaliable. make a list of schools you would like to go to. go to thier web page and search the financial aid section. thats the beauty of web sites</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon U. with a half-tuition scholarship and she loves it there. Her field is architecture, but they have excellent programs in Political Science/Economics and in creative writing (as well as many other fields, of course). I did want to comment, however, that Goucher College does indeed want male students badly and students at Goucher can take courses at Johns Hopkins. (We live in Baltimore, so I know about these schools.) Last thought--forget Emory. At least for merit money. My daughter had 1490 SAT and 4.54 weighted GPA, umpteen AP classes and did not even make the "semifinals" for the Emory Scholars. She was very, very disappointed, but Emory has become quite a hot school. Good luck with the college search.</p>
<p>Nanimille,
Congrats on your D's scholarship at Carnegie Mellon. I would like to hear more about her experience. It has seemed like a possibility for S, but is so far away that he may not be able to travel to see it. S has a strong background in math/science, was considering majoring in engineering, but now is considering majoring in psychology. He also loves creative writing and the humanities. He is a nice kid, laid back, likes a challenging, supportive environment in which professors take personal interest in students.</p>
<p>What kind of ECs did your D have? S is interested in Emory, and I am trying to find out what kind of students are selected for Emory Scholars.</p>
<p>Forget about the money. Everyone thinks about the money. Its NOT the money that counts!. National Merit is a way to select kids. Some will be "mentioned"; Few will be "semifinalists"; Rare kids will be "finalists"; and "award winners." </p>
<p>If you were on the selection committee... Who would you want to accept. And who would eventually succeed in your school and in life, to eventually donate a new building to the alma mater? </p>
<p>Everyone thinks about how much the merit aid/scholarship will be. Would you want to go a school on 100% ride but mediocre credentials or <33% aid at a top (and expensive for most people) school that graduates successful people?</p>
<p>I have found that the best source for finding out who is giving out merit awards is the USNWR Ultimate Guide, which is a big, fat directory. In the front of the book there is a listing of the schools that give both the best financial aid and merit aid. Once you get a list of the schools that interest you from that list, you can look up the individual schools in that directory and get the particulars on that school. It is valuable to get the upper 25% range for the SAT1 and the percent of kids getting merit aid and the average award. You can then see where your kid falls in that crowd.</p>
<p>I just got my USNWR Ultimate College Guide as per Jamimom's suggestion on other threads. It is really helpful in many ways. Amazon sells it for under $20, and I recieved mine in about four days. Excellent value. I appreciate the tip.</p>