<p>My Stuff:
ACT:35
GPA: 4.5
Class rank: top 10% (HS doesn't get more specific)
Extracirriculars: leadership stuff, 4 year commitments, basically really good
Essays: pretty good--won stuff for them before</p>
<p>My ideal school:
Urban (except not Chicago)
Somewhere warm
Somewhere pretty, campus-wise
Large university
Preferably higher ranked, but I'm not super picky, just don't want anywhere that will set me back in future employment. Maybe a highly respected honors college would be good or something?
Most importantly, my parents can contribute $15,000 a year (including travel fare) and I don't want to go in debt, so somewhere I can get a lot of merit aid. Financial aid isn't going to happen, trust me. Loooong story.</p>
<p>Since I behaved like an idiot (again, no details) and it is now May, this school would have to either still be looking for fall admissions or give merit aid for transfers too, not just first year students... </p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill meets all but one of your criteria (it isn’t located in an urban area, but is close to several large cities). I would also suggest UT-Austin.</p>
<p>Cuse0507, UNC-Chapel Hill looks amazing, but it doesn’t offer merit aid to transfer students and isn’t still accepting applications. Does UT-Austin offer merit aid to transfers? I couldn’t seem to find it on the website.</p>
<p>superstar12, I don’t think i’d get that much merit aid at columbia or nyu (i’d get none if i even got into columbia and not enough at nyu). BU and Northeastern look like possibilities though… do you know if they offer merit aid to transfers?</p>
<p>I’m not sure about UT-Austin. Another school you might want to look into is the University of South Carolina. I’m not sure about their financial aid situation, but they accept transfer applications until June 1st and meet most of your criteria (located in a city, gorgeous campus, warm, and large). USC isn’t too highly ranked, but they are up-and-coming and have a top-rated honors program.</p>
<p>I’m like almost in the exact situation you are and here are my choices (they’re all in big cities)</p>
<p>NEW YORK CITY
NYU - superrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr expensive, but really cool!
CUNY HUNTER - awesome price, but no housing except for one residence that houses 700 people.
FORDHAM - expensive, it didnt WOW me
PACE - didnt check it out but its still on my list bc its in downtown manhattan
THE NEW SCHOOL - really hip, liberal, but i dont like how everyone seemed “cold” and it seemed like everyone was smoking</p>
<p>BOSTON
BOSTON UNIVERSITY - a “long” campus. pretty cool, but not my first choice
NORTHEASTERN - didn’t visit but looks interesting</p>
<p>the rest are in chicago (loyola, depaul, etc.)</p>
<p>The University of Minnesota is really urban and right in Minneapolis and it is only $14K a year plus room and board for out of state students. And it is a really good big ten school with an outstanding honors program. But I doubt they are still accepting apps for next fall.</p>
<p>The University of New Mexico is still taking applications. It is large, located in Albuquerque, and extremely inexpensive. It’s not Harvard, but you could probably get a decent education or transfer next year.</p>
<p>What you’re looking for is pretty much impossible. School’s of the level you want that give great merit aid either are not still taking aoolications or have no nonet left. And almost no school is as generous with merit for transfers. </p>
<p>You would be MUCH better off taking a gap year and applying as a transfer. This would also give you the opportunity to save some money to add to what your parent’s can contribute.</p>
Do you want to start college in the fall, this fall? Not a warm weather school, but DII UM Crookston still has openings for freshmen and dorm rooms available for freshmen. You could spend your first year there and then easily transfer any number of schools. It is in your price range even if they do not give you a scholarship - 9400 annual tuition and 6000 room and board, so 15400 for the year - but even though you are applying late, I think they might give you a scholarship, with stats like yours. If you had applied early, it looks like they would have automatically given you a 5k per year scholarship, and the space availability chart says they still have financial aid money to give to new freshmen.</p>
<p>OP, are you in HS or in college right now? Your first post implied you are a HS student but then you bring up being a transfer. If you’re a transfer how do your college grades look?</p>
<p>Think about what merit aid is. It’s a way for schools to attract top performers they wouldn’t otherwise get in order to fit a particular need on their campus. But your request also acknowledges that you’re at, if not beyond, the eleventh hour so your other options for next year are few or none. There’s no reason for any school to award new applicants merit aid at this point in the year.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure the OP is a high school senior with very good grades and very good test scores who, through a glitch the student does not want to divulge, does not a college “accepted here and confirmed to attend here” lined up for the fall. </p>
<p>The alternatives are:</p>
<p>go to a less-competitive school that has openings for fall 2009 and transfer one year later but-will-a-transfer-get-a-merit-scholarship? </p>
<p>vs. </p>
<p>take a gap year and go to a more-competitive school that gives merit scholarships to outstanding first year students as a freshman in fall 2010.</p>
except for one residence that houses 700 people.