<p>I’d recommend both Pitt & UMinn-TC for merit aid. For Pitt, it is essential to apply early, as in ASAP.</p>
<p>Look at the NHRP scholarship thread since there are a lot of good scholarships posted there. Alabama gives great merit money for a student with your son’s stats. Ohio State and American University would give him merit money. When my DS was applying a few years ago he would get emails and mail with scholarship offers mentioned. Go through your son’s to see if any are there. Also Arizona would give merit money. Also if you live in a state that participates in a tuition exchange program with surrounding states you might want to explore that option. Many times merit scholarships can be stacked with those discounts. In my part of the country it is known as the Western Undergraduate Exchange.</p>
<p>I recommend looking into UT Dallas’s McDermott Scholars Program, ASAP. They also offer really good NM scholarships, as well. Baylor has some really good NM scholarships, as well. Other schools at least worth checking out are Vanderbilt and WUSTL. Their scholarships are very competitive (as are the schools themselves) but at least check them out.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for all your input. My DS was just notified yesterday that he is NM Semi-finalist. So he’s excited about that. He is now looking into colleges out his ideal areas so we’ll keep you posted. Thanks again, for your help.</p>
<p>Congrats to him! Keep us posted and do look at the last pages of this thread for NMS scholarships:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a></p>
<p>And there’s an excellent sticky thread at the top of that forum with general information about NMS.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son, 2collegesplus1! It’s an exciting time. :-)</p>
<p>Just an update…</p>
<p>ACT 32 composite</p>
<p>This score puts my child in range for top schools. =)</p>
<p>I would appreciate any input to help me narrow down schools for my child. </p>
<p>Major in math at a school that would provide a great support system for success (tutoring).</p>
<p>Urban campus or suburban campus (very populated area);</p>
<p>Northeast area.</p>
<p>Meets 100% of financial need.</p>
<p>Currently on our list: Columbia, Upenn, and a safety school. </p>
<p>If my child does not get accepted to a top school, the only choice would be the safety school (financial reasons).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are these limiting factors or preferences?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is a match school w/substantial merit aid an option?</p>
<p>smileygirl. You can put those parameters in the big futures search function of collegeboard.org to get an answer. Under paying you would move the toggle over to "meets 100% of need. You can also specify type of campus and location.</p>
<p>Itsv,</p>
<p>Thanks, I shall do that.</p>
<p>Smiley:</p>
<p>A couple of other resources are College Navigator. I do not have the link handy but you could google it. What I find helpful is they give a pretty good estimation of net price by income level so that you could hit the compare tab and then it would give you a list with the net price for your income level at each school. </p>
<p>I also started using DIY rankings at this website. [Do</a> It Yourself College Rankings](<a href=“http://diycollegerankings.com/]Do”>http://diycollegerankings.com/) If I remember correctly she has a list of schools where you could stack merit with financial aid which could possibly give you a bit more money. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I have a couple of questions for you regarding GC’s. Our son has submitted his choices for colleges to his GC including those that have to have Scholarship recommendations. I would like him to have all college apps out by 10/1. His scholarship recommendations are not due until 11/1, 11/15, & 12/1. His GC told him he would have to wait until close to those dates to see if anyone above him would like to be recommended for these scholarships since the schools can only recommend 1 student from the school. Has anyone encountered this? If we did all the research for these schools and their scholarships and he asked for the recommendations first, shouldn’t the GC recommend him first? I guess I’m just nervous that she will let the other students know about these scholarships. Does anyone know if schools that are offering these scholarships frown upon those that arrive close to their due dates or do you think they wait to get all scholarship recommendations in and then sort them out? Also, just an update - he received a 35 on ACT’s. Very proud of him.</p>
<p>Are all of those scholarships ones that require a HS to nominate a single student? I just ask as I know of only a handful scholarships that work that way.</p>
<p>I don’t think that there’s any problem with applying close to the scholarship deadline. They may not wait until the deadline to start processing scholarship applications, but neither do they give preference to ones submitted earlier, they are not rolling.</p>
<p>My son would like to apply to some Ivies and I want some feedback on his choice to proceed.</p>
<p>Male Black/Hispanic
GPA 93/ W102
ranked top 2% of 400 (likely top 5)
SAT 1970 ( 690M, 650W, 630CR)
SATII: 720 Physics, 710 World Hist, 690, US Hist
ACT 29C (28CR,31M,29S)-may not submit
AP Scholar with Distinction: World-5, US-4, CalcAB-5, Physics-4 and Lang-3
Taking 4 more APs this senior year; studying for Micro/Macro Econ as well on own (not offered in his school)
National Achievement Outstanding Participant
National Honor Society
Varsity Baseball and Football
School Band/ Marching Band
Some Volunteering Little League Baseball and Library
Looking at Harvard, UPENN, Princeton and Cornell…also UVA, Hofstra and SUNY Stonybrook
for safeties.</p>
<p>Retaking SAT tomorrow to improve on scores esp CR</p>
<p>Go for it???</p>
<p>yolie, a higher CR and W score on the SAT would help. It is my understanding that ideally you want all three subsections in the 700s, unless there are mitigating circumstances, such as ethnic schools in low income neighborhoods etc.</p>
<p>Hi Yolie,</p>
<p>Is your son a recruited athlete? Is he good enough to play at an Ivy?</p>
<p>His stat are good. Being Black/Hispanic will definitely help. Getting the SAT over 2000 (or higher will help). </p>
<p>I think he should absolultely go for it but he should <em>definitely</em> love his safeties!</p>
<p>What are his passions? What school(s) is he particularly targeting? Why does he want to go to an Ivy? His essays should speak to these things.</p>
<p>Tell us more (and maybe you have on another thread) about his circumstances in high school-challenges, finances, etc.</p>
<p>He is not a recruited athlete yet but he potential athlete for the school. He is targeting Penn and Harvard. Hoping he does well on SATs tomorrow. He has began the process of contacting coaches on his interest for college ball. We are working on essays now and that is a challenge. I think he will great recommendations.</p>
<p>just submitted three EA apps, U of Virginia, U of Michigan, and Georgetown, now just gotta finish the regular apps</p>
<p>Great job, nice to have several early possibilities!</p>