<p>Curm: She is a also the only one in the family working. Dad has major medical issues. She sounds like need-based plus merit based.</p>
<p>I agree that she should look for the most generous schools, both need and merit. My only point was to say merit free/full rides are rare as hen's teeth. Some kids get confused and think they are good bets for top awards. Nobody is a good bet for a full-ride because there just aren't very many. For example there appear to be zero at Dayton or Scranton.</p>
<p>Keep U of South Carolina on your list. Your stats would likely give you either a McKissick or Cooper Scholarship both include instate tuition with the scholarship money in addition. It's a great school. Apply for honors college and that makes it seem "smaller". Your application will also automatically be considered for Capstone which also is a smaller program for high stat incoming students.</p>
<p>I agree with JHS, Marite and Curm that the concept of getting a "full ride" that includes tuition, room board, books, etc on simply on the basis merit are few and far between and schools that offer them reserve them for the very top of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>While there may be plenty of schools that she may be able to get generous merit aid (which usually only covers tuition) at, they may still end up being out of range because she won't be able to afford the room and board. This is the main reason that I would know most of the out of state public schools off the list and replace them with schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need (this part is where she herself needs to be doing research instead of relying on others to come up with places for her).</p>
<p>Op needs to look at schools that offers generous need based FA or a combination of merit and need based aid.</p>
<p>Depending on her overall family income, since she is a NYS resident, she should check out the HEOP programs where she could stand a good chance of being admitted at Barnard, Columbia, Cornell and plenty of others (or even EOP at the SUNYs). If she is HEOP eligible and gets admitted she would get packages that would cover tuition, room board at some schools even book stipends and computers.</p>
<p>At worse, if she does not get selected for HEOP should she get admitted, she would still get generous need based aid that would cover tuition room and board.</p>
<p>I agree with Curm and some of the other recent posters.......when I said "full ride" I meant a combination of need based aid and merit, and that often includes work study and loans. Look at your options as the best "package" you can put together. I would make sure to take every advantage of your need situation, as mercenary as that sounds.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon makes the point I wanted OP to get,which is the scarcity of true "full rides". Throw in the selectivity factor, and as he says, getting into HPY starts looking like a breeze. Not to say she does not have a shot at it or should not go for it. Just saying that she should look for some financial safeties in there.</p>
<p>As for Vandy, they have early decision I and II. You can apply for financial aid but you probably wont find out what you received until later. Vanderbilt will give merit money to many who score over their SAT ranges by indicating in the acceptance letter, but some get it and others dont. These are given to regular decision candidates as a way to entice them to come.They do have the Ingram Scholarship which is based on grades, scores and service. You may want to apply for that.</p>
<p>alrighty guys. thanks so much! i didnt necessarily mean it had to be a full ride with room and board...lets just aim for full tuition now.</p>
<p>where are some places that i can full tuition?</p>
<p>and btw, my dads back to work and healthy. he was just out for 7 months this year. but hes better. i still do need need-based aid, too. thatd be nice. :-)</p>
<p>Buffalo: Sweetie, you asking for input from parents who have been around and but not listening. Full tuition based on merit is a rare thing indeed, especially at the top schools. </p>
<p>Get your ducks in order, apply to schools you would want to attend if admitted, that are good matches, safeties and reaches, make sure you apply to schools that offer the full spectrum of aid, need-based, merit, work-study, loans etc. </p>
<p>The Ivys, and baby-Ivy's (Penn, Brown, Cornell, Tufts) just don't have merit aid, since every kid that goes would qualify........ Schools like American in DC, USC (that is U of So Cal) are more generous because they are competing for the top kids. Having said that, they are chasing down the Nat Merit Finalists. </p>
<p>Since $ is an issue, you need to consider travel costs (my D if on the east coast and we are on the west.....flying back and forth can add a few thousand depending on how often you fly and the distance. If you are changing climates (from warm to cold) you will need to make $ allowances for a winter wardrobe, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Family Income is very important in determining your aid package. If you want to throw that out there it would help, but if not that's fine too. U Rochester give LOTS of merit aid, fairly cose to home, excellent reputation.. and the money you save could be used at Grad School which is probably where you're headed eventually. With a low EFC I might look at Brown or as someone suggested Smith ...also Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned Tulane, which I definently think would be a school that you could get some good merit aid at.</p>
<p>The question as always, though, is would she want to go to Tulane? Even with merit aid and need-based aid, could she afford to go there? She'd still have to get a new wardrobe and pay for trips to and from home. Most college students want to go home more than at the beginning and end of year and in Dec. Since her dad has been seriously ill, it's likely, too, that she'd want to see her family more often than many students do.</p>
<p>What concerns me most is most RD applications are due at the end of december. It is now mid november, and OP does not really have a definitive list and is still looking to a bunch of strangers to do the research she should have been doing for her self a long time ago (including the costs involved in getting from point a to point b)</p>
<p>You have 11 schools on your list, many of them highly selective that give financial aid only. You seem to want to go to a prestige school, and like the idea of going south. You have the added issue of a parent who has been ill which gives you some likelihood that you may have to come home more frequently and abruptly than kids who do not have that issue.</p>
<p>You have a number of schools where the combo of merit and financial aid gives you a decent chance of a good package since you have the stats that give you this possibility. You should add some true financial safety schools such as the SUNYs and possibly Pitt since the numbers are not great for getting full rides. Some other NY schools close to home such as Canisus, St Bonaventure, Niagara should also be on your list. I would get rid of the most selective schools on your list that do not guarantee 100% of aid, because it is so highly unlikely you will get a financial package you will like from them. UVa would be on the top of my chop list as I have seen many kids with stats like yours get a very cheap financial aid package (cheap as in the college gives you very little) and some do not get in at all. At that level of selectivity, it takes a lot to get merit credit from colleges, as Curmudgeon so aptly explained. Keep your top dream schools on the list, because there is that possibility that something might turn up. </p>
<p>I sure hope you have been working on apps all of this time as you mused over the selections. It is getting tight as far as time goes. Good luck, and keep us apprised as which schools you picked.</p>
<p>If you read the OP's first post carefully, it appears as if she is only a junior.</p>
<p>nope im a senior. sorry i copied and pasted it.</p>
<p>and guys, ive done SOOO much research. im at a loss of where to go next. so thats why i ask. if u arent going to be helpful, please refrain from posting.
and my dads better now, and i dont have to buy a whole new wardrobe...most of my clothes are summer clothes anyway. i just wear a coat in the winter.</p>
<p>GOB, we are going around in circles with you, just as we were a while back. You have done SOOO much research and parents have given you SOOO many ideas. But many of those ideas are in a vacuum.</p>
<p>IMO, the only way parents here can help you now is this:
1. Post your EFC, as best you can estimate it from the online calculators, so we can get an idea of how need-based aid might work for you (versus merit aid).
2. Post what schools you definitely, truly know - after all this time and research - appeal to you greatly. What schools are on your "really would like to go there" list?
3. Post your thoughts on proximity to home; monies available to visit; whether you think you'll need/want to visit home more than "typical" freshmen.</p>
<p>With that information, parents can help you fine tune a list. Coming to parents for brainstorming at this point is probably not productive. Not sure it was way back when, either. But right now, you should be in a different mode: the fine-tuning mode rather than the initial brainstorming mode.</p>
<p>We can't help you fine-tune without the above info. With it, we can try to help ensure that you have the spectrum of reach/match/safety/financial safety.</p>
<p>note to parents: I don't know how far along GOB is in the process, but I know she has gotten her essays going, etc., as some of us have reviewed and commented.</p>
<ol>
<li>My EFC will be between 3-4,000.<br></li>
<li><p>I have plenty of schools who's apps are ALREADY done and who I know I really want to go to: Vanderbilt, UVA, U south carolina, UNC, Udayton, UScranton, Cornell, and Penn. </p></li>
<li><p>Proximity to home: East Coast, money available to visit: I have a job and have been saving for 2 years, plus I'm getting outside $$</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Your family or you can handle the $3-4000, if a school gives you a package which expects you to cover that?</p>
<p>I second St. Lawrence. DD got the Presidential Scholarship- 25k. Their website states that Presidential Scholars get preferential packaging for need based aid in addition to the merit scholarship.</p>