<p>I want to know how do you get full or partial scholarships to a college for having good grades and being smart (not for sports). I am ranked number one at my school and I was wondering If anyone could tell me what I have to do to get a college's attention. I do not plan on going to an Ivy league school. I have a GPA of 4.5 this semester. I am taking many Ap classes and my sat is 1930 (need to take it one more time). I might not be scholarship material, but I would like to know how those who get scholarships did it.</p>
<p>Also, I'm not talking about scholarships from an organization or from winning an essay contest. I mean a scholarship from the school you want to go to.</p>
<p>each school that you apply to will have their own merit scholarship program, or most of them will. many will consider an application to the university as a dual application for the scholarships.</p>
<p>You should have no trouble with your credentials getting merit from a variety of schools.</p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>Look at the schools you are interested - they usually list scholarships and the criteria for getting them. The best way to have a chance is to apply to schools where you are in the top few percentage points stats wise.</p>
<p>Yes retake that SAT - a few extra points can make a big difference. My daughter had a good scholarship from her college but retook the ACT a couple of times to qualify for a better one - that extra point netted her several thousand dollars a year.</p>
<p>Checkout the scholarship thread "stickied" in the parents forum.</p>
<p>Okay I'm responding! I actually did pretty well in scholarships I guess. </p>
<p>An academic scholarship is called a "merit scholarship." Ivy leagues don't offer them. State schools vary in whether they offer them or not. </p>
<p>The state schools that I'm acquainted with are University of Washington and University of California schools. The UW offers a few full-tuition Honors scholarships. UC schools offer trustee scholarships etc, but for an out of state student is is not much compared to the overall price of the school. </p>
<p>Private schools are your best bet for scholarships, imo. They're called things like "Trustee Scholarship" or "Honors Scholarship." If you look on College Board College Search you can check out where it says "Average non-need based aid." Also look on specific colleges website's under the financial aid section to see if they have Merit Scholarships. </p>
<p>The best way to get one of these is to be in the tip top of the applicant pool, based on SAT scores, GPA and difficulty of classes. Personally, I think you should definitely retake the SAT. </p>
<p>If you want to PM me I can tell you more about the specific schools and specific scholarships I got. None of this info is official at all... </p>
<p>Lastly, I feel like private schools in the midwest give out lots of aid because no one wants to go to that part of the country. That of course is my biased west coast opinion.</p>
<p>
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An academic scholarship is called a "merit scholarship." Ivy leagues don't offer them. State schools don't really either, they more likely offer athletic or musical scholarships.
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State schools absolutely do offer merit scholarships. My daughter's scholarship is at a State school and includes a full tuition waiver and several thousand cash. It is not the top scholarship either - there are 2 better ones - 1 point more on the ACT would have got her more cash and national merit finalists get almost everything covered.</p>
<p>I know a couple of students that got full rides plus laptops from their state schools for merit, not sports</p>
<p>Here you go. These are the big dogs. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html</a> Check out the xiggi method on the SAT. With your grades and rank all you need is the 3rd leg of that stool. Work at it. xiggi's method is good and well priced (it's free).</p>
<p>I second the earlier statement - Ivies and most "top" schools do not have academic merit aid</p>