I have no clue how or why colleges give free rides to High school students. I would like the chance to earn a half or full ride to an out-of-state university, but I don’t know what I have to do to increase my chances. I have a 3.8 GPA, 25 college credits so far (possibly A.A by the time I graduate in May 2019), 9 AP classes (5 completed AP classes so far, 3 As and 2 Bs), +100 community service hours, and 10% of my class. I’m not a valedictorian, but I do feel like I’m a very hardworking and dedicated student. Based on the information, what would my chances to get a full ride be and what should I do to increase my chances?
P.S. I’m asking this question in particular towards North Carolina State and Campbell University.
Chances of getting a full ride (tuition, room and board) scholarship are virtually zero. The only possible way is if you are VERY low income and accepted to a college that meets full need.
I can’t think of any college where you will get a guaranteed full ride with your current SAT score…or even a 1360.
And that SAT score would not be a slam dunk for admission to schools where full need is met for all. Also…we don’t even know if you have financial need.
^ Make sure you have a safety you can afford and would be happy to attend. Depending on your finances and your state, that may very well be your local CC.
“Chances of getting a full ride (tuition, room and board) scholarship are virtually zero. The only possible way is if you are VERY low income and accepted to a college that meets full need.”
To be specific, the chances are virtually zero with your current academic profile. These scholarships exist but are very competitive. To be a contender you’d need a profile approximating 4.0UW (in a most rigorous course schedule) and 1550+ SAT/35+ ACT and in the top 1-2% of your class, plus something else in terms of leadership/high level EC achievements. If you were competitive for an Ivy League school then you would have a decent probability of receiving a full tuition scholarship somewhere and would have a chance of being competitive (though with no guarantee) for a full ride scholarship at those universities that offer them. Remember that (ignoring athletic scholarships) there are far fewer full rides in the US than there are high school valedictorians.
…which is the trade-off many people make, money or prestige, especially if the prestige option is unaffordable or barely affordable. But unfortunately not with this level of stats.
There are places you might get full tuition for your stats. I am not sure what the SAT to ACT conversion is but the University of Southern Mississippi offers full tuition for those with a GPA of 3.0 and an ACT score of 30. They have other competitive scholarships but those can be well … competitive. It’s actually a beautiful campus. Full tuition, room and board can be difficult to find even for those with excellent scores. It’s actually a pretty inexpensive place to go OOS to begin with. The total COA for OOS is less than $26k.
“It’s not easy getting a full complete free merit ride anywhere. It’s even more challenging when you are not a state resident.”
Is the second part of this statement true for full ride merit only scholarships? It may be correct for many need based scholarships especially those that are given to local kids, but most if not all of the competitive full ride merit scholarships that I’m aware of are not restricted to instate students. Its also far from clear that there is a bias towards instate students, when the mix of instate vs out of state recipients usually has more OOS kids than the college as a whole.
It depends on the state…and the college. There are public universities that DO give preference to instate applicants for merit aid. Some have different scholarships for instate vs OOS (U of South Carolina, for example).
And add to that…some states have public universities that first must admit a certain %age of IN state students…and it’s a high percentage.
Basically…ymmv.
But really…to the OP…why OOS? What is better about the two schools in the OP vs wherever instate IS for that poster.
These two sites were passed around alot several years ago. They are probably stale, but fun to look over anyway. Does anyone know if there are updated versions out there?
There are some smaller publics in the Midwest with good automatic merit for out of state- one caveat is that they may be a hassle to get to, in smaller towns not by a major airport hub. I’m just going off memory here with the ACTs, if you look them up you can check the SAT equivalent and GPA requirement.
Southeast Missouri State- full tuition with a 27 ACT
University of Nebraska at Kearney- full tuition with a 29 ACT
University of Central Arkansas- 27 ACT is almost full tuition, 30 ACT is basically full tuition + housing