<p>Sat: 720m 660w 610cr</p>
<p>Rank: Top 12% (62/550)</p>
<p>GPA is 3.75</p>
<p>I've taken all AP/Pre-AP classes but no AP tests so far.</p>
<p>Taking 6 APs senior year</p>
<p>I usually write pretty good compelling essays</p>
<p>Got an 11 on SAT essay</p>
<p>I'm Hispanic from a poor area</p>
<p>Parents divorced, caused me a lot of distraction and took away from my academics</p>
<p>My parents make a lot of money and are business owners</p>
<p>My Ecs are good, founded 4 clubs, president of 3, other leader in two other clubs, average community service, plenty of job experience. Took an internship. Good letters of rec, anything else just ask. Applying to engineering. </p>
<p>All state band 2x</p>
<p>WAYYYY more ECs than usual. Most ECs in school.</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Did you try running the Net Price Calculator on the school’s web site?</p>
<p>That’s not a bad SAT score. Did you take PSAT? TAMU has good automatic scholarships for NMF/National Achievement Scholars, at least full tuition, plus some extras for engineering students. It doesn’t say on their site, but I presume that National Hispanic(which has lower qualifying scores than for NMF) might get the same deal. If you have a shot at that, you should call and ask if they give NHScholars the same.</p>
<p><a href=“https://scholarships.tamu.edu/national_scholars.aspx[/url]”>https://scholarships.tamu.edu/national_scholars.aspx</a></p>
<p>My parents make a lot of money and are business owners</p>
<p>Why do you think you’d qualify for need based aid? </p>
<p>have your parents said how much they’ll pay each year?</p>
<p>How did you do on the PSAT?</p>
<p>Not need based aid, I meant merit based. Did poorly on PSAT, 172. No one knows how much my parents will contribute, not even them. They’re still really young and they’ve never put someone through college</p>
<p>Well, your parents may be young, but they’re business owners so they’re used to dealing with money, budgets, etc. </p>
<p>If they won’t give you a total yearly amount, ask them how much can they pay monthly towards college? If they say $1000 a month, then that’s 12000 per year. That amount plus a student loan isn’t enough for UT or TAMU. Don’t know if you’d get enough merit at TAMUl to bridge the gap.</p>
<p>As a back up, you need to apply to some schools that will give you very large merit just in case your parents decide that they can’t pay much each year.</p>
<p>Trust me, they have no clue. They are very disorganized. I’ve been asking since this time last year. </p>
<p>I’m planning on doing work study so I’ll be more in control.</p>
<p>Work study is based on need, so it doesn’t sound like you will qualify for that. However, you can get a part time job if any are available. That won’t cover your costs.</p>
<p>You won’t know how much merit aid you will get for most schools until you apply. Only a small amount of schools tell you what their guaranteed merit awards are. You can find a list of those schools at the top of this forum as you enter.</p>
<p>If your parents are disorganized and have no idea how much they can pay even though they have a high income, then you need to prepare for the worst.</p>
<p>You need to assume that you may not get enough money from your parents. You also need to ignore your mom’s view of TAMU or any other schools unless she “shows you the money” and you’re certain that she’ll pay (not just empty words). Your mom may promise to pay at this point to lead you away from TAMU and affordable schools, but then she may later realize that she can’t pay for the other schools. </p>
<p>You need to apply to a few schools that will give you HUGE merit for your stats so that you’re certain to have affordable options in case your parents flake out.</p>
<p>You won’t get work study if family income is high. And even if you did, you’d get a small amount. Just a couple thousand dollars for pocket money.</p>
<p>Browse through the sticky threads pinned at the top of this forum.</p>