I really need a full ride...help me find one! :-)

Parents Forum
1

<p>Here's my stats. I need a full ride somewhere. Anyone know any schools (Tier 4...oh well i don't care at this stage) where I would definitely get a full ride? IE. Bowling Green State U, according to website, 1350+ i think and 3.8 get you full tuition. any others?</p>

<p>Female, Age 16, Buffalo, NY, White
Estimated Class Rank: 10-20/275ish
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 96/100
SAT: M: 640 V: 730 W: 730 (1370/2100)
SAT II: US History: 680 (OUCH! RETAKE!!)
Total APs by graduation: 6
So far, AP scores: AP European (4), AP US Gov't (4), APUSH (5)</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshman year:
Biology Honors, 90. Regents Exam, 93
Design Drawing for Production, 100. Exam, 93
Global History I, 94. Exam, 96
English, 95. Exam, 98
Latin, 99. Exam, 99
Math, 90. Exam, 89
Advanced Spanish, 93. Exam, 96</p>

<p>Summer school to get ahead: Global II, 97. Regents Exam, 97</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
English, 100. Exam, 99
Math, 97. Exam, 88 Math A exam: 95
Advanced Spanish, 98. Exam, 99
AP European, 97 Exam, 98, AP: (4)
Advanced Latin, 99. Exam, 95
Earth Science Honors, 93. Exam, 94
Business and Personal Law, 99. Exam, 100</p>

<p>Junior year so far:
AP American, 99
English, 100
AP Government, 97
Advanced Spanish, 96
Advanced Latin, 97
Chemistry Honors, 96
Math, 95</p>

<p>Pretty steady incline in grades...</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Freshman year:
~ Class President
~ Principal's Advisory Council
~ Pep Club, Ambassadors' Circle, a couple others...can't remember...
~ JV Cheerleading (Most Improved award, lol)
~ Community service program (25ish hours over summer)
~ Latin award: Summa cumma laude - National Latin Exam</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
~ Student Congress representative
~ Principal's Advisory Council
~ Student Recognition Council (secretary)
~ Environmental Club (secretary)
~ SADD (Officer of Publicity)
~ Best Buddies (Officer of Publicity)
~ JV Cheerleading (MVP award)
~ Town of **** Supervisor's Youth Council
~ Community service program (50-ish hours)
~ Youth Consortium (promoting leadership and wise choices in younger teens)
~ Awards:
~ NY State winner of Essay Contest
~ Published in Parade Magazine: fresh voices
~ Featured: "Someone You Should Know": town newspaper
~ National Latin Exam: Silver Medal
~ Kodak Young Leaders Award
~ HOBY Youth Conference (summer)
~ National Young Leaders Conference (summer) (Assistant Majority Leader of Model Congress)</p>

<p>Junior year:
~ Co-President of Environmental Club
~ Vice-President of SADD Club
~ Student Congress Executive Board
~ Principal's Advisory Council
~ Student Recognition Council
~ Youth voting member of Town Board
~ Youth Consortium
~ Community service program: from summer 2004-present: 100+ hours
~ National Honor Society (maybe President -- running next week)
~ Varsity Cheerleading
~ Keynote Speaker: Junior National Young Leaders Conference
~ Girls State Nominee
~ 2006 NY State winner Lewis and Clark essay contest
Won: all expenses paid trip to North Dakota to learn about Indian heritage and walk the trails of Lewis and Clark.</p>

<p>~ WORK: Busser at restaraunt (May 2005-present, 12 hours a week)
Only member of family employed at moment due to father's cancer
Hostess at another restaraunt (Jan. 2006-present, 7-8 hours a week)
Intern at law office for summer 2006 (total 55 hours)
^ Will try and get an actual job there for senior year</p>

<p>Also, neither parent went to college...if that helps?</p>

<p>Thanks for much!!</p>

2

<p>toooo like alot! many people have done this much and what makes you unique? anything? your information seems way to cliche and of the norm. your also very scattered, what is your true interest? i cant tell! too much and it goes on and on..</p>

3

<p>^ First of all, you are a new member, so you better learn some etiquette around here. "Toooo like alot!" is not a helpful comment nor is it...english! and saying who really cares is not helpful either. Try something like "i'm having trouble seeing your focus and your uniqueness...can you pull out some specific examples for me? thanks" :-)</p>

<p>anyway...</p>

<p>i'm unique because of my interest in latin, i've won many essay contests and i'm an acclaimed writer in my area and school, i was the keynote speaker at a national leadership conference, i travelled to north dakota this summer for a government sponsored program on lewis and clark which is unusual, i was presdient of my class freshman year when i was the new girl...didnt know anyone in my grade and was elected, my dad went through cancer and i was the only person in my family working for 5 months to support us, and neither parent went to college.</p>

<p>thats what makes me unique. if you had read through my post more clearly you might have seen these things there.</p>

4

<p>you sound like a really decent all rounder- a girl from my school with similar stats went to northeastern on a merit based full ride. however, if you have need (1 parent working and all that) im sure you could get almost a full ride with a combo of need and merit, or maybe work-study pretty much anywhere. your stats are definitely good enough to warrant applying to a couple of tier II schools, just to see how aid goes. tier 4 should only be a safety...</p>

5

<p>Your profile is ggod enough for you to consider applying to some Tier 1 schools that are need-blind. Since you love Latin, I suggest you consider Brandeis. Think also of some Tier 2 schools. </p>

<p>The fact that you are the first in your family to go to college will help. Make sure that someone--your GC, your teachers--address the fact that your father has had cancer and that you have had to work to support your family.</p>

6

<p>Getout, I do not have any suggestions regarding a free ride but do not limit your choices so drastically at this juncture. Based on your family situation you cannot be sure what need based aid is out there for you. You may be able to get a free ride to any number of very good colleges which offer 100% need based aid.</p>

<p>When you find a few colleges which you think can offer you a free ride, fire in an application. But apply to some others which are more in line with your abilities and desires. When the offers come in then you can make a reasoned choice which is best for you and your family.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p>One way to increase your chances for financial aid is to a) apply at a school geographically distant from your own. I know a smart young man from Minnesota who got a full scholarship to the University of Houston. And b) apply to a school for which you are somewhat overqualified. A friend's daughter is going that route. She's a straight A student with photography awards, looking at small schools that don't attract the top, top students. She won't look at Ivies because they give no merit aid.</p>

<p>You might be a good candidate for need-based aid, however, which would broaden your range of possible colleges. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Why don't you PM curmudgeon? He is pretty much on top of the schools which have clear-cut criteria for high levels of merit aid. That way, you can apply to some of those, as well as to some schools where the need-based aid could turn out great. There was also a thread by another mom which covered an approach to merit aid which might work for you. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=148852%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=148852&lt;/a> I think the thread might have veered off track a bit, as some people criticized the idea of going lower in the "rankings" in search of merit aid. Look beyond that and there is good information on that thread. Good luck.</p>

9

<p>We've worked on it some a while back , haven't we OP? but I think the OP really wants schools where the full-ride is more directly offered, more guaranteed, more clinically decided- more automatic. There, that's the word. Automatic . Or at least that's the impression I received. </p>

<p>EFC is a critical part of a plan for the OP , both Fafsa and IM (CSS Profile). I think combining merit and need becomes confusing for a lot of folks. I lose many adults when I start talking about merit within need and preferential packaging and upping the COA so that grant gets bigger. But to thoroughly research your options that is the process. </p>

<p>I believe the College of New Jersey was the most formula driven school I know but I believe they are overhauling merit aid for next year.</p>

<p>I would suggest googling "Merit scholarship + SAT 1300 + Full" (or SAT 1350). </p>

<p>I also suggest that you take the SAT test again as your merit chances will increase substantially if you can pull that math up. Take the ACT also . You are a good testatker, play that card. And yes, I know. This is hard work.</p>

10

<p>When money is a big consideration, the SUNY schools maybe a good option. InState tuition is very low. My D had a slightly lower SAT and was offered a full merit scholarship at Stony Brook.</p>

11

<p>Getoutta:
You would be a candidate for an Honor's College at a lower "tier" college,as was my S. If you can figure out some things like geographic locale,size of college,intended major areas of interest,you can start googling the honors pages of those college websites.Those pages should lead you to the pages that discuss merit scholarship offerings at those schools.
I think you show a great pattern of leadership skills and self determination and hopefully you can parlay that into some offers at schools that recognize those traits.
Just as a reference point,S's new school is in the south (we're from NY).They look to attract kids from outside their geographic region.They appreciate leadership skills highly in their packaging for their highest merit scholarships.Anybody who is awarded ANY level of merit scholarship gets their tuition reduced to the amount an instate resident would pay,which would be a great asset for you.
If you can find an Honors College setting, and a school with a strong department in what you are interested in,with the right financial setup and a setting you are comfortable with,I wouldnt worry too much about what "tier" the college is.
Be aware that most colleges are not yet counting the Writing section score of the SAT's. If would be great, if you could stand it, to try to boost your Math section to be on par with your Verbal.Also,just to let you know, S took one SATII,decided he wasnt taking any more and only applied to colleges where he didnt need them.Took 7 AP's though!</p>

12

<p>Consider attending one of the five US Service Academies. They are all among the best schools in the country, tuition room and board are paid for and you will have a job when you graduate. </p>

<p>You would be highly competitive.</p>

13

<p>Parent Forum and Financial Aid forum already have many threads on full rides and merit scholarships -- with specific colleges mentioned. If you haven't already read those threads, they are where you should start.</p>

<p>If you and your family's ability to contribute financially to your education is very low, you certainly have stats and EC's to consider applying to a few of the higher-ranked need based schools, if they're of interest to you. First generation will give you a big boost at a lot of these schools.</p>

14

<p>YOu obviously have shown you are a hard worker, who should be eligible for both need and merit scholarships.
I would suggest womens colleges- especially Mt Holyoke & Smith. Both have been known to gve very good packages to students with stats less impressive than yours</p>

15

<p>I second emeraldkity4's Smith recommendation. Note below from a recent press release.</p>

<p>"NORTHAMPTON, Mass.— When the class of first-year students arrives at Smith College next month, nearly one in four – a record 22 percent – will come from families in which neither parent has earned a bachelor’s degree."</p>

16

<p>thank you all so much! you've given great advice. what i am looking for is some specific names of schools. if you would, think two categories for me: need-based schools where I would get need-based aid (these might be higher ranked) and merit-based where I'd be in like the top umth percent of their stats so I would get a great merit scholarship.</p>

<p>so far...brandeis, university of houstin, smith...</p>

17

<p>Take a look at Mt Holyoke, Rice and Grinnell besides Smith, Brandeis and Houston. Don't forget some of your own SUNY campuses as well.</p>

18

<p>I agree that your list of activities, while impressive, is a bit unclear. I understand from your post that your interest in Latin is a focus. If that is the case, you need to be sure that folks do not have to wade through a ton of other less significant (to you) ECs to find that intense interest. I also missed it...and I did read carefully.</p>

<p>Still, I agree that you have a LOT to offer a lot of different schools. I may have missed this...but do you have a geographic preference, size of school preference or any other information that could help folks out with your question? Keep in mind that even a full tuition scholarship somewhere will still require that you pay room and board and those r and b costs can be in the $10,000 per year range depending on the locale of the school. There are some totally full rides for very outstanding students. I agree that if you can up your SAT score or take the ACT with good results, you could be a candidate for something out there. Have you looked at any schools yet??</p>

19

<p>Getouttabuffalo--
I'm a little concerned that you're looking for the parents here to do this work for you...when there are already many threads with the info. you're looking for.</p>

<p>I suggest you look at the Merit threads....do some research on those schools...and come back with what you view as the pluses and minuses of the schools that interest you. Then you can get some additional input on your list. </p>

<p>Don't mean to be harsh...but you've got to do a little more work yourself in this process!</p>

20

<p>yea i totally agree with you ^^ except i have been researching for the past 2 years and it's crunch time and i'm still lost. the parents know best. their kids have gone through this, they've seen the fin aid letters that come and see the result. i'm trying to do this on my own too, but i need the experts help.</p>