In need of merit-based scholarship/aid to OOS school

Paying for College
1

Hi, I’m new to these forums so I will go ahead and ask what I’m here to ask. I’m a resident of Alabama and I am interested in attending school on either the east or west coast (wanting a drastic change in surroundings). The problem is, like many others, my family income is too high for need based aid but too low to pay for much more than room and board and a small fraction of COA at a university. I’m pasting a draft of my resume into the post so that you guys can look it over and perhaps tell me if I have any chances to any schools in terms of merit-based aid.

Intended Graduation Date – May 2016

GPA – Weighted: 4.2 Unweighted: 3.48
Class Rank: #29 (top 10%)
ACT Score – 30

Honors/Awards Description Year(s) of Awards

DHS Academic Letter - Maintained 3.75+ GPA 10,11
DHS Honor Roll - Maintained A’s and B’s 9,10,11
DHS Science Fair - 1st Place in Microbiology 10
Mobile County Public School System Science Fair - 2nd Place in Microbiology 10
Mobile Regional Science Fair (MRSEF) - 2nd Place in Microbiology 10
Mobile Regional Science Fair (MRSEF) - 2nd Place in Plant Sciences 11
Alabama Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) Research Paper Competition -
4th Place finalist in Regional Competition 10

Alabama State Science Fair (ASEF) - 1st Place in Plant Sciences 11
ASEF - Senior Outstanding Botany Project Award 11
ASEF - Director’s Award: UA Huntsville Senior Outstanding Project 11

Extracurricular Activities Positions Year(s) of Involvement

French Honor Society - Member 11
DHS Government Club - Member 10, 11
DHS Baking Committee - Member 10, 11
YMCA Youth in Government - Junior Legislative Competitor 10
Mobile County Public School System Science Fair - Competitor, Finalist 10
AJAS** Research Paper Competition - Competitor, Finalist 10

Mobile Regional Science Fair (MRSEF) - Competitor, Finalist 10, 11
Alabama State Science Fair (ASEF) - Competitor, Finalist 11

Summer Programs Years of Involvement

University of Alabama (UA) scholarship to attend Java Summer Developer Program 2013

Gulf Region Health Outreach Program (GRHOP) funded grant
for scholarship to attend 4 weeks at Dauphin Island Sea Lab with Dr. Tina Miller-
Way, Ph.D. and staff at the Sea Lab. 2014*

University of South Alabama (USA) funded grant to attend 2
weeks at USA Audiology and Speech Therapy Clinic with Dr. Ramkissoon,
Ph.D. and staff at the Audiology and Speech Therapy Center 2014*

Interests Additional Information

Traveling Have traveled to: Poland, France, England, Iceland, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Mexico.

Foreign Languages Fluent in Polish, currently learning French

Software development Attended 2 courses of Java Language coursework at the University of Alabama Java Summer
Developer Program.

Science Attend regional and county science fair regularly, deep interest in scientific experimentation and research

Reading and Literature

History"

2

Omit the west coast public schools. The UC’s and Cal States are funded by California taxpayers so you won’t get financial aid from those schools. Also, that ACT isn’t competitive for the west coast, so you may want to retake the test.

3

I don’t mean to double-post, I accidentally posted my inquiry before I was done. I am particularly interested in schools in California (UC and CSU schools) or East coast non-Ivy regional or state schools (mostly interested in Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts and the like). I am an International Baccalaureate student in my Junior year of high school. If anyone has any information regarding schools which could offer a substantial amount of money or aid based on my achievements in my resume, I would greatly appreciate it!

4

Thanks for the info, doing some research myself I found that that was likely the case but I wanted to make sure. And that was my first time taking the ACT in high school, I plan on taking it a few more times between now and senior year/

5

My opinion.

You need to retake the ACT and get a much higher score…like 33 or above…to get merit aid at UConn, UVA, UMD, UMass.

The CA public universities won’t likely give you substantial merit aid, if any at all. And they are expensive.

It is possible that you would get merit aid at schools like Old Dominion, or maybe George Mason in VA. Not likely at UVA.

You might get merit aid at one of the CT State university campuses, but not likely UConn. Ditto the MA schools. Ditto the MD schools.

Just have to ask…if you are seeking large merit aid, why aren’t you looking at UA?

6

Alex…you might want to give the SAT a whirl. Some kids do better on that test than the ACT.

7

@thumper1 thanks for the reply! I think I am in the range of making a 33 on the ACT, and in terms of the SAT, I may give it a try. On the PSAT I scored a 202, while other IB students in my class with a 214 were finalists in National Merit, so maybe it is a better option for me. As for UA, I am considering it as my safety school because I qualify for full tuition and possibly full ride etc. but I honestly want to move far away for college and experience a completely different location. I know its a silly reason but it’s kind of important to me

8

Alex. If the finances work out…fine. If not you have a good and affordable safety. And you know…once you are on campus, it doesn’t matter if you are 3 miles from home or 3000 miles from home.

Are you targeting the flagship universities in MD, VA, MA and MD?

University of Maryland does give merit awards…competitive…to OOS residents. I believe these are based on the strength of your admissions application. You would need to be at the top of their admitted student pool to be eligible in all likelihood.

How much aid do you need?

It sounds like you think you won’t qualify for need based aid. Will your parents contribute annually at all? How much?

9

It doesn’t need to be a flagship school, but I’m really interested in public schools with a large undergrad population, close to urban area with a nice campus. I dont think my application is strong enough to end up at the top of a “competitive” pool, but I think my stats are acceptable to receive some aid somewhere. And just to be clear, I’m honestly interested in anywhere in the East coast, not just the states I listed. Parents are willing to pay room and board and living expenses pretty much (most R&B is from 10K-15K from what i see) , but they want the tuition to come mostly from scholarships. Not including R&B, they would probably be willing to front about 5K for tuition, annually.

10

“GPA – Weighted: 4.2 Unweighted: 3.48
Class Rank: #29 (top 10%)
ACT Score – 30”

" I think my stats are acceptable to receive some aid somewhere."
But not at the big well known colleges you are hoping to get into.
Merit $$ is usually only offered to students whose scores put them in the top 1% of all applicants at any particular college. And that means unweighted GPA’s closer to 4.0, and ACTs closer to 35 , or SAT’s in the 2350 + range.
I know you want to get out of Ala, but realistically you will have to lower your sights and cast a much wider net to have a chance at OOS Merit $$.

11

In order to get the merit aid you want you have to look at it as going to a place where you will be a big fish in a metaphorical small pond. Schools that are a “I think/hope I can get in” are not those schools. Best.

12

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

Read some of the links in the above thread. In particular, look at “automatic full ride/full tuition scholarships”. Also, there is a list of colleges that cost <$24,000 a year.

Maybe there is something in this list.

13

@menloparkmom @TempeMom thanks for the input, looks like I may need to apply to UA when the time comes and live with it. I’m well aware that I’m not a metaphorical “big fish” but I was hoping IB and extracurriculars would help out to some degree. C’est la vie.

@thumper1 I have this list (on this website http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/) in my bookmarks already. it’s definitely a good list. I do have more of a general question in terms of GPA. In my high school, weighted GPA is heavily emphasized in the way that we are ranked in our class due to the large number of AP/IB students. When I apply to a school such as Temple, which has a cutoff at 3.75 GPA for the full tuition, as an IB student, am I being overly optimistic in hoping that they will take my weighted GPA into consideration? Thanks in advance

14

I have no idea whether Temple uses weighted or unweighted GPAs…or whether they recalculate themselves.

Call them and ask!

15

If the school use wGPA, it is likely by their way, not your high school’s way. So they will look at the letter grades and calculate from there.

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@billcsho thanks for the response! I’ll check tomorrow and post results as soon as I can

17

As someone wanting to ‘get away’ from Alabama, I would think AU would be a better safety than UA just on the basis of atmosphere and student body, imho. Both offer full tuition for your stats, so you have some great options both in-state and out!

18

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I would think AU would be a better safety than UA just on the basis of atmosphere and student body,


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???

That makes no sense. UA has a LOT more OOS students and has more diversity. If a student wanted to “get away” from the state, but had to stay instate, then choosing UA would expose him to a LOT more students who are from elsewhere.

@undeuxtroiscat

19

What is your intended major? Research schools that have strong departments and tell your story accordingly. That can help with merit. IB is excellent and it seems like you’ve got solid awards / ECs on a regional basis. If you can bump ACT up to 32 that would be good. Your 202 may qualify you for National Merit Commended - cut off is always somewhere in that vicinity. Doesn’t qualify you for anything, but still nice to add to a resume. Many schools have large scholarships you can apply for (hence very competitive) such as Tulane’s Paul Tulane Full-Tuition … Boston University’s Trustee’s Full-Tuition. No reason not to apply - just extra essays! University of Richmond (perhaps smaller than you’d like) also has full-rides - no extra essays, but highly competitive. University of Miami can be very generous. Ditto University of Pittsburgh. Perhaps begin a dialogue with the local AdComs for some of the schools you are interested in. Spend time on the school websites and then pose intelligent questions. I do know from experience that getting $$$ OOS from UCs is highly unlikely. Your intended major could be key in “pitching” yourself though - you’ve got some interesting ECs, funded grants that you can play up. Good luck.

20

That’s just my opinion on UA and AU having been involved in both, I feel that despite its greater OOS population that UA is still more homogeneous than AU. OP can and should visit both to form an opinion, but I still believe AU to have more diversity and less of a Southern culture but ymmv and I’m sure many disagree