Just found out son scored a 36!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>He will also will be a national merit semi-finalist next year with a score of 228 in Nebraska.</p>

<p>He has a '4.09' GPA with several AP classes, currently ranked 12th in his class of over 600... big band 'nerd' with concert, jazz, and orchestra band... but not necessarily wanting to pursue music education... continues to pad his community service resume, NHS. Not active in terms of clubs outside of his band involvement. Has held a part-time fast food job since before his junior year while doing this.</p>

<p>Now what?</p>

<p>He's primarily interested in physics/astronomy and/or chemical engineering.</p>

<p>I can afford about $7-8,000 for room/board... so we pretty well need a full tuition scholarship (or fall back on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where we live)... I don't believe need money is not an option... we have a six figure household income.</p>

<p>We were going to schedule a visit to University of Illinois-Urbana, because he thought their programs looked good... however, a colleague of mine has suggested that most of the better public universities won't give out full tuition scholarships to anyone from outside the state (we're in Nebraska... UNL is our 'worst case scenario').</p>

<p>So, now that you know a little about my son... any recommendations? How far can he take his resume?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Even if you have a six-figure income, if affording college will be a problem for you, FAFSA will most-likely recognize that. It never hurts to try.</p>

<p>At any rate, some of the schools known for giving good merit aid to top applicants inclue: Case Western Reserve, Tulane, Emory, Seattle U, ASU, Knox, Rochester, Davidson, Grinnell, Denison, Rhodes, and Goucher. Check some of them out. </p>

<p>And if you're interested, DePauw actually has a merit calculator online, or at least they used to.</p>

3

<p>I seem to remember that Rice has a great music program and I'm pretty sure they give out merit aid, esp. with those scores. Good Luck! They also have a pretty good eng. program and right there in Houston! (Space center, etc.)</p>

4

<p>Go to the Parents Forum section of this message board. Near the top is a stickied thread "Schools Known for Good Merit Aid" - lots of good suggestions.</p>

5

<p>With ACT of 36 your son will be a prime candidate for merit scholarships (and favorable treatment by fin-aid offices based on need).</p>

<p>Some good schools with merit aid (full tuitions or full rides): Duke, UChicago, Wustl, Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory, UMIchigan, UNC.</p>

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<p>I'll add Boston College to datadriven's list.</p>

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<p>I would strongly advise choosing highly ranked schools over highly ranked "programs." He should consider all the top merit aid schools. Data driven's list is perfect.</p>

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<p>While Rice has some excellent merit aid, there are no scholarships or combinations of scholarships that provide full tuition. Rice tuition is 28k this year; the biggest scholarships are for 14.5k/yr, with the possibility of adding NMS for 2k/yr.</p>

<p>I would add BU, Brandeis, Tulane and UVA to the list. I would also caution that all of these scholarships go way beyond test scores, the candidates for these major scholarships are outstanding in many ways.</p>

9

<p>Uh, apply to all the Ivies, Stanford, Duke, MIT, Chicago, NU - then take your pic after the scholarships come rolling in.</p>

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<p>BU would def. be a good choice. Here's the link to the Trustee:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/scholar_trustee.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/scholar_trustee.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Does he want to go to a Big U style school [ a la Michigan] or a smaller university, or a LAC? If a big university with a rah-rah feel appeals to him, have him apply to USC, which gives automatic 1/2 tuition scholarships to NM Finalists. Have you run a financial aid calculator to see what your estimated EFC will be? Most of the top, top universities do not give merit scholarships,[Chicago offers 30 full tuition scholarships, but they usually go to truly extraordinary students] but most are very generous with financial aid for families with low income> $50,000.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
He's primarily interested in physics/astronomy and/or chemical engineering

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Caltech???</p>

13

<p>jhuston, Congratulations to you and your very accomplished son. I'm sure his background -- scores, grades, musical involvement, geographic location -- would make him a person of interest to the most selective colleges; the key here is to probe deeply into the financial side of the equation to come up with the best education + the best aid package.</p>

<p>Your family's six figure income may or may not preclude need based aid. You should work with one of those on-line calculators and perhaps sit down with a financial aid officer at a private school to see how you fare. </p>

<p>If indeed you will depend on merit aid, this site (especially the Parents Board) is a wealth of information. The engineering option is somewhat limiting for the smaller schools. Your son needs to decide if this is a "must have" or if he'd be satisfied with math/sciences.</p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how he does.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
Uh, apply to all the Ivies, Stanford, Duke, MIT, Chicago, NU - then take your pic after the scholarships come rolling in.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>harvard, yale, princeton, and northwestern do not give out merit scholarships. i'm not sure about the other ivies.</p>

15

<p>Well, none of them do. Duke and NU give out a few though. Of course, for any of those schools, a 36 ACT isn't even a guarantee of admission let alone worth a scholarship.</p>

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<p>If he gets a National Merit Scholarship, they would pay for UIUC.</p>

17

<p>duke gives out merit scholarships, as does chicago and wustl. northwestern does not.</p>

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<p>I believe Northwestern is starting to offer a couple.</p>

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<p>With those stats, your son could get a pretty good merit scholarship from Michigan-Ann Arbor and Wisconsin-Madison.</p>

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<p>"I believe Northwestern is starting to offer a couple."</p>

<p>According to an adcom, Northwestern only offers merit scholarship for Music students.</p>