<p>Then I'm wrong, I thought with the new pres. they were bringing in some merit schollies. Obviously I thought wrong.</p>
<p>DSC - no, you aren't, NU is offering merit scholarships albeit very few (like Duke or Cal Tech)</p>
<p>Wow... thanks for all the responses... although they are leaving
me with more questions than answers! :)</p>
<p>Rambling here...</p>
<p>Now I have been told that most GOOD public universities do not give out
full tuition scholarships to students outside their own state. Is this true?
We are in Nebraska. :)</p>
<p>Can someone post a link to one of these financial aid calculators?</p>
<p>While he got the 36... his SAT scores are more 'mortal'. I don't have them
next to me... but they are all in the 710-750 range (although he got a 228 on his PSAT... maybe he should take the SAT again?). I don't know if this means we should be focusing on 'western' schools or not.</p>
<p>Someone asked about size... he would definitely be interested in going to
a 'larger' school... with enough of a general science/engineering reputation,
that he could possibly change his focus and be confident he's still getting
an excellent education.</p>
<p>I should add... he would be really happy if he were able to make it in to a
marching band (although not expecting it). Again, he's not interesting in pursuing a music degree, but he very much enjoys to play. Does anyone have any insight into how competitive it is to get on to a D1 school marching band? He's 3rd chair in the top band of a high school with enrollment over 2,000... if that is any kind of gauge of where he's at.</p>
<p>So looking back at some of the suggestions... are these reasonable to consider?</p>
<p>Rice
WU STL
USC</p>
<p>Again, what about public universities? Are the Michigan's and Wisconsin's giving full or nearly full tuition scholarships to Nebraska kids?</p>
<p>And we've never been under any impression that Ivy League schools were even a remote possibility. So we've pretty well ruled them all out.</p>
<p>Although, I believe his 'pie in the universe' wish would be to attend Cornell. Any thoughts on the unlikelihood of being accepted to/afford them?</p>
<p>What's most frustrating here is... I'd like to schedule visits for him soon... but honestly, I don't want to send him anywhere which I don't think he has at least a fairly decent chance of getting accepted/good money.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help!</p>
<p>USC is well within his reach. He will receive 1/2 off tuition if he is accepted [which is a no brainer for them as they are vying to bring in smart, hi stat students such as your S.] Their marching band is reknown, and they have a very good music school-Thorton School of Music, which does requires an audition in order to be able to to take classes. I would call USC a match, whereas Wash U and Rice are quite a bit harder to get into. My advice again is for him to get his app into USC before the Dec 1 deadline for scholarship consideration. Wash U is very competative, and they have a tendency to wait list many qualified students who do not apply ED. They also have specific scholarship deadlines, but in addition, you have to fill out the seperate applications for scholarships. At USC you just have to apply to the university by Dec 1. Don't know much about Rice as far as scholarships are concerned, but it has a very good academic reputation, and attracts a lot of pre-med students. Ditto Wash U. USC is still somewhat of a "party school", but their engineering program attracts many top students.They also have an honors program with great professors and small classes for both lower division science and humanities classes that are offered to MNF scholarship students. USC has overall more of a "pre-professional feel", than an intensely academic feel.</p>
<p>UMichigan has the Shipman scholarship: 15 Finalists get full COA for OOS students (40k/yr) as long as they live on campus (the R&B part is dropped if they move off campus); 35 Semis get 26k/yr. They also have guaranteed housing in the Honors section of South Quad. UM also has other merit aid through the colleges (LS&A, Engineering, etc.). I only know about LS&A, up to 20k/yr; check their website for merit from other colleges. My D (percussionist) is interested in the marching band. It is competitive and it is serious. She is going to skip this year and instead will go to preparation sessions starting in Jan and try out next summer. I don't know how selective they are, perhaps some other posters who are current students can help. She is going to UMichigan for many of the same reasons your S is interested, great programs in just about any field she ends up choosing. My D is a Shipman, so PM me if you have any questions about the program.</p>
<p>UWisconsin has lots of merit aid for OOS too, but I'm usure of the amounts, so check their website.</p>
<p>Cornell has no merit scholarships, their FA is 100% of need, but is not likely to be as generous as HYP. </p>
<p>Just have him send in his ACT instead of the SAT. For most schools he won't even need SATII's then.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.finaid.com%5B/url%5D">www.finaid.com</a></p>
<p>Good luck, I think you're on the right track.</p>
<p>No merit $, but Harvard and Princeton are exceptionally generous on need-based aid. Belk Scholars at Davidson, Morehead and Robertson at UNC, etc. are typical of full-ride merit scholarships intended to attract HYP types of students to schools just below that level. Also, last I checked, the University of Oklahoma offered five-year full rides to National Merit finalists.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I believe Northwestern is starting to offer a couple.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
DSC - no, you aren't, NU is offering merit scholarships albeit very few (like Duke or Cal Tech)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>not as many as duke, i don't know about caltech's scholarship program but northwestern's scholarship program is a private fund that gives an average of i think ~4200 to students over four years, with no one getting more than like 7,500 over four years. nothing like the full rides, etc. provided to duke scholars</p>
<p>Penn State Honors college in collaboration with the science college gives out full ride scholarships(Braddock). I know that PSU has offered full ride to out of state kids. Here is a link to science college : <a href="http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/superlatives/science.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/superlatives/science.html</a></p>
<p>Non music majors can be involved in the Big Ten Blue Band along with a variety of ensembles along with music majors.</p>
<p>Apply to a number of top schools, compare offers and have fun picking!!!</p>
<p>son had similiar stats and was offered great $$$ from duke, swarthmore, RPI, case western and full ride at PSU.</p>
<p>Marching band at Wisconsin is extremely good and very popular, but not impossible to get in to. And it is possible to work your way up. They have a lot of different arrangements to try and get as many kids participating as possible. I have a friend whose son started out as what they call a "sweater", meaning that he didn't march on Satudays and didn't have uniform but sat in the stands and played with the band when they weren't marching. Shortly after that, he became a "half member". He was partnered with another person on the same instrument. They alternated between marching in the pregame and marching at half time. My friend's son only did it for one season, but his partner came back the next year and was full member.</p>
<p>UMiami would mayby offer you full tuition if u apply EA.</p>
<p>Jhuston,</p>
<p>Congratulations on your sons fine academic achievements. </p>
<p>To begin, what you might want to do is to get organized about the college admissions process. Casting a wide net to identify schools is only the first step. Organize the data and maintain a spreadsheet (Excel works well) so that you can easily get a comparative picture of how schools of interest might be relevant and able to respond to your sons particular needs (e.g., merit scholarship programs, physics/astronomy and chemical engineering programs, participation in orchestra/symphony music activities, larger school, SAT and/or ACT requirements, tuition/educational fees, Cost of Attendance (COA), urban/suburban/rural preference, geo/regional preference, etc.) Identify and weight your priorities.</p>
<p>One important thing to consider for academically-oriented, merit-based scholarships is to note how EACH school handles the application process. In some cases, applications for institutional merit scholarships are NOT required and all freshmen students are automatically considered for a given scholarship affiliated with that school. (For example, this is true for University of Michigan.) Some notable merit scholarships may require additional application AFTER admittance to a school (i.e., this is true for U of Michigans Bell Scholarship, focused primarily on students enrolling into the Engineering College or an undergrad engineering/science degree focus.)</p>
<p>Many of the most prestigious (and largest) institutional merit scholarships (e.g., the full-ride, 4-year renewable scholarships) require the students high school to nominate the student as part of the application process. Many of these merit scholarships require an application that is SEPARATE (in addition) to the admission application to the school. This means separate essays and packages (e.g., perhaps separate teacher recommendations) for each scholarship program application. Many also require an earlier filing deadline (equivalent of Early Decision or Early Action deadlines). </p>
<p>Some schools with full-ride/full-tuition institutional Merit Scholarship programs include:</p>
<p>Emory University
Washington University, St. Louis
Duke University
Case Western Reserve
Georgia Tech
Rice University
Vanderbilt University
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
UNC Chapel Hill
Davidson College
William & Mary College
Tulane University
Boston College
Boston University
Brandeis</p>
<p>If you go to College Confidentials Financial Aid & Scholarships forum, you should find more information and/or do a search within CC. Otherwise, begin first with schools of interest and explore their websites to determine what merit scholarships are available.</p>
<p>If your son is a rising senior, you should immediately get organized and create files for EACH school and each scholarship program. I say EACH because each scholarship will have different requirements and deadlines. Your son will want to identify teachers for recommendation purposes. In some cases, the scholarship programs may have separate requirements of teachers who offer recommendations. If at all possible, your son might want to contact teachers this summer in order to give them a heads up. When school begins again in the fall, teachers can sometimes feel inundated by recommendation requests by students. When school does begin, he will need to contact his Guidance Counselor to discuss his schools nomination to scholars programs. In some cases, there may be a limit of perhaps 4 or 5 students who can be nominated for a scholars program from any one secondary school (this is true for the generous Emory Scholars Program, UVA (Jefferson Scholarship), UNC, Davidson and William & Mary, among others). </p>
<p>Realistically, if you and your son size up your chances, you will find that all of these merit scholarship programs are highly competitive. All applicants are excellent, and the sheer number of applicants alone might make the odds seem insurmountable. Some schools are generous, but they also spread out the wealth to more students, without providing as many full-tuition or full-ride scholarships. I found this to be true of USC, who offers many scholarships, but few that are full-tuition at a time when tuition and education fees at USC are about $35,800. Addition expenses for room/board, books, transportation and incidentals will bring the total Cost of Attendance to almost $50,000. This said, its a great school for your sons interests, but do the math for all schools.</p>
<p>A couple of last points as you probably know, none of the Ivy schools offer merit-based scholarships, only need-based financial aid. If financial feasibility is important, you will want to take a long look at schools where you will have to pay retail. Its a personal choice that only you and your son can make. Theres a reason why many of the most generous scholars programs are those elite schools who are contending with the Ivies for strong academic students who show promise. I have personally known students who have given up admittance to Harvard and Yale to accept a full-ride to Emory University. The $180,000 they say can go toward graduate school. Ultimately, if your son applies himself, hell get a great education wherever he goes.</p>
<p>About SAT and ACT scores, if schools do not require SAT Subject Tests, then send ONLY the ACT scores. The College Board will send ALL scores for any SAT tests taken, and obviously scores in the 710-750 range for SAT dont look nearly as good as a 36 for the ACT.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>To the OP--visit the websites for the schools mentioned. As far as Rice is concerned, son had similar stats and was accepted. Although he did not qualify for money! I know that in the case of Rice, they seem to be a school that is looking for the prospect to show interest in the school--visits, e-mails, etc. I think that even though people tend to think it is difficult to get into, if you have the grades and scores, interest def helps push the app over the top. We visited, he met with the rep at his school, and sent various e-mails. And, while he decided NOT to attend after all, he was impressed with the school and as someone mentioned in previous post, they do have an excellent academic rep. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Again, I don't see anywhere that Rice offer anything close to a full tuition scholarship. Can someone please provide a link? Thanks!</p>
<p>I am not very proficient at computers and therefore do not know how to cut and paste! However, go to <a href="http://www.futureowls.rice.edu%5B/url%5D">www.futureowls.rice.edu</a>. Then go to the Financial Services link under the heading Apply to Rice. Then click on Merit Scholarships. You will find quite a list of merit aid! Hope this helps and I apologize for not knowing more about computers!!</p>
<p>P.S. I know that GA Tech also offers Presidential Scholarships. Go to their website--I think you have to apply by Oct. 1. Can't remember how much money is involved, but I know that the money is there!</p>
<p>Entomom,</p>
<p>Regarding Rice, go this link and look at Engineering Scholarships:
<a href="http://www.futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Merit_Scholarships.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Merit_Scholarships.asp</a></p>
<p>Ah ha, Engineering or foreign nationals, no wonder I missed it! Thanks for the links ndAL and NCD.</p>