Likelihood of receiving merit aid?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi! I'm a college senior currently trying to get my college list together. Unfortunately, I can't afford to pay for any private school, but I am unlikely to receive any sort of need-based aid, so I'm kind of tailoring my school list around schools which I think I may receive some sort of merit aid from. My parents and my school are not particularly helpful with my applications, however, and I'm having a really difficult time figuring out if my list is even remotely realistic. I'd really appreciate if I could get some feedback on what I'm doing so I can figure out if I need to completely readjust or not!</p>

<p>Gender: Female</p>

<p>Location: California</p>

<p>GPA: 3.7 unweighted (school does not weight grades)</p>

<p>Class rank: School does not rank</p>

<p>SAT I:
First try: 720 CR 720 M 800 W (2240 total)
Second try: 800 CR 690 M 740 W (2230 total)
Best combination: 2320 total
Best M&CR only: 1520</p>

<p>SAT II:
800 Literature
740 US History</p>

<p>APs:
European History - 5
US History - 5
Statistics - 4
Biology - 4</p>

<p>APs that I will be taking this year:
Art History
Microeconomics
French
Government
English Language
English Literature</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
My primary ECs are Model UN and journalism (I'm the news editor for the paper), both of which take up a crazy amount of my time. I also tutor, volunteer at a children's center, am a member of a number of clubs on campus (MUN is a class for us), and participate in various community activities (primarily politically-oriented). I used to be on the track team.</p>

<p>The schools I'm hoping to possibly get merit aid from are:
University of Pittsburgh
Fordham
Scripps
Tulane (applying early action)
Boston University</p>

<p>Do I have any chance at receiving merit aid from any of these schools? I know that some of them are probably longshots, I don't know. Does my list make any sense for me? If there are any other schools that I would want to take a look at, I'd appreciate advice on that, too. Thank you so much - I appreciate any assistance.</p>

2

<p>No real way of knowing until you apply but I would think Pitt and Tulane would be good possibilities.</p>

<p>Do you plan to apply for the Trustee Scholarship at BU? If so, there is a separate application, I believe, and it has an early deadline. You might want to consider that one.</p>

3

<p>I have the application for the Trustee Scholarship at BU but I’ve been debating applying to it or not. My counselor told me that there was basically no point in applying (only bit of advice she’s given me, haha) and I’m so swamped with work anyway that I don’t really know if it’s worth it or not.</p>

<p>Also - typo in my original post. I got a 5 on the AP Bio exam. :)</p>

4

<p>*I’m a college senior currently trying to get my college list together. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to pay for any private school, but I am unlikely to receive any sort of need-based aid, so I’m kind of tailoring my school list around schools which I think I may receive some sort of merit aid from. My parents and my school are not particularly helpful with my applications, however, and I’m having a really difficult time figuring out if my list is even remotely realistic. I’d really appreciate if I could get some feedback on what I’m doing so I can figure out if I need to completely readjust or not!</p>

<p>Gender: Female</p>

<p>Location: California</p>

<p>GPA: 3.7 unweighted (school does not weight grades)</p>

<p>Class rank: School does not rank</p>

<p>SAT I:
First try: 720 CR 720 M 800 W (2240 total)
Second try: 800 CR 690 M 740 W (2230 total)
Best combination: 2320 total
Best M&CR only: 1520
*</p>

<p>There are other schools that will give you assured merit for stats. </p>

<p>As Thumper mentioned, there are schools that “might” give you money…those are competitive merit scholarships. </p>

<p>How much will your parents pay each year? If they won’t pay much, then a $25k merit from Tulane won’t be enough since it has a cost of attendance of about $55k per year… </p>

<p>Both my boys had stats similar to yours and they were only given $24k from Tulane (Tulane now gives $25k). </p>

<p>Anyway…if you need merit to go to school, then to protect yourself do NOT only apply to schools with competitive scholarships. You ALSO need to apply to some schools that will give you ASSURED big merit scholarships for stats.</p>

<p>What is your likely major?</p>

<p>How much will your parents contribute each year? </p>

<p>How did you do on the PSAT? Are you a NMSF?</p>

5

<p>I should have been more specific in my original thread, sorry! My parents can be expected to contribute about 25k, 30k max per year for school. (I’m applying to a number of the Universities of California and I should be able to afford to go there without any outside aid.) That’s kind of why I’m only looking at more competitive merit aid scholarships - I have some pretty solid safeties within the UC system, I think, but I guess the private/OOS schools I’m looking at are more of “reaches” for me.</p>

<p>I’m looking to major in history or possibly communications. Definitely something within the liberal arts/humanities sort of area.</p>

<p>I got 214 on the PSAT, which is only commended in California. ):</p>

6

<p>I have some pretty solid safeties within the UC system, I think, but I guess the private/OOS schools I’m looking at are more of “reaches” for me.</p>

<p>Typically, schools that would be reaches for you don’t give merit.</p>

<p>A school like Tulane would probably give you at least $25k, but Tulane is not a reach for you. Neither is Fordham, UPitt, or BU. Those schools are matches. </p>

<p>Santa Clara wouldn’t be a reach, but would probably give you merit.</p>

<p>A reach school that might give you merit, would be Vanderbilt or WashU.</p>

7

<p>If you are interested in BU, apply for the Trustee scholarship. You can’t get it if you don’t apply!! It IS very competitive but why not try?</p>

8

<p>Not sure if George Washington would be a match for your interests, but I think you would have a good shot at $20-25K merit there…so could attend for $30 or so…</p>

<p>Keep Fordham on your list…</p>

<p>Info about your EFC would be useful as your academic stats would give you a shot at some “100% need” schools if eligible…</p>

9

<p>I agree with all the above, and would add that you should apply for the Deans Honor Scholarship (DHS) at Tulane. Full tuition for 4 years. Your superscored SAT is impressive (not that your others aren’t), and your 3.7 is very good, but hard to make a comment on since your school doesn’t rank. If your GC can give Tulane an idea where you would rank and if it is top 5%, you have a shot at the DHS. It is an additional app as well, and the project requires some thought. But you should give it a try.</p>

10

<p>I didn’t know about the DHS at Tulane, thank you so much! I will try to see if my GC will rank me so I can apply - my school is very anti-rank (we have a lot of athletes and it hurts them…) but I’m hoping she’ll help me out. (:</p>

<p>I had been considering GW but I didn’t really love DC when I visited. It’s still definitely on my “maybe” list. I don’t know, argh! Do you know anything about its history or comm departments? I can’t get a really good feel on them - everybody I know who goes there is going for political science.</p>

<p>What does EFC mean? >.< Sorry!</p>

<p>And mom2collegekids - I should have worded what I said better, sorry. I guess I meant that it’s kind of a reach for me to get any merit aid from these schools, not so much get into them. I’m not really applying to any “reach” schools in the real sense of the term except for UCLA, haha.</p>

11

<p>rachelmk</p>

<p>I would encourage you to try for the BU Trustee - you have to be nominated by your high school so tell your guidance counselor. You definitely have a shot (my daughter got it - but doesn’t attend there). You have an even better shot at Scripps - the application for merit has to be in by 11/1 I think and BU by 12/1 (double check the sites). If you are looking at Scripps would you also consider Claremont? They have merit also if you apply by 12/1. Good luck - I believe you have a good chance to get merit and congrats on the great scores. Do let us know the outcome!</p>

12

<p>Your CR+M (Pitt superscores) are within the range others have reported on here for getting full tuition at Pitt. Being from California will be a plus, as Pitt seems to like to go after underrepresented geographies for their school, and I would have to think that California is one of those. Without question, you’ll be admitted to the Honors College as a freshman and very likely get some merit award. You may be a candidate for Pitt’s Chancellor’s scholarship (which is a tuition + all other expenses), but I believe they send out separate applications forms for that after you apply, so there is an additional process to those. There have even been reports that they’ll might fly you out to visit if you show a serious interest in the school. Pitt practices rolling admissions (earlier is thus better), but has a January 15th deadline for scholarship evaluation (which is done automatically for applying students).</p>

13

<p>On the BU website, the only information I could find said that I had to be nominated by my principal for the Trustee scholarship, but other places, I’ve seen guidance counselor - do you know which one it is? If it’s guidance counselor, then I think I’m good (and will definitely try for the Trustee scholarship after all), but if it’s principal, I’m not so sure - it’s his first year here and I don’t think I’ve ever even spoken to him.</p>

<p>I’ve got my Pitt application almost done with (I should be done by this weekend, actually!) but I know that I won’t be getting one of my two letters of rec until the end of October (because of the deadline for Scripps). Should I wait to submit the rest of my app until I know that that has been sent in, or should I just submit it anyway? Does that make a difference?</p>

<p>That’s really great to hear about Scripps. I really, really liked it there and it’s definitely toward the top of my list. I wasn’t planning on applying to Claremont McKenna because I know it’s more difficult to get into and I didn’t think I would get any aid.</p>

<p>Thanks to everybody for the great advice.</p>

14

<p>rachel - EFC = Expected Financial Contribution. It is how much colleges calculate your family can pay a year based on the forms parents fill out. The remaining amount to meet tuition, room&board, and other expected expenses is your need. Most colleges meet either all or most of that need through grants, loans and work study (not counting merit scholarships. If you get this they subtract it from your need). So for example, Tulane costs about $55,000 a year let’s say, and let’s assume no merit scholarships. If your family’s EFC is figured to be $30,000 then Tulane should come up with a package of grants, loans and work-study of about $25,000. If you got a $25,000 merit package, there would be no FA package from Tulane as the two together would be spot on. If you got the DHS, your family would “only” need to come up with about $15,000 a year and would save the rest. The difference between a grant and a merit scholarship is that the grant (along with the whole FA package) is recalculated every year as your family finances change. Merit scholarships are guaranteed for 4 years as long as you maintain a certain GPA.</p>

15

<p>rachelmk,</p>

<p>Please sit your parents down and have them run the EFC calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) If they want more detailed information about how the FAFSA EFC is calculated, they can print out <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf&lt;/a&gt; Even though you write that they are good for 25k to 30k, their EFC may be even higher. You need to know this information so you can target your college/university list better. </p>

<p>Withing you all the best.</p>

16

<p>*Even though you write that they are good for 25k to 30k, their EFC may be even higher. You need to know this information so you can target your college/university list better. *</p>

<p>I think she might suspect as much which is why she’s looking for merit. :)</p>

<p>I still think she should apply to at least one school where she would have assured BIG merit…</p>

17

<p>Rachel…submit your application to Pitt now. They will start a “file” for you and add your letters of recommendation when they arrive. </p>

<p>Why does the deadline at Scripps have anything to do with your recommendations for Pitt? If the folks are writing a letter for Scripps that is due earlier, all they need to do is change the name of the school and the address…for Pitt. Not sure why the deadline for one school would impact recommendations for another.</p>

18

<p>I have two older siblings who have already been through the college process, and I know that my parents’ EFC is definitely higher than what they are planning to contribute, haha, which is indeed why I am looking for merit aid!</p>

<p>I will submit my Pitt application now, then, thank you. The reason the Scripps application affects when I would get my letters of rec is because my teacher who is writing my letter of rec wouldn’t have finished my letter until later, then. Applying earlier to Scripps means that I’m getting my letter earlier rather than later, so it’s a good thing for my Pitt application! I didn’t mean to say that it would complicate things (oops).</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>