<p>My D is a junior and is currently forming a list of schools to visit. I would love for her to be considered for full-ride merit interview weekends. She is interested in studying Bio/PreMed and would like a challenging small-med sized school likely located in the SE. Schools of interest so far include Duke, Davidson, Wake, Furman, Clemson Honors, and Rice (I know not SE but we mistakenly visited and she loved it).</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT1 2330 (770 R, 770 M, 790 W) Super, 2300 1st sitting, plan SAT2s and ACT in spring.
PSAT 225 (will be at least NMF)
4.0 uwGPA, 5.35w
Rank 1/~300
APs - 3APs ( scores of 5), 7 more planned or currently taking, and 2 college credit courses.
ECs w/ leadership roles (Pres. and VP of Student Council, P of NSHS, Pres. Service award, HOBY, started a STEM tutoring service, leader of AFC, Varsity VB, etc.)
Very good writer and teachers have trained for AP courses to have her again, so I hope essay and recs will be a strength.
Ethnicity Hispanic</p>
<p>Please give any advice on schools mentioned above or additional college suggestions for potential full merit scholarships.
Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>As NMF, she qualifies for up to 5 years full tuition at Alabama, plus one year of housing, $3500 a year stipend, $2000 for summer research or foreign study, and an iPad. All guaranteed. </p>
<p>I’m sure mom2collegekids will be along shortly to talk about their premed quality. One of her sons is now in med school following Alabama undergrad.</p>
<p>congrats on your D’s likely NMSF status. Her PSAT is higher than this year’s highest cut-off of 224.</p>
<p>Full ride and full tuition scholarships are more rare at top schools like Duke, Rice, etc. Those schools are full of top stats students so they don’t need to offer much merit. They usually don’t offer NMF scholarships. I think a couple like Chicago and Northwestern offer about $2,000 for NMF (obviously not much). </p>
<p>Do you have to get large merit in order to afford college or would some “just be nice to have”? </p>
<p>What is the situation? If you get “some merit” it will just get applied to “need” so it will just disappear in some cases. </p>
<p>What is your home state?</p>
<p>As Chardo mentions, my kids went to Bama on near-full rides. My younger son graduated last May and is now in med school. </p>
<p>The merit from Alabama would be assured for stats.</p>
<p>The other schools you mention that give a limited number of awards can be applied to, but be aware that getting the awards is highly competitive.</p>
<p>If your D does apply to Alabama, I recommend that she also apply to its elite Computer-based Honors Program. It’s a research program and can also be helpful for premeds and their med school apps.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughtful replies. The Alabama offer to NMFs sounds great. We live in SC and my D does not think she wants to go too far from home. We have talked about USC and Clemson as she should be able to go for free (USC with a rather good stipend add-on). The National Scholarship Program at Clemson sounds great to me. However I think she will prefer to go somewhere with very small class size. I’m not up to speed on how the honors college at the bigger U’s work.</p>
<p>We do not qualify for need based aid so any merit aid will be a plus. My older D just finished UG and Grad at Furman which she loved. She was able to half ride. My S will be entering a couple years later. Both D2 and S are interested in Med School so of course the bill will run up quickly. </p>
<p>My wife and I went to a top ten school. While we enjoyed our experience, I believe the prices for these private schools are very inflated. Our school has tripled in price in 25 yrs. And while top notch UG and med school are great stepping stones, most only care where one did his/her residency. So spending north of 200k for UG with a ~120k med school chaser per child doesn’t really make much financial sense likely for most anyone. It sounds like you all have gone through the process in a fiscally smart way. I certainly want my daughter to be happy with her choice but I know she will prosper where ever she ends up.</p>
<p>Does Clemson have full rides? Or is that for instate students only?</p>
<p>* And while top notch UG and med school are great stepping stones, most only care where one did his/her residency. So spending north of 200k for UG with a ~120k med school chaser per child doesn’t really make much financial sense likely for most anyone.*</p>
<p>Since ALL US MD schools are very good, the education is flat/standardized, and the MD school doesn’t matter…and neither does the undergrad as long as it’s not some unknown podunk U that is known to be weak in sciences. </p>
<p>lol…your $120k estimate for med school is quite low. lol. At the med schools my son was accepted to, the ANNUAL COA’s ranged from $45k - $80k per year. The instate COA for USCarolina SOM is over $55k per year (avg since each year is slightly different).</p>
<p>My D is in the honors college at USC. She had 14 of her 17 hours this semester as honors credits with her largest class being 25 students. Her roommate had 17 of her 17 hours as honors credits. Next semester will be the same. She loves the honors program and the honors dorm. It is more demanding than the averaged state school honors program- it did get a #1 ranking for public school honors programs. The full ride at USC is VERY competitive and beyond certain stats (which your D certainly has) they are looking for very unique situations. The McNairs that my D knows almost all have lower stats than her but have unique situations that they could write about ( honors app is 8 essays!). One lived abroad and therefore is fluent in 3 languages, one had a sibling die and got involved in research and fundraising etc. all good things but well beyond what I thought were great ECs of my daughter (lots of leadership, state and national level athlete, tutor etc). My D got the highest OOS scholarship for Clemson and it didn’t compare to what she got at USC.</p>
<p>I agree…apply for the McNair at University of South Carolina. The honors college/scholarship application is a doozie, but if you are selected, it is more than well worth the effort. The school will pay your expenses for the interview weekend for this scholarship (at least they did when my kid applied…she did not get the McNair, but she was awarded the McKissick…instate tuition plus a stipend). USC also allows stacking of all aid up to the cost of attendance. </p>
<p>The McNair is a full ride. USC is a lovely campus it’s it’s fine academic programs. </p>
<p>If your daughter decides to do this one, I would strongly suggest she start it as soon as it becomes available. When yay daughter did it, it was due December 1. Don’t wait to the last minute. As noted, it has multiple essays about a variety of topics.</p>
<p>I’m not up to speed on how the honors college at the bigger U’s work.</p>
<p>At Alabama, the courses within the Honors College are limited to 15 students each…except for Computer Based Honors…and those have 20 students each. The Honors Classes, because of their small size, are obviously very expensive for the school, but the school insists on keeping them that small.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Looks like my D has a lot of work ahead of her. Who new school these days can be more time consuming than a full time job. I will have t take her by USC.</p>