Merit Based Scholarships

Paying for College
1

<p>Hey, I'm looking to earn a merit based scholarship to one or more of the schools that I have applied to. I will probably receive some need based aid, but probably not enough to justify spending so much money on a college. I have been accepted at Penn State and Notre Dame, and I am waiting to hear back from Virginia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest, and Carnegie Mellon. The scholarships do not necessarily have to come from the schools; I'm just looking for a way to defer some of the costs. </p>

<p>I have a 3.8 unweighted GPA (my school doesn't do weighted)
I will have completed 6 APs by the time I graduate- Physics, Calculus, English, American History (4), European History (4), and Gov (5).
Otherwise, all of my classes are honors level. </p>

<p>I got a 2120 on my SATs (M-730, CR-700, W-690)
I also took the SAT IIs but didn't do as well as I could have- (math I- 600, physics- 570, history- 630, english- 650) </p>

<p>I am involved in a number of ECs. I am president of the Interact Club at my high school, secretary of student council, vice president of the senior class, I was co editor in chief of the school newspaper (had to quit this year due to scheduling conflicts), I do track and cross country, National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society. I taking painting lessons, attended a number of prestigious journalism conferences, and a few other things. I have a part time job, and I am very involved at my church. Additionally, I volunteered at a Christian camp over the summer, and did a few other programs in the community. I might be missing a few, but I think you get the idea, haha. </p>

<p>I'm not a minority, but I am looking at engineering. I've heard that it can be beneficial to be a female in engineering.</p>

<p>I think that just about covers it my academic history... </p>

<p>I have applied for a full scholarship to CMU. It is run locally so there aren't a ton of kids who are eligible. </p>

<p>I'm not even sure if I will actually get into Duke so maybe you could tell me my odds of getting in there. </p>

<p>I know that ND only offers one merit scholarship, and I'm not likely to get it, so I need to look outside of ND for scholarships. </p>

<p>Anyways, any response would be great!</p>

2

<p>So, you’re looking for outside scholarships to pay for your schools?</p>

<p>Did you apply to any financial safety schools? Is Penn State your in-state safety?</p>

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

<p>I will probably receive some need based aid, </p>

<p>What is your EFC?</p>

<p>There are schools that would have given you big merit, but that won’t help you at the schools where you’ve applied.</p>

3

<p>my first suggestion is to clarify with the financial aid office at EACH of the schools you are applying to: HOW DO THEY TREAT OUTSIDE SCHOLARSHIPS?</p>

<p>While there are schools that allow an outside scholarship to reduce YOUR costs there are many , many more that consider outside merit scholarships as reducing your NEED, and hence it reduces your aid package. Usually they will start by eliminating/reducing loans and work study but CHECK WITH THE SCHOOL.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, PSU is my in-state, and it wouldn’t be terribly expensive. I guess I don’t HAVE to get a lot of money, but it would be really great if I didn’t have to take out a ton of loans… I haven’t received my official FAFSA back yet, but the initial estimate said that my EFC was around $20,000.</p>

<p>Skier29- I checked with a few of those schools and it did appear that they would eliminate some of the money they would have given me which is a bummer. I think it’s pretty lame that you get penalized for doing extra work in finding scholarship money for yourself, but I figure by applying for scholarships I can guarantee that I am getting a good amount of money.</p>

<p>Do either of you have any experience with schools that say they will meet “100% of your financial need above the estimated family contribution”? ND and Duke say that they do, but I wonder how much of it is actually met with grants as opposed to loans.</p>

5

<p>From ND website, it looks like at a minimum they include Stafford and Perkins loans in their packages…</p>

<p>I don’t know about Duke.</p>

6

<p>My D is at CMU.</p>

<p>As a high school senior she applied and won scholarships from the Society of Women Engineers (check national and local chapters–many grants – very competitive) and also the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (need to have been and active FIRST Robotics member).</p>

<p>Last year, CMU had cut back merit aid for entering class- the stock market dive impacted their endowment- their new strategy is to spread more money across more people rather than provide as many merit full and half rides as they did two years ago-- their webpage no longer lists several scholarships that were available when my D entered CMU.</p>

<p>There is tons of money for female engineers -more of it for upper level students.</p>

<p>Best of luck with admissions decisions!</p>