Looking for top-ranking universities which ALSO provide merit scholarships ( not financial aid base). Any such universities? What’s the most efficient way to search?
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Not sure what your barometer is for top ranking, but my son just got a full ride merit scholarship at Troy University.
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Congratulations!
based on the most recent WSJ ranking
I think she means is, what is your concept of “top ranking”? Because if it’s top 20, merit isn’t going to happen. If it’s top 100, possibilities exist.
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Got you. I guess top 50
How much do you need? What’s your budget?
Do you need some merit or full ride?
What are your stats? GPA and SAT
Certainly the best way is more of a manual exercise. What schools are you interested in? What major? Geographic preference?
Once you start developing your list you can do a few things. First check out their website for published info (some will be very specific (XX GPA + XX SAT = XX $$) others will be more vague and give a range. Second is pull op the schools common data set. Look at the section on Fin Aid especially H2A (non-need based scholarships and grants). From here you can get an idea about what you might qualify for based on your grades and test scores.
So if the school has a range of $5K-$35 listed for it’s “presidential scholarship” on the website and an average of 18K on the common data set and you are in the top 25% of the student profile you have the potential to grab the max, if you are more in the bottom, then you might get $0.
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@Elite_Hutman not enough info from you…
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Are you saying you won’t qualify for need based aid?
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What are your stats…GPA and SAT or ACT (Even though many schools are still going test optional). This will give us an idea of where you are competitive or admissions…because that is the first bar you need to reach.
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Are you a U.S. citizen or permanent resident?
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How much can your family contribute annually to your college costs?
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There are strands on CC that have the info you are looking for, but all will tell you to go beyond the T50. Look at honors colleges within a larger public U with merit or colleges that are a great fit for your child with Merit.
Here is one list:
And this one is by region of the US:
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You’ve given no info - but in general your best scholarships (for the normal student) will be Bama, UAH, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, MS State, Ole Miss and then regional type schools - Troy, SIU, etc.
Privates that are aggressive are Hendrix, Ogelthorpe, Bradley, Hofstra.
But we don’t know anything about you as a student to know what/where might be great.
Who has great merit?
Likely your in-state community college because many go for free.
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I think a better question might be, “Which schools do not offer merit aid?” Schools such as Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice, WashU, USC all offer very competitive merit scholarships. You need to be the top of the top and you are evaluated on much more than just your stats.
We chased merit last year for S21
S21 Stats
3.5 unweighted 4.0+ ( don’t quite remember) weighted
Test Optional except Florida schools
7 APs about a dozen honors. Electives 4 yrs Engineering ( Industry Certs Marstercam, Autocad, Fusion) 4 yrs DECA (Finished 4th in states highest finish)
Officer in Student Club, Youth soccer coach
Pitt, FSU, Penn State, no merit
Iowa, Marquette, ASU, SLU Madrid, UCD ( University College Dublin), Loyola Chicago, DePaul, Miami Ohio, Seton Hall. They all gave nice merit packages from about 1/3 to over 1/2 tuition.
Decided on FSU. Even with merit couldn’t beat instate Florida tuition and was a good fit for him
Poly Sci, International Relations major.
School located in Capital City for internships and excellent study abroad program, (Studying First Year Abroad at their study center in Italy).
Hope this helps S21 started out wanting to study in an Urban area (his top requirement) at beginning of admission process or traditional big school. (2nd choice if not urban campus). He also wanted to study abroad and was looking at schools abroad as well. After all of his acceptances His 2 top choices were FSU and Penn State.
FSU does have merit for OOS. up to paying instate tuition