<p>My son is a pretty good student. 32 ACT, 4.0 UW GPA. Has taken every honors and AP class the school offers, except biology. Will graduate with more credits than his peers. He started high school classes in 8th grade. Plays Football & Baseball which take up lots of time. But not good enough to get an athletic scholarship. Still a year for that though, he is a junior. He wants to go to a top school. He has mentioned Harvard, Stanford, Princeton. We do not qualify for need based scholarship. Those schools do not offer merit scholarships. I am too cheap to pay 50,000 a year for college. So I guess what I am looking for is a school that offers merit scholarships and a top education. I want value. It really rubs me wrong when these top schools just say flat out we dont offer merit based scholarships, so my money and top student will go elsewhere. I dont want a full ride just some acknowledgment and reward for his work and our commitment. He can get a full ride at a state school but he and I dont want to sacrifice education. I really dont know where to turn. I read post in here until 3am this morning but I was hoping for some specific insight from somebody in a similar situation.</p>
<p>Many good Liberal Art Colleges (LACs) offer merit aid for good students with commensurate scores. Examples are Denison, Earlham, Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, Grinnell. Check out US News and World Report on Colleges and colleges that change lives ( <a href="http://www.ctcl.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ctcl.com/</a>)</p>
<p>Did your son do well on the PSAT? If so, there are plenty of schools offering full tuition scholarships for finalists. If you want better schools than those, USouth California is ranked high and offers half-tuition to national merit finalists.</p>
<p>He can retake ACT as many times as he needs to get it a little higher.
ACT of 34-35 brings into the picture possibilities of merit scholarships at top 25 schools (Emory, Vandy, Wustl, UMichigan, CMU, etc.)</p>
<p>You should evaluate how much you are willing to pay for undergrad and go from there. Full-tuition scholarships are hard to get at top schools but half-tuitions are more possible, yet that still leaves the annual cost at over 25K.</p>
<p>Don't be too insulted that there are no merit scholarships at the ivies. Everyone there is a "pretty good student", so if they had them only the most brilliant kids would get them.</p>
<p>He took the SAT in December and didnt do so hot. 570 writing 700 math 560 writing. He will take it again. He walked in cold turkey with no prep. HE had a 22 on the ACT when he was 12 and was in the top 1% of TIP. He looks to increase the ACT next time. He got the results this time so he could identify weak areas. His ACT was , 35 science, 33 math, 32 reading, 28 English. </p>
<p>We are in Lexington, Kentucky. He is considering Centre College as a backup. He will get 10,000 in merit awards from the State of KY but they have to be used in an instate school. Centre is local. USC is a possibility. I grew up in LA myself. </p>
<p>He was thinking about going into Law or business but got an idea today to go into engineering then he could pursue an MBA or LAW degree in graduate school. So Purdue is an option. </p>
<p>The other variable is he does want to attend a top school for his graduate degree so we need to pick a school that these top schools will consider students from. </p>
<p>I dont mind paying half. Even half at Stanford or Harvard would be acceptable. I dont want to pay full tuition anywhere. I have another coming rightb ehind him but i think he will be satisfied with U of Kentucky. He is also 4.0 student.</p>
<p>Washington University at St. Louis is a great school that offers full tuition scholarships, but they're very hard to get. </p>
<p>If he wants to do engineering he can also try Olin or Cooper Union. None of them charge any tuition.</p>
<p>He will not get any merit award from any ivy, actually it is very likely he won't even get in to an ivy with a better act/sat score or whatev. It is very much chance w/ those. He will get mail from them though, and that's semi-exciting.</p>
<p>I have very similar stats and I'm applying to OSU, OU, miami u ohio (already accepted, honors programs. scholarships) There is nothing wrong with a good education from a state school. Look at some states other than Kentucky. OU knocks off the cost of in-state tuition for a 32 act. OSU does a Buckeye Plus scholarship for out-of-state kids w/ good stats that your son would likely qualify for. I've also applied to Kenyon, Oberlin, Denison, and Case which are privates that offer merit scholarships. All of them IMO are very good schools and I would be glad to go to any one of them.</p>
<p>Tons of lac across the country offer great to fantastic merit awards. Just need to spend a little time online and search.</p>
<p>He has been getting brochures from Washington U in St Louis. Olin & Cooper Union were unknown until now. They look interesting. Just visited their web pages. Thanks for that info. </p>
<p>He gets no less than 1O brochures a week and has been for 2 years now. Ever since he got a 30 on the ACT his freshman year. Does this mean anything? West Point sent a couple and I tried to push him in that direction. Its free and would teach him some self discipline. Doesnt every father think their son should have more self discipline? :-)</p>
<p>"Ever since he got a 30 on the ACT his freshman year. Does this mean anything?"</p>
<p>No- the fact that he is getting lots of mail doesn't mean much. And the colleges will never see that he got a 30 on the ACT in 9th grade. </p>
<p>Another school for him to consider would be University of Rochester.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. Everyone who takes a test gets buttloads of mail from everywhere.</p>
<p>chuck, search this site on my name + merit aid. Limit it to threads started or parent's forum. That will keep you busy all night long. ;) </p>
<p>Centre is an excellent school BTW. That's one heck of a safety (Top 50 LAC) . Scholarships for 1/2 tuition or better at Centre are very difficult to get (and not a given at a 32 by a long shot) . After you read some threads feel free to p.m. me.</p>
<p>Try these Chuck:</p>
<p>Check out Hendrix College. They offer great aid(even to the point of guaranteeing $1000 just for turning in your FAFSA early!) and (supposedly) a great and highly underrated liberal arts education (I'm visiting later this month to interview for a potential full-ride scholarship!) Not that I even need it, though, since they already offered me $23000 a year just straight off the bat. And my stats are similar to your son's. Basically, their fin. aid is amazing.</p>
<p>Luxar, Hendrix is a great school. Enjoy your Hays Weekend. Splashmom's kid is there and having a great time. I'm sure you could p.m. her for some more info.</p>
<p>Luxar great job!!
[quote]
And my stats are similar to your son's.
[/quote]
But I looked at your stats on an Emory thread and your stats are a good deal higher than the OP's son. A 1520/2320 with a couple of 750+ Subject tests is pretty stout stuff. In fact your prelimary Pre-Hays weekend award , if all merit, is the highest I have heard of by a good bit. Y'all both have the guy thing going for you, which don't fool yourself - it helps a bunch at schools wrestling with an overabundance gals.</p>
<p>Well he does have a strong ACT (32 is nothing to sneeze at), and a 4.0 GPA w/ the toughest course load his school has to offer. I think that can definitely be considered 'similar'. And I may need to check the amount of money they gave me, since I just checked the tuition for Hendrix and it's right at 23k/year. I don't recall receiving full tuition, so it may be a couple thousand less(still a great handful for not filling out extra essays/forms, though).</p>
<p>I'm seriously afraid of the Hays interview...giving a 15-minute presentation in front of three critical strangers before being grilled for another 15 minutes? Talk about nerve-wracking haha.</p>
<p>If your son is interested in a LAC, Denison University is pretty generous with merit scholarships. They offered my son $30K per year. Nice folks there, too!</p>
<p>My sons best friend is looking hard at Rhodes so he may also. Hanover has been sending tons of literature, like every week. But that doesnt mean anything. Also he may be taking some classes at Georgetown College next year. He only needs one credit to graduate and that will be AP-European History. </p>
<p>Let me ask this question. Is it really worth paying 200,000 to go to a top school when you consider a U of K education would be basically free. And then is the difference in an education at say a Centre, Rhodes or Purdue worth paying 100,000 for over a free UK education. I have a UK education and I probably make more than most grads from an IVY. I didnt go through any of this. i decided one day while watching the 84 Olympics i didnt want to be a meat cutter for the rest of my life. I was 22. Went down to UK and told them I wanted to go to school. This was in July. I started that fall. Graduated with distinction in 4 years while working full time. So I have no experience looking for a college, or helping my kids look. </p>
<p>What is EA and ED mean? </p>
<p>I read those threads and did the search you asked me to. Almost seems as if the idea of a merit scholarship is a pipe dream. I dont consider a merit scholarship as aid. I consider it earned. You earned something the schools want. Maybe not as many as I once thought. I cant understand our society thinking we should give our whole lives and income to a school for our kids. Might be the greatest rip off out there. Using our desire to do well for our kids to extort the most money they can. </p>
<p>I guess the right game plan for us is to pick the schools he is interested in and apply. Maybe 1 or 2 of the top, Stanford, Princton or Harvard just to try it, 6-8 of the good merit schools such as Purdue, USCal, Emory, He talks about NYU also, then Centre, Rhodes, Hanover or similar. Then the good ole stand by Uof Kentucky. And just see what happens and take the best deal, if any. Is this how it works?</p>