merit scholarships

Paying for College
1

<p>I'm a rising high school senior. My parents recently played with the calculators of several colleges that I want to apply. We found out we probably won't be able to get any need based scholarship. My family is not rich. We are just not poor enough. You guys probably have some experience to make suggestions to me to apply for some merit scholarship. I tried nordstrom scholarship but didn't get it. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions for scholarships. I have perfect GPA, rank high in my school. Good SAT and SAT subjects, good ECs and community service. Thanks very much in advance. </p>

2

<p>Even a little bit of scholarship for books and my pocket money will at least make me feel better.</p>

3

<p>What do you want to study? What is your budget, i.e. how much aid do you need?</p>

4

<p>What state do you live in; are you likely to be National Merit, how far from home are you prepared to go?</p>

5

<p>If you are down south, Tulane and University of Alabama offer some great merit scholarships</p>

6

<p>For,I’m sure, the latest updates try the “Schools known for good merit aid” thread. I think it has over 1.3k posts since 2005. The latest on June 3.</p>

7

<p>

Most merit-based scholarships are coming from the schools. Four schools for you to consider:
See <a href=“http://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html”>http://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html&lt;/a&gt;
Also <a href=“http://admissions.buffalo.edu/costs/scholarships.php”>http://admissions.buffalo.edu/costs/scholarships.php&lt;/a&gt;
Or <a href=“http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial-aid/undergrads/#tab3”>http://enrollment.rochester.edu/financial-aid/undergrads/#tab3&lt;/a&gt;
Or <a href=“http://www.syr.edu/financialaid/scholarships/su_scholarships.html”>http://www.syr.edu/financialaid/scholarships/su_scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For more see <a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

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<p>

A job isn’t adequate for that?</p>

9

<p>Yes, in general your best bet is to find college-based scholarships. They last for 4 years, if GPA ok.</p>

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<p>How much is your family able (willing) to pay for each year of college? If the answer is $40K, then scholarships to fill in the difference are practical at a significant number of $55K schools. OTOH, if your family can realistically only pay $20K/year, very few of those schools are likely to come across with $35K a year – a very, very different problem that might cause you to include some of the publics that give very large merit scholarships. </p>

<p>What are you considering for a major?
How good are your ACT/SAT scores? (These tend to be very important for most big scholarships.)
What regions of of the country are of interest? </p>

11

<p>I’m considering things like business, or IR.
My SATs are good. (3 perfect subject tests and close to perfect SAT I) However, my PSAT was significantly lower than my SAT. (PSAT 220. not enough for my state NMF, I’m sure.) </p>

<p>My family is willing to pay whatever I need. But believe me, we are not rich. It’s just we don’t spend money on other things that other people do. </p>

12

<p>220 is high enough for NMSF in all but 6 states last year. <a href=“http://www.collegeplanningsimplified.com/NationalMerit.html”>http://www.collegeplanningsimplified.com/NationalMerit.html&lt;/a&gt; The bar doesn’t generally move too many points from year to year.</p>

<p>You have a number of good threads referenced above with scholarship opportunities. Try the financial aid forum.</p>

13

<p>With near perfect SAT scores and high grades/rank, you can find a lot of colleges that will offer you generous merit aid-- from 1/2 to full tuition and even up to full rides. Your best chance for large scholarships will be score/gpa-based scholarships through the colleges themselves. Where are you now and what states/regions/schools are you willing to go to? Many schools that offer big money are not the top ranked schools, but still have good programs. Look at the Merit Aid threads mentioned above. Go to the websites of any schools you might consider and look at their scholarship pages. Many websites will state a range or specific amount you can receive according to your SAT scores. </p>

14

<p>If you’re planning to study business these are the schools that have good business schools and give good merit aid, some even full ride:
Emory, WashU, Bentley, Umich, Babson, northeastern
UNC Chappell hill is Relatively inexpensive and great for business.
University of Alabama will give you full ride </p>

<p>It all depends on how far you want to go from home. </p>

15

<p>

UA does not give full rides. Students can qualify for full tuition, or if they are NM, they receive 5 yr worth of tuition and freshman yr housing, plus some additional benefits. <a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Since UA allows stacking of scholarships, there are ways to earn a full-ride, but it takes competing and searching for their other scholarship opportunities.</p>

16

<p>I’m in Maryland. I probably will miss NMSF by a few points.
But thank you all for the suggestions. I’ll check the merit scholarship thread.</p>