Hello,
I would really appreciate some help as I am kind of stuck.
I am a rising senior.
I have a 3.3 gpa.For sophmore and Junior year I have had a 4.0-- most of these were honors classes –
but freshman year I had a 1.3 (i essentially failed every class)
I have a 1490 on the SAT (760 reading and 730 math)
lots of extracurriculars lots of community service
my family lives in NYC and is not elligible for any financial aid – but can only provide 10,000 $ in support each year
I am trying to figure out what to do –
right now i am looking at liberal arts schools in the Northeast where I could have a shot at getting an almost full scholarship –
right now clark is on my list
as well as
ursinus
allegheny
there are so many schools to sort through that im not quite sure how to go about everything
does anyone have some suggestions of schools i should research?
There are lots of threads on this site about merit. Do some searching and you should find them. I would put the SUNY schools on the top of your list. They are good schools and will be the lowest cost to you right off the bat. If you can get some merit, they might be in your range. I think full rides with a 3.3 in the Northeast are going to be very hard to come to by.
The max merit aid on Ursinus is $30,000 and Allegheny is $29,000, and they are two of the best we found as far as merit for a good student. I agree with @NJWrestlingmom that you should definitely look at your instate options. My daughter looked at SUNY Geneseo–seems like a great school and it has a beautiful campus.
what do you think of schools like university of pittsburgh and university of delaware
all have high acceptance rates and offer up to full scholarships
also – I am a british citizen
does anyone know of any inexpensive schools in the UK that might be worthwhile applying to
I looked at Durham and St Andrews – but both are in the vicinity of 30,000$ a year
Are you a dual British-US citizen, do you have a green card, or do you have some other immigration status? That will affect whether or not you are eligible for federal and state financial aid, whther you are considered an in-state resident, and whether or not you need to apply as an international applicant.
I don’t want to be a downer but you will not find a full scholarship at those stats. There is nothing wrong with your stats,but full rides are very limited, anywhere and private liberal arts schools have high sticker prices to start with so even a generous scholarship may at best put them at the same price as an in state school.
You may recieve both Ursinus and Allgehny’s top awards but that isn’t a full scholarship, it’s just the max they give. Both will still be in the upper 20’s to mid 30’s after the award, looking at the total cost to attend (travel, books etc). Clark is likely to be more. If your parents can contribute 10k per year, you will be eligible to take the max federal loans of $5500. You can work in the summer and save, as well as during the year. Realistically that puts your max budget at about maybe 18K to be safe.
You need to look for a school that can come in at that number, or less. Full scholarships anywhere are very hard to get, and limited. A CUNY or SUNY is likely to be by far your most affordable option.
Even with Dual citizenship you’d have to deal with travel costs and yes, most will be in the 30K range. They also have very specific admission and application requirements which can be a bit tough to navigate.
First, congratulations on turning things around. That’s really the most important thing. Feel very proud of that.
Yes, SUNY/CUNY schools will be the first place to look. Find a couple that are a good fit for you and see how you do with financial aid.
I like to link the below chart for the Miami of Ohio. Note these scholarships require a 3.5 GPA to be considered, so they might not consider you. But if your UW GPA is 3.3 overall and 4.0 for the last two years, well, maybe you could open a conversation with the school’s admissions rep for your area (available on the admissions website) and see if they would consider you after two strong years. I can’t be encouraging on that, but, to my mind, it’s worth a well-considered, well-worded, positive, forward-looking email, but really only if those GPA numbers are UW.
Your SAT would put you on the top line, so that would be great.
Note also that these numbers only make a student eligible for this aid, they don’t guarantee it. Also note the early deadline to be considered for merit aid. That is true at some other schools as well.
You might also google “colleges that meet full financial need” and “colleges that change lives.” You’d be a strong candidate at many of the CTCLs. They often give aid, just not sure if it would be enough.
You will not get low enough at the smaller private colleges like the CTCL schools, unless there happens to be a competitive full tuition award that you can win.
My D had a similar SAT, 4.0/4.6, and nice ECs. We went through the search during the last admission cycle, and nearly all those LACs ended up above $28K with their top awards.
So D will be starting at a very good instate option instead of a small LAC, with a merit award that exceeds tuition. It took us all time to get used to the idea, but we made a lot of trips and in the end we could objectively say, the instate option is just as nice as any school we’d seen and she’ll get through debt free.
You could look at U of Toledo, UAH, St. Vincent in Latrobe, PA. Besides instate, those were some of the best net costs we identified. The Ohio University Honors Tutorial College might be worth a shot, too.
I’m not sure what kinds of awards Rowan, Stockton, and Ramapo offer OOS but they might be worth an application if you want to stay in the Northeast.
@ponquoque looks for SUNY’s that also offer an Honors College. I know Albany has one, I’m sure others do as well. That will help to create a smaller group within the school to help give you more of the LAC feel within the larger university.
If OP is considered a NYS resident then the cost of a SUNY will be ~$22k. If they’re not, the cost will be ~$30k. The parents can only contribute $10k. If OP isn’t a US citizen they won’t be able to take the federal student loan, so their gap will be ~$12k-20k/year. Commuting to a CUNY may be an option, but I think covering the cost of a SUNY might be difficult.
Ursinus is a wonderful school, but I think their largest merit scholarship is the Zacharias at $40K. Tuition, room and board costs for the coming year are approx. $65K. Books, travel costs, health insurance (if needed) would be in addition to the $65K.
Full tuition/full ride scholarships are very rare to find in the Northeast, and are even less likely without tippy top stats.
Rowan University in NJ was generous with merit aid when my youngest D applied several years ago, but it still would have cost 15K the first year. It is not a LAC, but has a lot to offer and I think it is on the rise, with a lot of investment and growth happening. One of my Ds was offered 80%tuition merit at Providence College in Rhode Island back in 2014, but was still too expensive for us, and her stats were higher than yours.
With a budget of 10K, your NY state schools are definitely your best bet , and you are extremely lucky to live in a state with so many great options. You can always move out of NYS down the road for a job or grad school. Your undergrad years will go by in the blink of eye:)
Could you please answer the question about your citizenship?
Some of these suggestions will NOT apply to you if you are not a U.S. citizen. Some colleges don’t give any aid to folks who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents (green card holders). Some colleges give only limited aid.
So what’s your citizenship status??
And if you do NOT hold U.S. citizenship, what visa are you currently here on?
Even SUNY schools have varying policies…from the SUNY website…
thank you all
to answer a few questions –
I am a dual citizen @happymomof1 I have a passport – but no residency there (have never visited either) @thumper1 I am a US citizen (my family lives at NYC but I am at boarding school in northeast)
my PSAT score was 1450 @DiotimaDM
Have you worked with your guidance counselor on grade replacement for those F’s in 9th grade? Often they stay on the transcript but aren’t in the gpa. It might help a little.