Hi,
I am currently a junior (enrolling junior) in high school. Michigan State has caught my eye, but money takes a big toll in my decision for college. I feel like I can get in pretty easy with a 4.02 GPA and not sure about my act score yet, but I’m shooting for a 32 in September. I am a resident of Colorado and have a couple questions. 1. They have a scholarship for Colorado residents, but they don’t have an amount. So what is it? (I know it says varies, but even past winnings would be nice to know) 2. I really want to do well on the ADS test and want to do well. It would be great to get an exact break down on the test and which AP classes helped and which didn’t. (I took AP Human Geo already and will be taking AP Spanish, AP U.S. History, AP English Lang, AP Biology, and possibly AP Macro depending on if I get my electives for this year. Next year I will be taking 9:AP German, AP Government, AP Macro Economics, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Physics . So if I have two years to study for the test what books would be good to read? Any other ways to prepare for the test? What are my chances of getting into MSU? (oh forgot to mention that i’m in 9 national honor societies)
Thank you for your input
@WantFullRides
What is your budget per year for college? Not many universities offer a true full ride (tuition AND room/board) any longer.
I can give you some information about MSU – you can find all of this by googling “Michigan State University merit scholarships”.
You’ll need to get your ACT score up to a 33 to get the best package from MSU. You can improve your test score by studying and taking many practice tests (real previously released ones rather than Princeton Review, Kaplan, etc.) I suggest getting the “The ACT Prep Black Book” and the “The Official ACT Prep Guide”. The black book author details some great test taking strategies, question patterns, and review for the test. He specifically references real test questions contained in the “Official ACT Prep Guide”. A second edition was recently published for the black book, but your could still get by with the old one as the strategies won’t have changed (be sure and pair it with an older version of the official prep guide book). Once you’ve read the black book and reviewed the author’s suggestions – start taking ACT practice tests strictly adhering to the time limits. You can take a section at a time – so don’t worry about trying to find 3 + hours a day to take an entire test. You may find that you are consistently scoring high on a section or two and only need to work at improving one or two other areas. Go to the website “crack act” and you will find previously released ACT tests that you can download and print to use as practice tests. My daughter moved her score from 28 to 33 using the black book and diligent practice testing.
Onto the scholarship information: The best deal for OOS students is the tuition grant (which reduces tuition to the in-state rate). To qualify for the tuition grant you must be admitted to the Honors College and score a 33 on the ACT.
Going to the ADS competition will also provide additional opportunities for possible scholarships. You can’t study for the ADS test – it is really a massively hard and wide-ranging knowledge test – sort of the “mother of all AP tests”. Don’t stress about studying for it.
University of Alabama and University of Mississippi offer generous scholarships at ACT 32 and 33 scores that almost or entirely waive tuition (not just the out-of-state charges). University of Nebraska also offers very attractive merit scholarships for OOS students.
Best of luck!