Need Help with Picking Out the Right Colleges!

Hello!
So basically I am a junior and with the start of 2021, I realized that I really need to start working on a college list. I’ve managed to pick out a few things that are really important to me and was wondering for any suggestions as to which colleges would check off the items on the list below?

  • Offer full-ride scholarships (tuition, room, and board) that I would be competitive for. (I have a 35 ACT and 4.0 with solid extracurriculars, (a few leadership positions in school clubs, 200+ volunteer hours at a local nonprofit, and three years of the same sport) but nothing really special (no national awards or anything)). SUPER IMPORTANT!

  • Good school to go to for pre-law. I plan to major in either History or International Relations, but the end goal is to go to law school (which is why #1 is so important to me, I don’t want to go into crazy debt or anything)

  • Has creative writing classes (I LOVE to write and so having the option to take a writing class is a plus)

  • Not in a huge metropolitan area (anywhere that’s smaller than say Las Vegas is fine, but I would really love living in a college town)

  • Is somewhat prestigious. I’m not really concerned with prestige that much, I just want to make sure that whatever school I end up going to would allow me to get into a good law school (so like preferably a school with an acceptance rate anywhere between 20-75%)

  • Either a small school (with 6,000 undergrads or less) or a school that has an honors program with 6,000 undergrads or less. I don’t really want to get lost in the crowd.

  • Coed

  • Decent Social Life (the school has a football team and greek life)

That’s about it, my main things are really 1) how little will it cost me? and 2) will it provide oppurtunities/set me up for placement into a good law school? I’ve already picked out a couple of schools that I like (University of Alabama and UNC-CH) but I’m really looking to expand my list. All suggestions are welcome and thank you so much for your help!

Take a look at W&L

I’d say maybe some of the Jesuit universities but no football there (but some good basketball teams). Loyola, Marquette, SLU, Creighton, Gonzaga.

Have you taken the PSAT? I think some schools are testing in January? Being a National Merit Scholar opens some doors to scholarships. There are a lot of people on this board more familiar than I am with the process.

@1Lotus No, I’m planning on taking it in January, but I have looked at some schools that offer full-rides to Finalists

@eb23282 @2plustrio thanks so much for your suggestions!

Check out Miami of OH, you would automatically qualify for high merit aid and would be a good candidate for Presidential Fellows Program (a full ride program). I know several people who’ve gone there for undergrad and gone on to law school, with one in particular who went to Georgetown and is now a state congress member for Ohio. Oxford is a great college town and the honors college would be a great opportunity.

SMU enrolls 20 presidential scholars per year but is in a large city.

Alabama admits nearly everyone from our public HS but it has a great program for NMS and is certainly a fun college town.

If you have pretty substantial need, and therefore need a full-ride, you can go with lots of need-blind schools.

@ohioansenior2021 Thanks! I’ll be sure to check it out!

@tristatecoog I’m in that weird income bracket where my family makes too much to qualify for aid but too little to pay 30k+ a year, so that’s why I’m looking for full rides. And thanks for the suggestion, I’m going to go google it right now!

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What’s your EFC?
Have you run the NPC on "meet need"colleges? Typically, up to 180K income, you would pay about the same as for your flagship.
Full tuition scholarships are difficult to get but full rides are even rarer and more competitive. Would full tuition scholarship sufffice?

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@MYOS1634 My EFC depends on the school, but for most privates (I’ve run the net price calculator on ND, W&L, and Wake Forest) it tends to be about 30k-35k which is more than my parents can afford. And as for full tuition, I would probably have to get a job during college to pay for room and board and I would rather save the money for law school, however I have looked at some schools with full tuition (Utah State University for example) and I’m open to them as well. Do you have any suggestions of schools with full tution scholarships?

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What can your parents afford?
Hopefully they can afford about 10K from income (under $1,000 a month toward your college). Then you have federal loans (5.5k), any savings your parents may have for your college, any savings you may have from a job.
If you’re NMSF then your quest becomes easier but you cannot count on it and full rides have become rare.

@MYOS1634 My parents really can’t afford a lot and I would rather they contribute to grad school then undergrad so that’s why I’m looking at big merit scholarships. And yeah, I’m realy hoping that I get a good score on the PSAT because it seems like that’s the easiest way to get a lot of money for college.

Looking for schools who promise to meet demonstrated needs without a loan, if you cannot get full-ride scholarship (careful, not full-tuition scholarship).

When you graduate college you’re on your own. You’re officially an independent.
Before you apply to law school, you’ll be an adult, have a job and (probably) an apartment with roommates, pay your bills, etc. It’d be odd for your parents to contribute to law school – although, of course, if they do, it’d be awesome.
But their responsibility is to you, the 18 year old who cannot get a good job yet, rather than to the 25 year old you who’ll be an independent and should be able to save his salary.
So, I’m not sure it makes sense for them to “save” for your law school rather than your college. It makes sense though for you to be considerate and not get into debt (nor ask them to sign Parent PLUS loans or co-sign loans for you.)

What’s the typical NMSF cutoff in your state and what was your score? (Wasn’t it released already?)

U Utah, Miami Ohio, U Cincinnati, Temple, App State, Ole Miss, U New Mexico all have merit scholarships that are worth investigating.

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hey raye, you are doing great so far with your schooling and accomplishments! Well done to you! hoping that PSAT comes through for you; as you’ll have some national merit options.

my kid graduated last year. he had similar EFC and similar but not quite as high stats (34/3.95). He looked all over for full-tuition schools; we found no automatic full-ride opportunities.

He did not apply for any special scholarship opportunities or honors programs (except one program at our state U that he did not get). He ended up with two full-tuition offers, and two schools that ended up with tuition around 2K$. We wanted him to go for Merit because we have 4 kids. He LOVES where he is (Alabama). He wanted colorado school of mines, but we just couldnt do it.

your results may vary, but I just want to say full rides are hard to come by, and to put that bug in your ear now. But I do think you’ll have some good options, and maybe you’ll put more effort into special applications than he wanted to! (his top auto merit offers included arizona, texas tech, nebraska and miami of ohio. University of Utah also had some good opps for people in his zone if i remember right). keep up your good work! ** and editing to add, florida state gave him in-state tuition; which to a kid from frozen midwest tundra was so exciting and slightly considered, but their engineering programs weren’t what he wanted.

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There are a few schools that offer full ride and many offer full-tuition for NMF. Not so much for 35 ACT and 4.0 GPA.

So your best bet is becoming National Merit Finalist or if it’s too late then try for a 36 ACT.

@MYOS1634 I wasn’t able to take the October PSAT because of COVID, so I’m planning on taking the January PSAT, but I was able to take the Dec SAT and I got a 1510, so I’m planning on submitting that (using the alternate entry form) if the January test gets canceled. My state’s cutoff is around 220. And yes, it would make more sense for my parents to pay for my undergrad but as far as I can tell, there are way more scholarships for undergrad then law so I’m just trying to do my best to figure out a way to end up with as little debt as possible. And thanks for those suggestions, I’ll be sure to take a look!

@bgbg4us Alabama is top of my list right now so it’s good to know that someone with similar stats was able to get in! And thanks for your suggestions, I’m on the East Coast so a lot of the schools that you mentioned are new to me; I’ll be sure to check those out!

@ttb1263 Do you know of any particular schools/scholarships where getting a 36 is a requirement? Most of the schools that I’m looking at tend to offer the same amount of money to students with an ACT between 34-36; the only school I can think of where getting a 36 would allow me to get substantially more money is Alabama’s Presidential Elite Scholarship but that seems like a lot of work (studying and then retaking the ACT) for a scholarship that only one student gets.

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Yup. I was thinking Alabama’s Presidential elite scholarship.

Since you’re chasing merit and still have time for a couple ACT sittings, having a 36 score may boost your chances for a couple of full ride scholarships or close to it like UMD’s Banneker-Key or UofSC’s Top Scholars scholarships.

Here’s the deal: acceptance rate does not matter. To be competitive for law school you want to be the top of the class- whether at Harvard or your state university. For schools that offer full tuition scholarships that you could be competitive for with either small honors colleges or small populations:

  • Clemson (large school but small honors college)
  • Duke
  • Emory University (my tip: seriously look into this one)
  • University of Rochester
  • Clarkson (small school w/ very small honors college)
  • Wake Forest University (also really look into this one!)
  • Vanderbilt
    If you are a National Merit Semifinalist
  • University of Miami in Ohio
  • UMaine
  • Tulane University
  • Fordham
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Valid points but some of these do NOT check boxes on the wish list of the poster … particularly “college town” and presence of “football team & Greek life”. Several of these not so much.

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