please help with full-ride scholarships?

Paying for College
1

<p>My parents don't want me to go far from home, but maybe they will if I get a full scholarship from a school. Are there any good science or engineering colleges that would be likely to offer me much academic scholarship money?</p>

<p>Info: female HS junior at catholic school
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.36 weighted. School doesn't calculate class rank.
ACT: 32, 33 superscore
AP: 5 on APUSH; currently in chem, comp, psych; will take calc, bio, lit
Honors Classes: bio, composition, geometry, algebra II, trig/precalc, american lit, spanish, chemistry, physics
Athletics: 2 year freshman/jv volleyball, 4 year varsity tennis
Extra: 2.5 years working at a vets office, .5 years at a dog grooming place, 5 years babysitting, 1 year (current year) in debate club, 2 years in NHS, 1 year in habitat for humanity, roughly 50ish hours of community service through youth soccer program and tutoring</p>

<p>What do you recommend I do to increase my chances?</p>

2

<p>You might want to look at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island. My DS was offered a full ride Presidential Scholarship there last year (although he did not take it).
They also have scholarships for females interested in engineering and science. Here’s a link:
[Stony</a> Brook Undergraduate Bulletin - Spring*2011 - Scholarships](<a href=“http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/bulletin/current/policiesandregulations/scholarships_honors_awards/scholarships.php]Stony”>http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/bulletin/current/policiesandregulations/scholarships_honors_awards/scholarships.php)</p>

<p>Are you likely to be a NMSF?</p>

<p>ETA: You should take note of the deadline for applications. I believe it was December 1st last year.</p>

3

<p>^^All of the SUNYs offer that Presidential scholarship - that’s a great suggestion. They don’t give out a lot of them, but they are out there. </p>

<p>Are you a NY resident?</p>

4

<p>The OP is from Michigan. University of South Carolina offers the McNair Scholarship to high achieving high school students. It’s a full ride scholarship. U of SC has a fine engineering program.</p>

<p>You might also want to look at U of Alabama…another place where you might get some significant aid.</p>

5

<p>strawberry, did you take the PSAT??</p>

6

<p>No, i live in MI.
I took the PSAT and was in the 94th percentile. I don’t know if that means i’m eligible for national merit.</p>

7

<p>^Looks like last year the cutoff for MI was 209.</p>

8

<p>I believe you have to be 99th percentile for National Merit Semifinalist.</p>

9

<p>Also, try University of Alabama. You may be able to get a full ride there based on your stats and they have a good engineering program.</p>

10

<p>Bama would give free tuition (including OOS tuition) plus 2500 per year for engineering majors. </p>

<p>So, if your parents are willing to pay for you to go to a local college, that amount plus these two scholarships would probably cover all your costs.</p>

11

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Older, but still full of scholarship locating research strategies:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and still more:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/143944-master-list-full-near-full-tuition-merit-10.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/143944-master-list-full-near-full-tuition-merit-10.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>Illinois Institute of Technology is very generous.</p>

13

<p>To add to Thumper1’s post on The University of South Carolina’s (“USC”) McNair Scholarship:</p>

<p>1) 41 students a year are named McNair Finalists, which means that you are guaranteed in-state tuition + $11,000 a year as long as you attend the McNair Finalist Scholarship Weekend.</p>

<p>2) USC’s target is to enroll 20 McNairs a year. To generate this yield out of the 41, a quantity in excess of 20 offers are extended.</p>

<p>3) McNair Scholarship winners get in-state tuition + $15,000 a year, plus a laptop. It is close to a full-boat because in-state tuition for 2010-11 is about $16-17 thousand a year. There are other perks for the McNairs and McNair Finalists.</p>

<p>4) The last published median Critical Reading + Math SAT score for McNair winners that I have been able to find is 1478, from 2007.</p>

<p>The following information on USC might also be relevant:</p>

<p>1) Last weekend, USC had an open-house for high school seniors who have been awarded four-year merit scholarships. About 2,000 seniors showed up. Many, and perhaps most, are out-of-state. Many of the scholarships are modest; for example, $2,000 a year. However, it is the accompanying in-state tuition that is so valuable. Several of the recipients mentioned to me that it would be cheaper to attend USC than their own in-state flagship university. Of the 2,000, I do not know USC’s expected yield. </p>

<p>2) USC has an excellent Honors College, with a 2009 median CR + Math SAT score of 1404 and median weighted GPA of 4.5. I believe that every out-of-state Honors College student is awarded one of the four-year merit scholarships and in-state tuition. I believe that the Honors College offers admission to about 500 students a year, to generate a yield of about 300. </p>

<p>3) Check out the USC website for information on the Honors College. It is very impressive, including the state-of-the art Honors Residence, complete with dining hall, snack bar and Honors College classrooms. The Honors College is snagging students who are turned off with the expense of schools such as Vanderbilt.</p>