Please help!

Colleges & Universities A-Z American University
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<p>I’m having a major problem that just flared up here so I would really appreciate any advice. I posted this on the College Search board as well.</p>

<p>I’m a high school senior and I applied to a bunch of schools, etc. this past year. However, I planned to defer from the beginning because I’m going to Germany next year as an exchange student. I got into some schools I liked, but I had to turn them down because I would be in major debt. So I deferred to Whitman, which gave me a large scholarship, and also University of Washington Honors is holding a spot for me because I couldn’t really decide.</p>

<p>The reason I am putting off my decision until maybe December of this year is because while I really like the campus life of Whitman, and the sense of community, I won’t have to borrow ANY money to go to UW. Also, Whitman doesn’t have an international relations/studies major, which is what I want to do–I would probably just do poli-sci.</p>

<p>However, I was thinking about it yesterday and I realized, I really really really do not want to go to a school where I already know everyone. </p>

<p>So I started thinking, should I apply to colleges with good merit aid this coming year?</p>

<p>I have NO idea what to do, I can’t decide if I should go through all this–and then I wouldn’t even be able to visit any of them before making my decision. But I just don’t know how happy I would be at UW or Whitman. There’s a bunch of people I know going to Whitman from my school, including my best friend, and I would really like to just get away.</p>

<p>Sorry this is so long and convoluted, I’m not really thinking straight haha.</p>

<p>And if anyone reading this is still a junior or below, consider first BEFORE applying to a bunch of schools if you can even afford to go there—I have a lot of regrets right now.</p>

<p>But I would appreciate any advice—should I even think about doing this?? American would quite possibly be my number one school in this situation, and are the scholarships EXTREMELY hard to get? Also, I’ve always had all As but this semester I will probably have 2 Bs which I know will look bad. Alright thank you!!!</p>

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<p>AU is very good with merit aid. Their decision process is also very mechanical. If you have a good GPA with a rigorous curriculum and a high SAT, you should get a scholarship. </p>

<p>As always there are exceptions to that, and some people get financial aid instead of scholarships. </p>

<p>I would go ahead and apply to American. If you apply online, there is no application fee. If you don't want to write a new essay, then apply through common app where you can use any old essay. So applying to AU won't be any actual extra work or cost any money. You should give it a shot.</p>

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<p>bravesboy what kind of essays does AU ask for?</p>

<p>Also, estrella, I wish you good luck in the future. You sound like a good student. I'm sure you will do fine no matter what college you choose. :-)</p>

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<p>it's a common app essay
which means
there's always a topic of your choice
uh.. evaluate an experience was one of them</p>

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<p>So AU lets you choose between topics they made and a topic you can make up yourself?</p>

<p>Can I write an essay about anything? Any length?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice. My grades went down this semester so my chances at a scholarship are low, but here's hoping!</p>

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<p>just check the commonapp website and you'll find out
i think the max is 500 words?</p>

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<p>They say 500 words, but most people go over. My essay was 700 something. If you keep it interesting, you can do significantly more than 500 words.</p>