Possibility of a Full Ride?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi, this is a repost from Search and Selection, I think this is a more appropriate place to post.</p>

<hr>

<p>Ok, so here is the deal:</p>

<p>Primary School of Choice: UCB</p>

<p>Secondary: anywhere(decent) where I could get a full ride.</p>

<p>What are my chances of getting full rides for a Chemical Engineer major, at any of the UC's besides Berkeley(that of course is out of the question) and any other decent schools.</p>

<p>I was always bent on Berkeley, but my brother, who is a grad student there tells me not to bother attending the school due to prestige for undergrad and try to find a place which will give me a full ride.</p>

<p>So here are my stats:</p>

<p>Russian Citizen(moved to USA in 2001)
Male
Could be considered 1/4 Middle Eastern and 3/4 Slavic
Bilingual, obviously. Learning Spanish... fairly competent.</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0 Weighted 4.27</p>

<p>AP and Honours: Taken:Lit 2H, Alg2H, Spanish 2H, Lit 3 AP, Calc AB, Art History AP, Span 3H, Chem H.
Next Year: Calc BC, AP Gov, Lit 4 AP, AP Span, AP Bio, AP Chem</p>

<p>I am ranked 1/430</p>

<p>SAT: Nothing to brag bout, imo, I'm retaking them
SATII: have a good chance at perfect/close to perfect in math, chem and physics</p>

<p>Awards/Honours
AP scholar with honor
AIME AND AMC12
Future valedictorian (if not sabotaged by an eccentric B)
Student of the month for science in 9th grade lmao... so nothing special
Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award</p>

<p>EC:
Member of CSF 1 year done and 1 more year to go, Chess Club 3yrs , planning to join some community service type of ec next year.
Planning to found chem club, math club, co-found science club.
Played Guitar for 3 years
Cycling and running for hobbies, dabble in tennis a bit
Computer assembly and usage
Some math competition last year, forgot the name, but have some certificate, possibly next year as well. It is nothing special.</p>

<p>Recommendations will be good (or so I HOPE lol) Essays will be acceptable.</p>

<p>As you can see I am not incredible, just average, I am pretty confident I could get into UCB, but I am really wondering what my chances of getting a full ride are?</p>

<p>Please reply and Thank YOU, in advance.</p>

2

<p>I know nothing about UCB. DDs friend is a President's Scholar at Georgia Tech with similar stats. His test scores were outstanding.</p>

3

<p>Are you a permanent resident? If not, chances of a full fide at Cal are indeed very low and you would probably have to try the lowest UCs and hope to be one of the very few internationals they give a full scholarship to.</p>

4

<p>Yes, sorry for not clarifying that. I am a permanent resident with a green card.</p>

5

<p>You have a great profile and may get one of the big scholarships at a top UC. Keep in mind the amount you get is tied to need, so if your EFC is high, they are not full rides. Really, getting a full ride at a UC is tough without very low income. You may well do better financially at a private college getting either merit or need based aid.</p>

6

<p>I just saw a list of schools that schools that offer full rides. Some of the schools were IVY leagues and other top tier schools. I'll try and track it down , but I do remember that pomona college was on the list</p>

7

<p>ringo, Pomona and all of the Ivies give only need based aid, no merit aid. They will only give you a full ride if you qualify based on financial need (and even then are likely to include self help, loans and work study along with grants), not on academic merit.</p>

8

<p>I just reread the question and I thought he mentioned need.</p>

<p>Thank you for clearing this up :)</p>

<p>The report I saw had a list of about 10 schools that go out of their way to make sure that financial need is not a barrier to entry.</p>