<p>I've been recently looking for ways to pay for college. I have been applying to scholarships but they were for small amounts. What are some useful sites and scholarships with a high chance of winning? Writing an essay for a month and not winning would be devastating. Is fastweb.com good? What are some other ways (trying to get a job) other than loans to pay for college? I will be a freshmen attending college in the fall.</p>
<p>dklee8…If you need a substantial amount of scholarship money to afford college, your best bet is merit scholarships or need-based financial aid from the universities themselves. </p>
<p>If your family is lower income, you might consider looking at schools that gurantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Remember…this isn’t the amount that “you” think your family needs in order for you to attend, it’s computed by the school and may be very different from what your family thinks they can provide.</p>
<p>If you’re middle income or higher, you need to focus on schools where your GPA/test scores put you in the top 25% of admitted students in order to have a shot at earning higher amounts of merit scholarships. In many cases, students have to revise their ideas about what types/size/prestige level school they think they want or deserve.</p>
<p>Fastweb is not a viable way to “pay for college”. Very few of those scholarships are for large enough amounts to make a dent in overall expenses and most are for one year only. They are all saturated with applicants, and you’ll probably have to apply to MANY in order to POSSIBLY receive one. If you have the time, go ahead and apply to as many as you can since any money won can still help with books, etc. but you won’t be able to use this route to foot the overall bill.</p>
<p>If you post more details about your location, GPA/test scores, family income level, how much your parents will contribute towards your education, types/size of schools you’re interested in, etc. folks here can probably offer you some more directed advice and suggestions on possible schools for you. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>OP is planning to attend Berkeley this fall.</p>
<p>How much do you need to come up with? Are you a resident of CA? You may need to consider withdrawing from Berkeley and looking at less expensive schools or schools that will give you merit scholarships if you have great grades and test scores.</p>
<p>If you have to take a year off, do not take any classes at a community college. Most schools give merit and need based scholarships only to incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>A few months before school starts is really too late to be thinking about how to pay for it. There’s not much advice we can give at his point.</p>
<p>You’re very late to the game, and private scholarships aren’t going to pay for 4 years of college. If you look closely, most of those are only for freshman year. So, how would you pay for years 2, 3, and 4?</p>
<p>What’s your situation? Are you short of money? How much does your school cost? How much will your parents pay? How did you plan on paying for college?</p>
<p>If you don’t have enough money, then you need to take a gap year and apply to the SCHOOLs that give enough money for your stats. SCHOOLS are better sources since their offers are usually larger and for all 4 years.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley and UCLA are around the same price and Wesleyan is cheaper by around two or three thousand. So should I not consider UC Berkeley as a pre-med?</p>
<p>Which school did you choose? How much do you (your parents) have to pay for your choice?</p>
<p>I will be attending UC Berkeley. My GPA is around a 4.00 unweighted. My test scores are around 2000 for the SAT.</p>
<p>On a number of threads the OP said Cal was his/her choice, and that is where he/ she would be going.</p>
<p>OP…I sure hope you and your family already have a way to pay the cost of attendance at Berkeley. It’s a little late now to be looking for grants or scholarships for the upcoming school year.</p>
<p>You might want to contact you school guidance office to see if there are any local scholarships with LATER application deadlines…although this is u likely, and would be for smaller amounts of money and for one year only.</p>
<p>I sure am hoping you are instate for Cal, and have the resources to pay the bills.</p>