Hello! I am here to describe my situation to fellow forum members, and hopefully get some feedback. I will be headed to undergraduate school in fall 2016, and as I qualify as a National Hispanic Scholar, I know that I will receive a full ride from several schools, including USF, UCF, and OOS schools such as UK. I would like to major in either engineering or business. I live in Florida, and have both Florida Prepaid and Bright Futures.
According to my math, if I was to receive a full ride in state, I would get $6000 per year from Prepaid and $3000 per year from bright futures which would leave me with a bank account of $36,000 upon graduation, which I would like to put towards graduate school.
My question is: would it be better to:
Attend UCF or USF and get the extra money for later on
Attend UF and have to take out loans, or hope for a scholarship
Go OOS and attend a school that will provide me with a full ride
Attempt to get scholarships for other OOS schools that have better programs.
For perspective, my stats:
35 ACT, 4.0 W GPA, 3.4 UW, 14 APs
Other Info: Cuban Hispanic, AP Capstone Scholar, Eagle Scout, Institute of Engineering at my High School, Duke TIP Scholar, FLL State Qualifier and Regional Champion
Please provide me with any feedback or insight you may have, and feel free to correct me if I made any errors in calculations or research.
With your stats you should try for competitive scholarships at engineering and business schools, although GPA is probably too low for big merit at top schools.
UCF is a good safety because it’s a pretty good engineering school.
Go ahead and apply at UF and see what happens - you might get big merit there and it’s excellent for engineering.
I would advise engineering over business as a major. If you decide you want to go the business route, you’ll want to get an MBA regardless, and undergrad engineering degree offers much better job prospects.
Thanks BobWallace-
Also, allow me to elaborate on my financial aid. My family makes over 120,000 yearly, so I doubt any aid will come. Also, the most they are willing to contribute is the Florida Prepaid, which is 6,000 yearly, covering tuition in Florida. So, for any other outstanding costs, I would need loans or possibly a job.
Also, if anyone has any specific recommendations on schools that would be a good match for big merit aid, that would be greatly appreciated!
I would do each of your scenarios as a plan A, plan B etc. Apply to 10 to 14 schools max and have a some of your schools fit each of your “plans”. I think it is premature now to make this decision because you haven’t been accepted nor offered the scholarships. I am an expert on National Hispanic Scholar (I am the one who did the very detailed thread over on the Hispanic forum) and NHS money has been changing a lot over the years. If my memory is correct I think the Hispanic Scholarship Fund will be administering the program for next year. Over the course of the summer and into the fall, colleges will begin sending you information about NHS at their respective colleges. Some money is automatic for being an NHS like Arizona, some is competitive. Try to snag some of those automatic offers. Always ask colleges if they give money for National Hispanic Scholar. Not all colleges have those scholarships listed on their website. For example Purdue told my DD she would get $10K a year for it and it is not listed anywhere on their website.
I would apply as an engineering major. Right now there is a big push in STEM for Latinos. You are much more attractive to colleges as Latino engineering major. (I know, My DD just finished her freshman year as an ME major). Be sure to apply to colleges that let you change your major if you decide you do not want to do engineering.
Be sure to also try for private scholarships for Latinos and STEM. The Hispanic Heritage Foundation just opened up their application for their Youth Awards. Be sure to apply. With your stats and Eagle Scout you would be an attractive applicant. Other scholarships for engineering and Latinos are given through organizations like Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, NACME, SME, ASME etc. My DD has gotten very lucky and has won several private scholarships from those organizations.
Also apply Early Action to as many colleges as you possibly can from your list. NHS money is usually awarded in the Early Action rounds. I mentioned Arizona, but also look at Nebraska and Oklahoma (may be Oklahoma St.). If my memory is correct they had pretty good NHS scholarship offerings. It takes research but you can find colleges that give good money for that award. Also Ohio State gave my DS a full ride back in 2010. He got 3 scholarships, one for NHS (which I don’t think they give anymore) the National Buckeye (which you would qualify for) and then he competed for the Morril and got one (it was $60K) they let him stack them so it amounted to $133K. Your stats are better than his.
Now this college isn’t generous with merit aid but for the few that get their merit awards they are generous. Georgia Tech has both excellent engineering and business. OOS URMs are considered for the Provost which is about $20K. Students with financial aid and that some ACT are also considered for the Goldbold (or something sounding like it) scholarship. You have to be from Florida or Tenn. My DD has a good friend with almost the same situation as you and he got enough from all of the those scholarships to make Tech affordable for him. Apply EA there and also apply for Grand Challenges. Obviously if you get accepted but do not get those scholarships then Georgia Tech is off the table.
Be sure to look into diversity fly-ins, multi-cultural recruitment etc. More information about that can be found on the Hispanic Forum.