<p>For those of us that are rising seniors, is it too early to start applying for scholarships now? and what is the average scholarship success ratio? how many should I apply to in order to earn almost a full ride to the school of my choice?</p>
<p>Unless you are tip top as far as grades, scores and other activities, have financial need and likely a substantial community service project, you'll need to apply to many many scholarships to earn a full ride. Outside of a few, extremely competitive scholarships (Gates Millineum, Coca Cola, etc.), most are worth $1k or less and are only for one year. Your best chance will be for local scholarships, but they tend to be for relatively small amounts and usually only for a single year. There are some that are for more (NMS, etc.) and some that are for all four years (Byrd, etc.), but they too are very competitive. </p>
<p>Have you researched institutional merit aid (see the sticky threads on this forum)? They tend to be a more reasonable choice if a large amount is necessary. Also, you can direct your energies towards those schools where you are in the top 5 - 10% of the applicants, and therefore have a reasonable chance at getting a substantial scholarship.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My D is considering applying to two schools, for the first school she is 30 points above their 75% SAT as quoted on the Princeton Review, and for the second she is 90 points above their 75%. Her GPA is in the average range for the first school, and .3 higher for the other second (she would be applying to the honors college at that one). She wants to retake in October. We are hoping that she will be offered some money from each school. How would I find out if she would be in that top 5-10% of students? Would I gauge that by the SAT score on Princeton review? How do you guys figure all of this out? lol</p>
<p>Hi tanya,
There's no real science here unfortunately. You have to gather as much "data" as possible through sources like results from the colleges of interest from past years. How do your Ds scores, grades, ECs, etc. look compared to those that got in and particularly to those who got the scholarships. Does the school list average or minimum requirements for the merit money? If not, call the school, they may be able to give you some statistics from past years so that you can gauge if your D is in the ballpark for one of their awards.</p>
<p>If she receives merit it will come from a match or more likely a safety on her list, not a reach school. I see from looking some of your back posts that your D has acting and other talents. If the scholarships are based on auditions, portfolios or something like that, grades and scores may not play as large a factor in the scholarship decision.</p>
<p>Yes, but her acting will be a curiosity only, because she is no longer involved professionally. She hasn't worked professionally since sophomore year, although she continues to do charity shows. The less rigorous school has already extended an estimated offer of $12K/year--they do it on a formula of GPA and SAT, I think. But we're hoping for a little higher from them, and also hoping for something from the other, which is a medium state school.</p>
<p>to get a full ride....... get scholarships from the college u are choosing... it would take way too many individual ones to get there. usually school scholarship deadlines begin anywhere from November-January.</p>
<p>Yea, it seems that trying for a bunch of small ones could be fruitless and time consuming.</p>
<p>^^ yes, but aren't little scholarships usually less competitive? and if you win a bunch of small ones, they all add up.</p>
<p>they won't add up to full ride(4 years)... which is usually 45-180,000 dollars depending on the cost of the school. the ones on the internet are more competitive, since more ppl see it. the local ones where ppl live aren't that good, cause they are usually 1 time only (non-renewable) scholarships from 500 dollars to 2,000 dollars/</p>
<p>how expensive is ur school annually? tuition, room and baord and all? (if u are staying in dorms and eating in dining hall)</p>
<p>Well, while my D did spend many hours filling out outside app forms and essays, and while she only received a few of them, I'd say the return for a few hours of work per app and the result of an average of $1000 award for those received is still pretty good income for a few hours of work.</p>
<p>About the full ride, yes, depends where you want to go. Also, not to be a downer, but many of us with top notch students were also led to believe that money would be falling from the skies to attend college and full rides would be lining up at the door - not true for us at least!!! Unless you're willing to go just about anywhere, once you narrow down your choices you'll see that things get much more competitive for money.</p>
<p>That being said, invest the time in all the opportunities you can - IMO, especially the local "small" ones.</p>