SMALL LACs and ACT based merit aid?

Paying for College
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<p>Hi - My son wants to go to a small liberal arts college. His reach schools are places like Macalester Reed and Hamilton. Later this spring we will be looking at UVM, the only larger school still on the list, and skidmore, maybe Ithaca as well. Also very interested in Oxidental. </p>

<p>My son has an interesting academic past: he has adhd and struggled a bit his freshman year. By junior (this) year he is taking 2 honors classes and is getting a mix of As and Bs. But his ACT scores are great! His first shot was a 33, and he is trying to top that. I don't expect SATs to be quite as high (he only got a 190 on the PSATs, though writing is a strength, so I would hope he does better on the SATs). </p>

<p>Because we saved for college in our son's name, I don't think we can get need based aid, at least for the first year. Are there merit based scholarships at this level of competitiveness in small liberal arts schools for those ACT scores? Do they require separate applications? I looked on the thread for merit based scholarships and the list looked like mostly larger universities, or schools that are much less competitive. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.</p>

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<p>Welcome … my son was accepted to Ithaca College, Skidmore, and UVM … and these were among his final few choices. Ithaca College and UVM gave him merit scholarships with an academic profile pretty similar to your son’s … Skidmore has some merit scholarships but I got the impression they are pretty competitive within the Skidmore applicant pool (my son did not receive merit aid from Skidmore). He also applied to some higher ranked LACs but merit money was less available at those schools and, frankly, he was not a strong enough candidate at the higher ranked schools to be a realistic merit aid candidate. Overall. we found merit more available than we expected … and it becomes more available if the student is willing to look a little further down the rankings (somewhere their grades and/or scores will be in the top 20-25%).</p>

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<p>I would ask specifically about how many kids get merit awards with ACT scores alone. It has been my observation, (strictly a parent observation), that high SAT scores are more useful for a school’s profile and those schools giving merit awards are very interested in enhancing that profile. Getting higher SAT students does more than getting higher ACT kids. It may not impact admissions, but merit money is a whole other story. That is when colleges are “buying” what they most want.</p>

<p>Do note that Hamilton does not give out merit awards.</p>

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<p>Schools generally accept both ACT or SAT scores for merit…and accept whichever ones give the best scores. I’ve never seen a school that only awards merit for SAT or gives preference to the SAT for merit. There may be a couple, but they would be rare. Even if a school mentions a SAT score they usually will use the comparable ACT as well. Colleges know that some regions of the country are more ACT-heavy, so they wouldn’t want to exclude those kids intentionally.</p>

<p>However, merit scholarships usually require a good cum GPA as well. What is your son’s cum GPA for grades 9 -11.</p>

<p>Are you only looking at LACs for merit?</p>

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<p>Thanks for all your advice - 3togo, we may be crossing paths over spring vacation!
At the moment, we are only looking at merit, at least for the first year since we foolishly saved money in my son’s name, but the good news is at least there is a little money in his name…</p>

<p>mom2 - his gpa for 9th grade was terrible - only a 2.5 on a 4.0 scale - but sophmore year it was a 3.5, and I expect it to be about the same for junior year. Also, this year he went up to honors classes, so the case for his admissions is going to be on the progression…
Hamilton is very much a reach school, so if there’s one school that doesn’t give merit, that probably works. Even if it did, I assume it would be too much of a stretch to hope for merit!</p>

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<p>Are his honors classes weighted? Is he taking any APs?</p>

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<p>Neither Hamilton or Reed offers merit aid. Mac might, Occidental does I think but only for extreme stand outs.</p>

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<p>[qoute]3togo, we may be crossing paths over spring vacation!

[/quote]
We went through this decision process last year … my son is a frosh at UVM now … so let me know if you have any other questions about his experience or thoughts with the schools.</p>

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<p>D just got accepted to Skidmore yesterday. She has a 35 ACT (I don’t remember if we sent them SAT’s or not but that is lower at 2170). We do not qualify for much need-based aid (as we haven’t received any from other schools). D received almost $20k in grants from Skidmore, but nothing that said it was specifically a scholarship. I’m not sure if grants are for merit or need.</p>

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<p>To find out the number and amt of merit based awards for a given school, look at their common data set. It is the information that is each school provides for college guidebooks. Google the common data set for an individual school, take a look at, I believe, the section H4. Usually the common data sets are someplace on the colleges’ website.</p>

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<p>A lot of small LAC’s will offer merit based on your son’s stats. Simply target those schools where his GPA and ACT/SAT scores place him in the top 10-25% of all applicants. To find out how he stacks up… simply go to The College Board:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Go to TheCollegeBoard.com and search for the school by name</p></li>
<li><p>On its profile click “How do I stack up?”</p></li>
<li><p>You’ll see a set of charts</p></li>
<li><p>Most of the info reported is in the middle 50% - between the 25th and 75th percentiles</p></li>
<li><p>So for a college that reports a middle 50% of SAT scores as 900-1250 (math and critical reading only - they don’t count the writing score), the top 25% of the class has a 1250 or higher.</p></li>
<li><p>For ACT scores, a college that reports the middle 50% of ACT’s as 25-29… the top 25% of the class has a 29 or higher.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Unweighted GPA (does not reflect extra credit earned for taking tougher classes - honors and AP/IB) is trickier to gauge, beacuse the numbers don’t always add up when GPA is reported as a spread. </p>

<p>College A might say 48% of the class has a 3.75 GPA or higher. You have to guesstimate that the top 25% has a GPA of 3.875 or higher: by taking the 4.0 less the 3.75, and dividing the .25 difference by half (.125) and adding it to the 3.75 figure referenced by the school for the top 50% of applicants.</p>

<p>Keep in mind, each college picks and chooses which courses they will include in the GPA calculation for merit-purposes. Some only include Math, science, English, history and foreign language …and ignore the rest (the arts and other electives… and things like government, psychology, religion, business, etc.)</p>

<p>Also note that different types of colleges have different priorities. They will likely award their need and merit $$ to students who possess qualities valued by the school. Someone who is the president of her school’s GLBT alliance may not be highly valued at at BYU… But someone with a lot of hands-on community service through their private Catholic HS may be highly valued by the many, many Catholic-based LAC’s. Alfred University in NY may value the stacked art portfolio and athletic prowess of one applicant, more than the trip to Haiti to rebuild schools, taken by another. Don’t underestimate the value of recognizing the gifts and talents your son posesses… and trying to match them to each LAC’s pocket of interest or sweet spot.</p>

<p>As an example…if you’re looking at UVM, take a gander at neighboring St. Michael’s College (literally a couple blocks away). They are a Catholic LAC…but offer generous merit based aid, with stats like those you report for your son. If you are an active member of a Catholic parish or your child attends a Catholic HS… they also recognize that commitment to their values, and give a $5,000 grant for four years.</p>

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<p>Mary has given great info here that I think is right on. I love your location, too, Mary.</p>

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<p>Lawrence university</p>

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<p>I’m not sure where you are located, or how far from home he intends to look… but in addition to Macalester & Reed on your list, and St Mike’s &Alfred, which I referenced previously, check out schools like: </p>

<p>Ursinus, Hobart & WS, Beloit, Dennison, Kenyon, Rhodes, Salve Regina, Oberlin, Wooster, Washington & Lee, St. Olaf, Wilamette, Grinnell, Marquette, Franklin & Marhsall, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Muhlenberg. There are soooo many GREAT schools to choose from outside the tippy top competitive LAC’s…with generous merit aid for good students :)</p>

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<p>- For ACT scores, a college that reports the middle 50% of ACT’s as 25-29… the top 25% of the class has a 29 or higher.</p>

<p>Just to clarify, in that situation, the top 25% has an ACT 30 or higher. And, to get the best merit (big merit), often you have to be in the top 10% or sometimes even top 2-5% of the school.</p>

<p>- So for a college that reports a middle 50% of SAT scores as 900-1250 (math and critical reading only - they don’t count the writing score), the top 25% of the class has a 1250 or higher.</p>

<p>And, in this case, the top 25% has a 1260 or higher.</p>

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<p>Count the number of merit awards or get a ball park figure as to how many are actually given each year. Convert that into a percentage and you can see where your kid has to be to realistically get anything. Bear in mind that other factors also come into play other than the pure stats but those are often things that you just can’t quantify. I know, for example, that for BC, to get one of their big awards, you are far better off being from the midwest–anywhere other than the NE. They have enough NE applicants to fill their class 10x over. No need to pay for any of them. But they are trying to get more diversification and they don’t get a whole lot of apps from Illinois or Oregon, for example.</p>

<p>The number or percentage is depressingly low in many cases.</p>

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<p>Count the number of merit awards or get a ball park figure as to how many are actually given each year. Convert that into a percentage and you can see where your kid has to be to realistically get anything.</p>

<p>So true! But some schools don’t provide a total number of awards. :(</p>

<p>And, yes, sometimes the “hook” is adding regional diversity as well as high stats…schools like to say that they have students from X number of states. </p>

<p>A common mistake people make is when a school really only awards decent merit to the top 2-5% of applicants (not enrollees), and their child is in the top 20-25%…then they wonder why their child didn’t get much/anything. </p>

<p>And, when you hear people say that, “X school gives lots of merit,” ask for details…does the school STILL give big merit (many have discontinued), what stats are generally needed, do you have to have a certain major, do they give more to males than females (or vice versa), do you have to be instate, do you have to be a URM, etc. </p>

<p>Also, find out what that person means by “generous merit”. To some people, a $10k per year award is “big”. To another person that isn’t much when they still have to pay $40k per year to attend. </p>

<p>It breaks my heart to read posts from kids who’ve applied to certain undergrads after hearing from others that the schools give lots of merit…yes, they might, but you have to have high stats or be a URM or be a female engineering major or whatever…having modest stats won’t get you anything. </p>

<p>Very few schools - even the ones with the big merit awards - give good-sized merit to most students. When you look at the numbers and award amounts, 90% of the students got little or nothing for merit. </p>

<p>That said, there are a few lower-tier privates that seem to give “tuition discounts” to virtually everyone. It’s a marketing strategy. Artificially raise the price and then flatter those who are accepted by giving a merit scholarship. I don’t consider those awards as really being “merit”. They’re just bringing the cost down to what it should be and hoping that families are so flattered that they’ll enroll their kids. </p>

<p>I think that anyone who wants big merit should include at least 2 schools that give ASSURED big merit for stats. That way you know FOR SURE that you have X dollars in your pocket guaranteed. After that, anything other schools offer is icing on the cake! :)</p>

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<p>Agreed that there are not that many merit awards out there that are sizable. We were glad with our now college senior that he got one of those small awards which they did increase, but this is not a huge amount off the sticker price. It made it barely affordable. </p>

<p>The only full ride type awards I have seen for our kids have been at schools that I don’t see mentioned here.</p>