<p>Trying to stay realistic. I am now sending one son off to college. He has great grades and good extracuriculars. He will be going to a good private school with an honors proram scholarship and a department scholarship that brought the total cost down to what his state school option would cost. We are not candidates for Financial aid but I can't afford to contribute much towards his tuition so we were ecstatic.</p>
<p>Now I'm starting to think about my younger son who is finishing his sophmore year. He is currently #1 in his class and we just found out he scored 800 on the Bio (m) SAT subject test.</p>
<p>I'm thinking full tuition/ride for this guy. I can't help but search the forums for the schools that offer full merit scholarships. i have looked at the lists posted here but its hard to know how to proceed. I know it is way too early to get my hopes up. We still have to see how he does on SAT's but he has always done well on standardized tests so I am thinking that those numbers will be good also.</p>
<p>Is it too early to be looking at the Duke's, Emory's and Notre Dames with limited numbers of full scholarships in a supercompetive process? Is it even too early to be thinking about it for the less competetive schools? If it isn't too early what reccomendations do you have? We are looking on the Eastern Seaboard but if its fullride willing to explore the Midwest and South (Vanderbilt? Davidson? ) Thoughts?</p>
How about his SAT? Does he planning to take any AP classes in junior year? Also, does he has any outstanding ECs? All of those will help him to get a full ride.</p>
<p>My experience is that many colleges will offer 50% off of tuition merit scholarships to students at the top of their applicant pool, but that full ride scholarships are extremely rare. </p>
<p>Of course, some of the most selective colleges offer almost no merit scholarships.</p>
<p>He hasn’t taken SAT yet. He has fair extracurriculars but not outstanding. It is one thing I worry about in his profile but it is who he is. He puts his all into the things that he does do. He won’t be taking AP classes. They are not offered at his school. (And please don’t comment on this. He goes to an elite HS that chooses not to offer AP’s. Any downside to that is offset by the excellent reputation that the school has.) </p>
<p>I guess my lack of more information for you is why I’m trying to talk myself down. Maybe my real question is “How excited should I get about an 800 on an SAT subject test?”</p>
<p>An 800 on a subject test is obviously great but if it was in a strength area not necessarily indicative of the actual SAT. If he’s a rising sophomore have him take the PSAT this fall. It will be more indicative of the actual SAT. NMF can open doors so the junior year PSAT is important and taking it as a sophomore will help. When the time comes spring of junior year have him try the ACT also, some do better on one or the other.</p>
<p>Reread your post and see he’s a rising junior. Have him prep heavily for the PSAT. The one this fall is the one that can count in a big way.</p>
<p>Top 1% scored 800 on Math 1
Top 2% scored 800 on Ecological Bio
Top 4% scored 800 on Molecular Bio
Top 9% scored 800 on Chemistry
Top 10% scored 800 on Physics
Top 12% scored 800 on Math 2</p>
<p>Notre Dame’s super competitive merit awards weight heavily toward the community service and leadership angle. There is a cool summer experience there that is useful, the Global Issues Seminar. My D went and it was wonderful.</p>
<p>That’s sobering that 4% of students score 800. It’s a lot. Sort of reduces the usefulness if you ask me. Thanks for the thought s everyone. I guess my take away is to have him prepare for the PSAT in November and then see where we are at.</p>
<p>Even with fab stats, to be thinking about the rare offers from Duke and similar is too wishful thinking. Those offers seem to be like winning the lottery. Just great academic stats (GPA & test scores) aren’t enough. They have enough students with great stats applying. They use “other” stats for the down-selection process, like research ECs, winning nat’l science fairs, etc… including if the student helps their regional or ethnic diversity numbers. </p>
<p>Since you’re looking for big bucks because you need them for affordability, then consider those merit schools as super, super reachs, and find others that are more likely or more assured. </p>
<p>Full Rides are hard to come by without NMF status. Even with NMF status many schools have decreased their offers to “full tuition plus a bit more”, “full tuition” or less. </p>
<p>The MomFromTexas threads are good for those who absolutely need a free ride, don’t care where they go, and are fine with commuter/suitcase schools. That doesn’t sound like your son. Yes, there are some commuter/suitcase schools that will give free rides for high stats. However, those schools can be VERY lonely for an OOS student when everyone goes home at night and there’s little to do on weekends.</p>
<p>Have your son practice for the PSAT, sign him up for the Oct SAT as well - which he’ll take about a week before the PSAT. Also have him take the ACT after that (and after practicing for it).</p>
<p>I second the advice re: prepping for the junior year PSAT. My other advice is to figure out as soon as possible approximately how much you are able/willing to pay each year (and how much you’re comfortable with your sons borrowing).</p>
<p>Our family situation was somewhat similar to yours, but you’re more informed than I was when D1 left for school, which should give you more time to research and come to terms with the options. For what it’s worth, here’s how it turned out for us:</p>
<p>D1 attended an in-state, public, sleep away school even though we couldn’t really afford our EFC (which exceeded the school’s COA) - we had to borrow more than is prudent, but believed it would work out in the end because D2 would likely be NMF, resulting in free rides at many famous schools (this was before I discovered CC, so we had many misconceptions about FA!). </p>
<p>D2 did end up with the great stats we hoped for (4.0 UW, 35 ACT, NMF, AP Scholar) but like your son, EC’s were the weakest part of her application. She was accepted at several “Meets 100% of Need” schools and wait listed at a few of the reachiest ones. She wasn’t offered any of the large merit awards at those schools; I think it’s true that those seem to be almost lottery ticket odds. Especially given D2’s relatively low powered ECs (leadership role in only one group), I don’t believe she was ever seriously in contention for those awards. She also received full tuition and full tuition+ from a few OOS publics, I think mainly on the strength of the NMF. </p>
<p>NMF does open doors, but the number of schools giving guaranteed full rides for NMFs is smaller than it used to be and you should be aware you’ll need to move down the academic food chain. This presents a dilemma for families who like ours who have already sent the first kid off to school - imagine insisting the second kid choose from a list of free ride schools which are lower ranked (or just less appealing to your kid) than the school you agreed to pay for older sib to attend.</p>
<p>We found ourselves in that situation - an in-state public pretty much guaranteed a full ride for NMFs but D2 hated the school (and everyone saw it as a step down from where D1 attended). </p>
<p>D2 ended up going with a full tuition award at an OOS public where she seems truly happy; the room & board is a significant expense (although much less than the full pay for D1!) and has meant more loans for us, but it felt like the best compromise in the end.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for linking the MomFromTexas thread concerning full rides. The reading was really entertaining, particularly considering that the discussion took place in 2006 where apparently none of the parents or kids ever considered the possibility of lost jobs or home equity decreasing. What giddy self righteousness from those who declared that they would mortgage their homes to the hilt so their kid could attend his “dream” school and that parents who wouldn’t do that were “selfish”. Boy how times have changed!</p>