Aside from my reaches and matches, I’d like to apply to some schools where I would be able to attend for very cheap. My only criteria for location is that its in the North, so preferably on the same level as Pennsylvania or further north. I’m currently looking at Drexel and Michigan State but I’d like some more ideas.
I am a junior in high school
For my stats:
Sat: 1570
subject test: 800 chem, planning to take math 2 and literature
GPA: through 2 years, 4.0 UW, 4.58 W
APs so far: World History 5, European History 5, Chemistry 5, Seminar 3, Research 3.
Schedule: definitely rigorous
ECs:
Academic Team: Varsity 3 years, co-captain this year, will be captain next year.
Tennis: JV freshman year, V sophomore year. Will be captain senior year.
Hosa club: secretary
Did science olympiad for 1 year, doesn’t really matter
Piano: 9 years
Volunteering at a hospital: lots of hours
Participation in local youth group for kids of a certain ethnicity
Other Stuff:
Location: PA
Race: Male
Gender: Asian
Income bracket: middle class
Skidmore offers merit. I think Trinity (CT) and Connecticut College do as well. Lewis and Clark (probably not the location you want) does too. Would think Union and St. Lawrence would, but I’m speculating.
If you are OK with a Catholic University the Jesuit colleges often offer good merit scholarships (Fordham, Fairfield, St. Joes, UScranton to name a few).
You should be able to do a Google search for full-ride/full-tuition scholarships. There’s a list out there, and even though it sometimes misses an occasional school, it should give you a sense of what’s available. You can also visit individual schools’ merit scholarships pages. If a school has a full-tuition or full-ride scholarship, it will be listed.
Automatic full tuition or better scholarships are less common than they used to be, and more common in parts of the country other than your regional preference.
What do you need this kind of scholarship to cover? Just some random discount on the tuition/fees/housing? Or do you need your final cost to be less than $X?
I second U Pitt. A friend’s son was offered a full ride with stats similar to yours. His EC would have been less well rounded. He is in state. Not sure if that makes a difference. They are also rolling admission so you can apply pretty early and hear back. A friend of my daughter’s applied in September and was accepted some time before the end of October.
I recently read somewhere (perhaps OP can google it) that UPitt is going to be moving merit money to more need based aid. Since OP is only a junior now, it would likely impact him. Just something to be aware of.
@theperson100 Expanding your preferred region may net you better opportunities. Consider ASU Barrett Honors or UT Dallas, for example.
If you’re interested in a STEM focused university giving out merit, look at UMBC and NJIT Honors College. Steven in NJ gives out big scholarships, but at around $70K COA, not sure if even their big scholarship will make the place “cheap”.