<p>Bama is on my list, but is kind of a last-resort type thing (if I don’t get into the tippy top schools and don’t get big merit at other schools)</p>
<p>That’s totally fine. Use it as a safety. </p>
<p>BTW…Bama just increased its NMF scholarship to include 5 years (including grad school classes) of free tuition… Also, it increased its stipend from $1,000 per year, to $3500 per year. The one year of housing still is there, plus study abroad money and an iPad.</p>
<p>Since so many NMFs come in with AP credits, it’s easy for these kids to get their BS/MS within 5 years.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I’ll definitely look into some of those colleges.</p>
<p>Yeah, Alabama just got really alluring with the 5 years and 3.5k stipend, which would effectively equate to a masters with me/my family only paying for books, fees, and transportation. Overall, it probably has the most bang for the buck, and has been enough to help me eliminate Northeastern (my other NM school) from my list of prospective colleges.</p>
<p>I know that looking for merit scholarships doesn’t allow me to be too picky, but the general consensus in my family (and I agree) right now is to avoid the South unless the money offered is truly superb. My stipulation is a non-religious college because I’m kind of in a faith crisis.</p>
<p>You’d still need to pay for room and board for years 2 - 5 for Bama.</p>
<p>Looking at your chances thread, it looks like you are female (since you got the Wellesley book award, I am assuming this). Mount Holyoke gives some pretty good merit awards. My D got a $25,000/year 21st Century Scholar merit award this past year. It also includes funding for a summer internship. Still pricey compared to someplace like Alabama, but it is not chump change. The MH campus is beautiful, the students are serious about academics but still have fun, and it is part of the 5 college consortium so you can pick up a few courses at the other colleges (Amherst, Smith, U Mass-Amherst, or Hampshire) if you want to.</p>
<p>OP, what is your issue with the South exactly? Seems crazy to write off an entire swath of the country when you are looking for schools that will offer you merit aid. Rhodes, Hendrix, and Centre, for example, are great LACs in the South that would likely love to have you. Hendrix is very liberal; the others might be less so, but certainly not as conservative as Miami of Ohio.</p>
<p>Some Midwestern options for you might be Beloit, Earlham, Knox, or Lawrence.</p>
<p>I feel like for a student with a 34 ACT/#1 ranking in their class, those four schools (Beloit, Earlham, Knox, and Lawrence) are not going to give the OP enough challenge. Even for a safety.</p>
<p>Completely disagree…their admitted student stats are comparable to the safeties the OP started with (25-30ish for ACT). I know some very smart, well-rounded, interesting kids who have gone to each of these schools.</p>
<p>*but the general consensus in my family (and I agree) right now is to avoid the South unless the money offered is truly superb. *</p>
<p>If your family were to visit Bama, they might feel differently. I see this all the time. People from elsewhere with preconceived notiona visit the city (Tuscaloosa) and the univ and fall in love. Tuscaloosa has folks from everywhere.</p>
<p>I agree with #25. From the “Competitive full tuition/full ride scholarships” list (linked in #3), consider Agnes Scott, Centre, Hendrix, Knox, and Rhodes. These are all LACs on the “Colleges That Change Lives” list. They are closer in size/atmosphere to many schools on your current list than those 4 universities (Md, TOSU, Pitt, Miami) are. </p>
<p>If you want evidence that these schools are challenging enough, look up their per capita PhD production rates. Earlham is #10 in life sciences (between MIT and Harvard). Hendrix is in the top 10 in psychology. In physics, Lawrence is ahead of Grinnell, Amherst, Oberlin, and Haverford.
(<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html[/url]”>http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html</a>)</p>
<p>Scripps, Davidson, and Richmond are 3 more selective LACs on that scholarship list. You might want to swap one or more of these 3 in for LACs on your list that do not grant merit aid.</p>
<p>Oooh this is way more replies than I thought I’d ever get. Nonetheless I’ll try to reply to most posts.</p>
<p>Regarding the South, I know it is kind of irrational, but our entire perception of the south is built on the politics you hear about in the news and to a lesser extent, the stereotypes. While a visit would definitely help alleviate these notions, it probably won’t happen for a couple of reasons. But I’m quite lost in the college search process - I can basically say that I want to have colonial-era looking buildings (which are really all over the eastern seabord.) I’m not very sure about any of the places on my list except for UMCP.</p>
<p>Regarding Alabama, the 3.5k could cover rooming off campus (I looked on the housing site and there were plenty of places in the 300-400 range). I guess I’d probably have to put a little of my own money from a job, but it is not too much. My parents can definitely pay what’s left. I’m trying to keep costs below 20k per year for any school.</p>
<p>College test scores don’t matter too much. What matters more is the type of people there are. I have plenty of friends in the 24-26 ACT range who care more about real world issues and are more interesting than the kids at debate who are Presidential Scholar candidates. I’ll read up on these colleges soon (I finally got the Fiske guide!) </p>
<p>While typing out this reply, I looked at Hendrix and Davidson (and had looked at Scripps some months ago) and noticed that they offer 8 and ~12 tuition or full ride scholarships. It seems like very tough competition and I’m sort of doubting whether it is worth applying if so few are offered.</p>
<p>Davidson is more selective (and apparently a bit more conservative) than Hendrix. Yes, you’ll be up against tough competition at Davidson for those scholarships. I don’t know about Hendrix. Even at Alabama, though, the “Academic Elite” scholarships only go to 8-10 out of 900-1000 applicants ([Academic</a> Elite Scholarships - Types of Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/elite.html]Academic”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/elite.html)). So it’s roughly the same number of grants as Hendrix and Davidson award, but they’re selected from a much larger applicant pool. I don’t know about the numbers for the other Alabama scholarships (maybe m2ck has them).</p>
<p>- I can basically say that I want to have colonial-era looking buildings (which are really all over the eastern seabord</p>
<p>Do you mean brick buildings with big white columns? Bama has those (Bama was originally modeled after UVA)</p>
<p>Here’s a video and pics about the school…
<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p><a href=“Titanium Chef | Home”>Titanium Chef | Home;
<p>Pics of the new 900,000 square feet Science & Engineering Complex begin on page 6, Student housing pics begin on page 12 - the Russell Hall renovation mentioned is complete and beautiful. Much of the mentioned new build, and renovations, are complete. Bama has completed over 45 new buildings in the last 10 years.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the numbers for the other Alabama scholarships (maybe m2ck has them</p>
<p>Last fall’s frosh class: About 200 NMFs, about 40 Nat’l Achievement, about 400 Presidential (full tuition) scholarships, not sure how many UA Scholar (2/3 tuition). So, about 650 frosh with full tuition or more scholarships, which is about 10% of the frosh class.</p>
<p>I don’t think the number of Academic Elite (8 - 10) or Crimson Alumni (10) is meaningful since Bama is also awarding so many other large scholarships. </p>
<p>If this student is NMF, then he gets the NMF scholarship which is almost as good as AE or CA.</p>
<p>Davidson is definitely more conservative than Hendrix, and also more selective (with several times more applicants for a similar number of spots in the freshman class). Both have strong student bodies. Hendrix gives very generous merit aid apart from the Hays scholarship competition, but here is the information on that too:</p>
<p>[Hendrix</a> College | Hays Memorial Scholarship](<a href=“http://www.hendrix.edu/admission/scholarship/hays.aspx]Hendrix”>Hendrix College)</p>
<p>I believe last year perhaps 100-120 kids competed for the Hays. </p>
<p>Of all the schools my son applied to, Hendrix was the most generous with merit aid. They lure a lot of high-stats kids away from more competitive colleges. Hendrix is a wonderful school with strong academics and great outcomes for students (such as PhD production, as tk stated above, but also med school admission, undergraduate research awards, science scholarships and so on). </p>
<p>OP, I would encourage you to keep an open mind about the South. What you see on the news about state legislatures (which, by the way, are going the same way in a lot of northern states) will not give you an accurate picture of what life is like for most people. As others have said, most colleges lean liberal no matter where they are. Most of the cities in the region have a high concentration of liberals, along with vibrant arts cultures and more diversity than you would expect. And LACs, no matter where they are, tend to be full of idealistic students who want to make the world a better place.</p>
<p>* I would encourage you to keep an open mind about the South. What you see on the news about state legislatures (which, by the way, are going the same way in a lot of northern states) will not give you an accurate picture of what life is like for most people. As others have said, most colleges lean liberal no matter where they are*</p>
<p>This is very true. The profs are from everywhere. Colleges & college towns tend to be moderate to liberal. Bama has been “Obama Country” the last two elections. Tuscaloosa (city and county) is rather moderate and it’s represented in the House of Rep by an African American democrat congresswoman</p>
<p>m2ck: I was looking through the UA website yesterday and landed at the political science page, in which the header is a picture of ten Hoor Hall and all I could really think was “I can really live with this.” It looks a little old but it is nonetheless quite beautiful. And regarding the way we look at the south, it really depends on the parent. My mom, who isn’t exactly a tiger mom (anymore, she used to make me do piano and workbooks), is still pretty convinced that I can get into HYPS and has told me that it’d be awesome for me to go to a name-brand school. My dad, OTOH, is pretty in love (even more than previously) with UA because of the prospect of getting through college with little to no debt (he had debt from his master’s and we were pretty poor the first few years after my parents got out of grad school). I guess the point is, come time to really decide, my parents care about costs and prestigiousity, and costs will probably win out.</p>
<p>I’m not worried about not getting a UA scholarship: the NMF one is guaranteed I believe. It’s more of the other schools, the smaller private colleges where there are plenty of 32+ ACT kids, most of whom have about just as good a chance as me. It’s just kind of hard to find the balance between the reaches (like ivies, top LACs, and big scholarships at more selective colleges). My list already has a bunch of 10 that are reaches/low reaches, and I really don’t know if the investment in more “lottery tickets” is worth it.</p>
<p>It’s quite comforting that there are a significant amount of liberals in the South and in college towns in general. It’d be significantly different from the atmosphere at my school. (Weird, because I live in a very blue state.)</p>
<p>sally305: If you don’t mind me asking, how large was the scholarship your son received? I saw that they had the Hays and a vague “academic scholarship” plus a bunch of scholarships that I wouldn’t qualify for.</p>
<p>Not sure what you can afford. U Southern Cal has half tuition for national merit if you get in. You may be able to get more if they call you for an interview.</p>
<p>nhdmaniac, just sent you a PM.</p>
<p>I am glad you are exploring all your options. Coming from Hawaii, every place in the continental U.S. is going to be an adjustment. You sound really mature and respectful of your parents while trying to find your own way.</p>
<p>One thing you could tell your mom, if she is still hung up on prestige, is that if you plan to go on to grad school (which sounds likely from the way you describe yourself) it is your terminal degree that will define you in your career. Going to UA or Hendrix or Davidson or Pitt or any other school with solid academics will prepare you for whatever you want to do next, and if you haven’t blown $250K of your parents’ money on your undergraduate degree, you will have many more viable options. Good luck.</p>
<p>Here is information regarding scholarships you would be competing for at University of Maryland. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.financialaid.umd.edu/scholarships/banneker_info.php]OSFA”>http://www.financialaid.umd.edu/scholarships/banneker_info.php]OSFA</a> - Banneker/Key Scholarship Program<a href=“Top%201%%20of%20incoming%20freshman”>/url</a>- The Banneker Key scholarship can either be a full ride, or a significant percentage of tuition. If you receive an invite to the interview you are guaranteed at least a
$ 12,000 scholarship, which is the most you could get from the President’s scholarship (The 2nd best merit award).</p>
<p>I am a current student at UMCP and I love it. I would definitely encourage you to apply and see how much merit aid you receive, and if you get an interview for BK. Being close to DC is great, and should prove very helpful in obtaining internships, especially as a Poli Sci major. </p>
<p>If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!</p>