top 50 universities or top LACs as in US News that offer merit-based scholarships

Paying for College
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<p>I am sure this has been discussed before. Could someone please kindly point me to the right direction for that information? Thanks!</p>

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<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php)
hope that helps</p>

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<p>UT, I believe that link is for need based aid. </p>

<p>Benley, schools like University of Chicago give merit aid (<a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships.shtml[/url]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships.shtml&lt;/a&gt;). However, merit scholarships are far from guaranteed).</p>

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<p>There aren’t many and they certainly aren’t assured.</p>

<p>Top 50 schools cleverly use their limited merit offerings to target certain students for various reasons…super high stats, from an unusual state, URMs, etc. Vandy and UWash are good examples of that.</p>

<p>USC is the only top 50 school that I can think of that gives about 100 of these scholarships.</p>

<p>To improve merit chances (if needed) then you need to also apply to some mid-tiers that offer more competitive scholarships and apply to some that offer assured scholarships.</p>

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<p>Well, my kid got a merit scholarship from Gettysburg (#49 LAC).</p>

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<p>this may be helpful,
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Dougbetsy…what were your child’s stats, and what was the scholarship per year?</p>

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<p>Some top 50 schools that give merit aid
(far from an exhaustive list)</p>

<p>Oberlin
WUSTL
Brandeis
Rochester
Tulane
CMU</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Penn State offers 15 full rides(merit) in the science college. They have been offered to out of staters too.</p>

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<p>Benley…</p>

<p>Is the student from an unusual state? a URM? Leadership ECs?</p>

<p>For competitive merit at many of these top schools, having super high stats may not be enough. Schools like Vandy and Wash U often award their limited merit scholarships to high stats URMs and/or students from unusual states.</p>

<p>However, at Tulane and USC, having super stats can be enough to get a half-tuition scholarship.</p>

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<p>Thanks all for your input. Very helpful! @mom2, no URM and other hooks are in the making. :)</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>$15,000 Presidential per year from Gettysburg. Will attend Wake Forest. </p>

<p>I feel lazy tonight, so I just copied his stats from CC stats page…</p>

<p>User Name: DougBetsy
Gender: M
Location: Maryland
College Class Year: 2014
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.60
GPA - Weighted: 4.00
Class Rank: top 25%
Class Size: 320</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 590
SAT I Critical Reading: 740
SAT I Writing: 630
ACT: 29</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Taijutsu - 2nd degree black belt - 12 years training
Wind Ensemble
Symphonic Band
French Club
Ski & Snowboard Club</p>

<p>Leadership positions:
Percussion Lead
Elementary Mentor
Cross Country Captain </p>

<p>Athletic Status - list sport and your level:
Cross Country 10jv, 11jv, 12v
Outdoor Track 10jv, 11v, 12v
Indoor Track, 11v, 12v</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
American Red Cross - Blood Drive Volunteer - monthly
NHS Relay for Life Organizer
200 + hours</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
Random House Student Writing Contest Winner (9)
NHS
French Concours Award 10
Track Coach’s Choice Award 10</p>

<p>College Summer programs:
FBI Future Agents In Training Program</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:</p>

<p>College: Wake Forest University, Choice #: 1, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Will Attend</p>

<p>College: Elon University, Choice #: 2, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted (Presidential, $4,000 per year)</p>

<p>College: Dickinson College, Choice #: 3, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted</p>

<p>College: Lafayette College, Choice #: 4, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted</p>

<p>College: Gettysburg College, Choice #: 5, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted (Presidential $15,000/year)</p>

<p>College: University of Maryland, College Park, Choice #: 6, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted</p>

<p>College: University of Richmond, Choice #: 7, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted</p>

<p>College: Roanoke College, Choice #: 8, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted ($13,000 merit/year)</p>

<p>College: Salisbury University, Choice #: 9, ED/EA: No, Athlete: No, Legacy: No, Status: Accepted (Presidential $3,000 per year)</p>

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<h1>12</h1>

<p>the one stat you left out and a very important one for these colleges is your EFC. Some of these colleges practice tuition discounting and the scholarship is actually a tuition discount to attract better paying customers. With the stats you quoted, many lower income students would not even be accepted to some of these colleges let alone get a scholarship.</p>

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<p>University of Chicago does.</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure most schools in the top 50 do offer merit scholarships. Ivy schools are obvious exceptions. Chicago, Duke, WashU etc. all offer merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>Smith and Mt. Holyoke, if you’re female
I got nice merit from Case Western (and UC Davis, but I’m in-state)</p>

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<p>My son got merit aid from UCLA, UCSB, UCSD and UCB. He is in state.</p>

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<p>Pro28 - you are right, although Northwestern and Notre Dame do not either. Not sure about MIT and CalTech, but in any case some of these other schools, like Chicago and Duke, have pretty limited merit aid. Few students get it. So while on paper the majority of top 50 schools might offer merit aid, the reality is that maybe half or less offer what I, at least, consider a significant amount. Also many of these offer no “automatic consideration” merit aid, but instead you have to apply separately. Schools like Miami and Tulane consider all students for merit when they apply and in fact give quite a bit. So I think the intent here was to find the ones that offer a fairly significant amount, although that is my inference.</p>

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<p>*My son got merit aid from UCLA, UCSB, UCSD and UCB. He is in state. *</p>

<p>Do you mean Regents? </p>

<p>How much did he get from each school?</p>

<p>What were his stats?</p>

<p>Is he a URM?</p>

<p>Was financial need considered at all (I’ve heard that Regents is now considering need for amounts more than $1k. Of course, $1k won’t mean much for someone paying OOS UC rates.).</p>

<p>Would he have gotten these if he had been OOS?</p>

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<p>Answers to above:</p>

<p>Yes at two of the universities, no at two of the universities</p>

<p>Ranging from $5,000 to $15,000</p>

<p>4.8 weighted GPA (4.0 unweighted), Scholar of Scholars (Class rank #1), 34 ACT, 3 subject tests of 700, 770, & 780, National AP Scholar, Nationally Ranked Tennis Player, NHS, CSF, Mu Alpha Theta, etc.</p>

<p>No, he is not URM</p>

<p>Yes, they did look at financial need. However, minimum GPA to be considered for merit aid was a 4.1. Example, UCB only awards 2500 of these scholarships total (from the entire student population). It’s not the typical “you get this only if you have need scholarship.”</p>

<p>Yes, OOS could receive this.</p>

<p>Bottom line, he would have been able to attend UCSD and UCSB for free. At Berkeley at UCLA, he would have had $4000 in loans. He selected Berkeley.</p>

<p>Oh, he also received a $30,000 scholarship to Harvey Mudd. Same type of thing. Need was considered but it was merit based.</p>