Transfer with merit aid?

Parents Forum
1

<p>I really like my school. I’m not desperate to get out, crying and calling home every night, etc. However, I feel, at this point in my life, a smaller school might be better for me (I currently attend one with 10,000-15,000 students total). It almost feels like there’s too much to do, too many people to meet, and a really like of a cohesive, tight “campus feel.” So I’d figure I’d put out a few transfer apps and see if anything good turns up. If not, I’d happily stay at my current school…. But I’d at least like to look at some smaller schools</p>

<p>Here’s a big snag: I’m currently on a big merit scholarship and because my EFC would really stretch my parents, I’d need a big scholarship to any school to which I might transfer. I know merit aid is rarer for transfers as opposed to freshman, but maybe you would know of some possibilities?</p>

<p>High school: 4.0 UW, tough course load (4’s and 5’s on 13 AP tests), good EC’s (commitment and leadership positions), top 2%, equivalent of ~2180 SAT, many school/regional and state level awards (no national)</p>

<p>College: GPA unknown but estimating around a 3.7 (dependent on finals, of course), involved in many EC’s (no leadership positions as of yet),good rec’s possible, writing award, honors classes</p>

<p>Major: Biology but I’m a language nut as well, particularly interested in Asian, Middle Eastern, and Classical languages</p>

<p>Regions: upper south (OK and AR), West, Northwest, Maybe Midwest
Not in a big city with no enclosure (no NYU or BU) or a million miles from civilization (i.e., Kenyon)
Mellow social scene (not a drinker/partier)
Co-ed preferred but all-female with guys close by is okay</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I'll give you a bump but I really haven't looked at transfer merit aid at all. I'm hoping someone knows something. Have you tried the transfer forum? I'd post there , too.</p>

3

<p>From their website: Lawrence has a limited number of merit-based scholarship funds available to transfer students. All transfer applicants to Lawrence are considered for scholarship awards and will be notified of any merit-based scholarships at the time of admission.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/apply/transfer.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/apply/transfer.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>How about Hendrix in Arkansas?</p>

5

<p>U of Redlands offered my daughter merit aid as a transfer. You probably are best off looking for colleges you are interested in an contacting them directly. My guess would be that schools with lower retention rates and good freshman merit aid would be the most likely.</p>

6

<p>See, the problem is that I don't really know WHERE to start. Last year, I focused primarily on large schools, so I'm kind of left in the lurch here, which makes me wonder if starting research from scratch is even worth it considering that I AM happy here...</p>

<p>I guess the idea of a cohesive, tight student body just seems really appealing.</p>

7

<p>You are happy and doing well. Is there a way you can make your school "smaller" by getting involved in a few, selected activities, making friends through them, and not allowing yourself to get sidetracked by too many outside interests? It may not be the size of the school but your approach to it.</p>

8

<p>Is there an honors program that you can get into at your current school? It might make things seem more cohesive and focussed.</p>

<p>It's hard to know but you could just be hitting the wall of the initial excitement's having worn off. Then you may start feeling really at home after you go through this stretch, as things start to become familiar and more coherent. If that's where you are, transferring just opens you up to repeat the pattern in a year. But you can't really know, can you? That's a difficult place to be.</p>

9

<p>I'm in the honors program and activities and so forth, but I can't shake this feeling of nowing there's a good chance I won't ever see my classmates again after this semester as we will likely never have class together again and aren't in the same activities. Like I said, I'm not making any decisions now, but I would like having options after seeing how next semester is. So, any more school suggestions would be great, if just as way to help me think through this.</p>

10

<p>What about using computer-based search methods, with your search criteria being as you stated above? Perhaps you could generate a first-brush list of colleges pretty quickly.</p>