I am a U.S. Citizen attending high school abroad (IB system), but have lived most of my life in the U.S. and definitely plan on studying back home.
Was just wondering any key things I should be aware of when trying to apply for merit based scholarships in the future.
Merit scholarships depend on your standardized test scores. Plan to take them a few times, which may be difficult to arrange depending on where you live and may cost a lot more money than taking the test in the US.
Is your High School used to sending students to the US, do they know how to write a good recommendation?
Depending on where your parents live, you may be considered an out-of-state student everywhere – meaning public universities are not only unlikely to offer you any aid, they will make you pay full out-of-state tuition… and at many, that’s $50,000+ per year.
Since you’re looking for money, your best bet will be targeting private schools, and the few publics which offer automatic scholarships based on grades/scores (such as University of Alabama, for example)
@katliamom The student is looking for merit aid. There aren’t a lot of public universities that give NO merit aid awards to OOS students.
@yellowsky the most important things…get the best SAT or ACT scores you can possibly get…and get the best GPA you can get…and take a challenging HS course load.
Then…you need to make sure you apply to colleges that GIVE merit aid awards. Some do…and others do not.
You can look at this thread…start at the beginning because folks got a little off topic at the end. This was written in 2017…but it will give you some ideas anyway. Check each college website.
If your school doesn’t normally send students to college in the US, have a chat with the counselors at the closest advising center of EducationUSA or AMIDEAST. They are familiar with the local secondary schools and can help you learn more about the process of getting in and getting money here. They also will be delighted to work with a US citizen who has a few more options (such as filing for US federal financial aid with the FAFSA), and no need to get a student visa.
https://educationusa.state.gov/
http://www.amideast.org/