<p>Thank you so much for this list! This is wonderful. I’m just starting and it looks SO labor-intensive!</p>
<p>Fun to see this thread rise again.</p>
<p>GeekMom63–it may be labor intensive, but if you can score a college education you can afford–as the commercials say, “Priceless!!”</p>
<p>I don’t remember if [Bridges</a> Transitions - Online Education Planning, Career Exploration, and High School/College Test Prep Resources](<a href=“http://www.bridges.com%5DBridges”>http://www.bridges.com) is mentioned in this thread, (and OK, I just don’t want to have to read 9 pages to look for it). Merit scholarships are included in possible search definitions. It seems to be a subscription service. Ask your school’s guidance office if they subscribe so that you can have a password.</p>
<p>Thanks MUCH to the OP for being a voice of reason! I just went back and reread the original thread. I think you shook things up a little when you dared to defy the prevailing wisdom of the equation that states that: high acheiving kid = entitlement to “top” school = big bucks = guaranteed wonderful, successful future. It just isn’t so, and THANK YOU for pointing that out! </p>
<p>I think that now that this economy has come back from the stratospheric levels of the
1980s and 1990s, there will be a LOT more pragmatists in the college search process. </p>
<p>The status-driven parent is a thing of the past.</p>
<p>So, conclusion is that hard work is nothing, not worth it, waste of time. We need to tell this to our kids, just be lazy bumms, you will be very well rewarded with this attitude. Thank you for education.</p>
<p><<conclusion is=“” that=“” hard=“” work=“” nothing,=“” not=“” worth=“” it,=“” waste=“” of=“” time.=“”>></conclusion></p>
<p>MiamiDAP, I completely disagree. My oldest DD will be NFSF at least and is thrilled that there are colleges who will love to have her attend there, and are willing to give her a full ride scholarship. That hard work she has put in, along with a natural aptitude for testing, will be rewarded by certain schools. </p>
<p>If she hadn’t worked hard, she wouldn’t have the GPA she has or the test scores, and then she wouldn’t be eligible to be named a National Merit scholar. Just because it’s not HYP, doesn’t mean it’s not a good school.</p>
<p>I didn’t read through the whole thread, but searched for SMU (Southern Methodist University) and it didn’t come up. Sorry if it’s mentioned and I missed it.
SMU has a presidential scholarship which is a full ride + study abroad and transportation costs (and other perks as well).<br>
The minimum SAT score to be considered is 1350. Class rank required is top 10% (although homeschoolers will be considered), a rigorous high school course load and good ECs are expected. There is also an interview with 3 profs.</p>
<p>Looks like i won’t be able to get a full ride…:(</p>
<p>My gpa is good, 3.71, but my act is 22 :(. I have a real hard time doing timed tests and such because i freeze up. Thats another reason why i didn’t take the SAT. I studied for about 2 months before hand as well.</p>
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<p>How does one secure merit aid without working very hard? I’m confident that my son will not be in competition with “lazy bums” but with other top achieving students. Further, my son really likes the idea of providing the funding for his college. It makes him feel proud and more in control of his future. </p>
<p>It is simply untrue that a world class education can only be found at colleges that charge 50K+.</p>
<p>my s is on a full ride at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He worked hard both in school and in preparing for his tests and it was a positive outcome for him. my d earned 100% Bright Futures scholarship (Fl) and an additional scholarship from New College of Florida. I felt their job in high school was to learn, and apply themselves. Glad they focused on these goals as it really paid off.</p>
<p>icedragon, I am sorry to hear the disappointment in your voice. I hope that you feel very proud of your 3.71, which is the score you have earned over years and a much more accurate picture of who you are as a student. </p>
<p>Have you spoken to your guidance counselor? From my perspective, a student who has an ACT score of 22 and a gpa of 3.71 is a hard working student who would surely be an attractive prospect to certain colleges. </p>
<p>Is it possible to be allowed extra time for the ACT? If there is a learning issue that makes timed tests harder for you than for others, there maybe. Again, talk to someone at your school. </p>
<p>I wish you the very best of luck.</p>
<p>My conclusion about hard work meanning nothing was based on post #125: “high acheiving kid = entitlement to “top” school = big bucks = guaranteed wonderful, successful future. It just isn’t so”</p>
<p>My D. has worked very hard and continued doing the same in college. It has been greatly rewarded, not only with a lot of Merit $$ but with other opportunities, like her job, research opportunities and other privileges at her school that are simply not open to general student body. I told her many times that she achieved it herself and that is the only way. Talents will not go as far as hard work. However, I have read an opposite opinion on this thread.</p>
<p>Look, nothing is guaranteed.</p>
<p>But hard work will maximize your chances of doing well. Isn’t that obvious?</p>
<p>Do the best you can with whatever gifts you have been given. As mentioned on another thread, some kids have social/political/business/empathic skills that some “brainy” kids do not have. </p>
<p>Work hard and find the college that wants what YOU have to offer.</p>
<p>Icedragon</p>
<p>Have you taken a practice SAT? Many kids who struggle with time issues actually do better on the SAT and even the very best testers struggle with the time issue on the ACT.</p>
<p>Think about trying the SAT. You might surprise yourself, but be sure and study/practice for it, actually using a timer.</p>
<p>For many, though, ACT is much easier, since it relates more to school material than some general ability level. I belieive that good students are doing better on ACT with some exceptions, of course. What helped my D is self-prep by taking practice tests, first un-timed to get familiar with format, then timed. One week of self-prep was plenty to pleasantly surprize her with decent score first time around.</p>
<p>Miami…what I am speaking out against is this pervasive sense of entitlement that I see so often on CC…that every high achieving kid “deserves” admission to a top 25 school, and that the parents will do anything, ANYTHING to make it happen. I also have huge problems with the notion that admission to such a school is a guaranteed ticket to success. This just isn’t the truth. </p>
<p>I stand by my post.</p>
<p>my d found the ACT much easier and also scored very well first time around. my s excelled on the SAT–they are different learners so it kind of made sense…</p>
<p>PianoMom65,
I agree, that nothing is guaranteed. They need to apply to several places and see what happened. However, usually hard working kids will get into one / several of those selective colleges / programs without input / help from their parents. Seemed to work for my D. and kids around her. D got into 50% on her list, which still gave her enough choices, but she was realistic about where she applied. Maybe some need a sense of reality in addition to great GPA’s, scores, EC’s requirements and interview skills.</p>
<p>This is a fabulous thread. I just discovered it and I’ve printed it out; will use it like the bible when my daughter reapplies to colleges next year. I looked at most of the posts but not all, so I’m sorry if this is repetitive: Here in NJ, Rutgers offers a generous free ride automatically if you have 1500 SAT and are in the top 5% in the class (they call this the Presidential). This applies OOS as well. No essays, no interviews–just the stats. Also, you can get $10000 or less depending on the stats, eg 1500 SAT but top 10% in class, etc. It’s on their site–a graph.</p>
<p>CUNY has a fabulous program called the MacCaulay Honors Program–if you love NYC and are independent, it looks great. </p>
<p>For the bulk of people, money is the number one factor. My D got into the very fine MICA on half tuition (scholarship/grant), but had to turn them down because we still couldnt’ afford $25K per year. She also got into RISD (probably best art school in the country) and they offered us nothing, so she had to turn them down too. I think she’s making lemonades out of lemons (turning this year into a gap year; long story), but for us money is the first factor. Unlike some posters for whom the money is a choice - either, ‘We can do it but we’ll have to tighten our belts, not go out to eat, etc." or the very fortunate, "we can do it and we dont’ have to worry about cost" - for us the money is the deal breaker. I’m unemployed, and when I work, I earn less than $50K, and I’m a single mom with five kids. The money’s just not there. Full rides are a fabulous deal if your child has the fortune to be blessed with brains and the gumption to have worked hard.</p>
<p>I myself ended up going to Michigan State on a free ride in their honors college, long ago (my ex went too). It seems like not much has changed (MSU still has free rides, too), so let me share my own experience: THere were positives and negatives. The positives were the money (obviously) and the honors college which has changed slightly, but still offers what it did: I was on an honors floor, had a great advisor, and took honors undergrad classes, plus was allowed to take grad classes (I took 800 level English classes in my Junior and Senior year). You also did an Honors thesis. So positives were that I met a lot of bright kids and was able to take some great classes. Negatives, for me, was that there weren’t an awful lot of us and we were surrounded by the larger ‘regular’ MSU. I was always aware I was ‘honors,’ much as I felt when in high school. It was subtle but pervasive. However, it wasn’t a deal breaker, and I learned a huge amount. Also for me MSU was a HUGE culture shock, in that I’m Jewish from the East Coast. I can’t tell you how many people earnestly tried to convert me (including my first roommate, all year). Very frequently I would be walking to class and have to pass a Christian born again street preacher, who would shout that anyone who didn’t believe in Jesus was going to hell, over and over and over, as I walked by. It was pretty stressful and horrible in some ways. But that’s exclusive to this particular school, for my particular experience. The only thing that I can generalize here is that you should be very careful, when choosing your free ride school (if you get in, that you fit with the school.</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for this wonderful list.</p>