Hello! I regularly use CollegeConfidential for help with ACT preparation, but I was interested in finding out if any members could provide some insight into my chances for scholarship money at Indiana University, Pursue University, or Ohio State.
My high school accomplishments and extracurriculars are (I do not mean to sound like I am bragging, I am just providing these for informational purposes!):
-3.99 unweighted GPA (my school doesn’t offer a weighted scale for AP classes)
-Currently ranked 1st in my graduating class of 139
-31 composite ACT with a current 32 composite superscore. I am awaiting my results from the April 18th test and hope my composite and superscore increase to a 32 and 33, respectively.
-Student Council Vice President
-National Honor Society member
Two-year varsity track runner
-Three-year varsity soccer player
-One-year cross-country runner
-If any of you are familiar with the high school competitive business organization DECA, I am heavily involved. I have won three state championships in three events and last year took first at the international conference for Hotel and Lodging Management.
-Prom Committee member
-I also take a rigorous course load to the extent that my school offers.
I am currently a junior and am excitedly looking towards the future and applying to colleges. As I mentioned above, my top three choices are Indiana University, Purdue University, and Ohio State. If anyone could please provide feedback on my chances for larger scholarships (or better yet, estimations of expected/possible scholarships), I would greatly appreciate it!
Well I got accepted with a 3.62 GPA
SAT: 1440 I believe… Somewhere around there.
3 yrs on the wrestling team
1 yr track and field
Volunteer at the hospital and other community org
(I’m out of state and Hispanic, that may have played a role? I’m not sure though)
I’m pretty sure you’ll get accepted
Merit was very competitive at Purdue this year and they say their review for merit is holistic. Try for it by applying early action, but you can’t count on getting it. Lots of kids with high stats didn’t get it. Indiana residents also get priority.
For IU, it depends on the college you are applying to, as well. And it’s all about the stats, I believe - although your ECs are good and could only help.
A 31 ACT and 3.9 GPA is just above the MINIMUM for some of the scholarships I saw listed - a higher ACT score will help you get a little more money.
“A little” is the key phrase here. IU is known for not being overly generous. And their OOS tuition is pretty high. Expect to pay at least 3/4 of the OOS tuition even with the merit aid.
Not trying to discourage you, just being honest with you. I went to IU for my Bachelor’s. I loved it, it’s a good school.
And, they are very popular with both in-state and OOS students, and they are not generous - they don’t have to be.
If you can afford to pay 3/4 of the tuition and the rest of the COA there, take the ACT again and go for it. Every little bit helps.
Don’t know much about Purdue or Ohio State. I am familiar with IU because I went there, looked into it for my own kid, and a relative has just been admitted. His friend was admitted with a 4.0 and 28 ACT. He got no merit aid at all.
And he is in-state.
If you need a cheaper alternative to IU or Purdue, look at Ball State in Muncie IN (it ain’t Bloomington, but I’ve always heard the academics were just as solid), or maybe Iowa State in Ames Iowa. The latter is around 20k for OOS tuition and you would actually qualify for a nice merit package, I think, that would make the cost roughly half of what it would cost to attend IU. And Ames Iowa is a nice college town. The campus is really pretty too, and they also have lots of options for majors.
Thanks everyone for the responses! I did forget to mention that I am out-of-state so that would certainly play a role as well.
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Yes, it will. Not only will you need better scores in order to be “in the running” for consideration for merit, but merit at both of those schools has dropped for OOS students, leaving families with a lot more to pay for.
What are your parents saying? How much will they pay each year? If you don’t know, ask them.
@“Erin’s Dad” I live in Michigan. I didn’t really enjoy my visit to U of M and I don’t think I’d look there again. I also do not care for Michigan State. Both great schools, just not the right fit for me!
Your costs to attend Purdue, Indiana, or Ohio State are going to be high as an out of state student…unless you happen to get one of the competitive scholarships at those schools.
If you did not like the campus at UM, then you will probably care even less for the OSU campus. Both campuses are enormous and OSU is not as nice as UM. Not even close. I live near OSU and have visited both UM and IU.
IU definitely has the best campus of those three. Seems almost like a garden or city park. It feels much smaller than it really is, and it is definitely smaller than UM or OSU. Bloomington is a very nice town (at least near campus).
I have never visited Purdue, so cannot address its campus. Obviously it is a good engineering school.
Indiana’s central campus is like an arboretum. It really is pretty. With the exception of two buildings they are all made with a facade of Indiana limestone. Not a bad thing but our D2 decided she just didn’t like it. She preferred Purdue’s red brick. I think most would argue that Bloomington is the nicer college town. Purdue has a better proximity to a major city (Chicago) D1 who attends Purdue has been there three times in two years.
I think the bigger issue is whether his parents will pay for an OOS school w/o enough merit to either bring down the cost to instate or whatever the amount his parents are willing to pay.
It has become harder and harder to get large merit from IU and Purdue. Getting need-based aid would be limited to whatever small amount of fed aid he might qualify for.
First he needs to ask him parents how much they’ll pay.
You have an excellent chance of getting a scholarship at Indiana U because they are based off stats, but the issue is that they don’t offer more for out of state students than they do for in state students. I know when my son applied for colleges with similar stats, the merit aid he received from IU would have been about $9000/year which was roughly in state tuition, however out of state students also only received $9000/year and then had to pay the difference between in state and out of state tuition costs.
At Purdue, it’s difficult to know your chances for aid, since they are no longer stats based. My son, who had very similar stats with a slightly higher GPA (4.0 UW when he applied + had a weighted GPA on his transcript), received absolutely no merit aid from Purdue. However he had classmate who had lower stats, that were offered some merit aid, I guess they wrote better essays? It still makes little sense to me. The large merit awards at Purdue are HIGHLY competitive (and will most likely be awarded to students with 35+ ACT scores).
What is your intended major? I’ve been a student at both Purdue and IU, and they both have their strengths, but few areas of overlap. Even in an area like computer science, the approach at the two schools is fairly different, IU’s focus being more theoretical and Purdue’s being more practical.
I’m surprise that M2K hasn’t suggest looking into Alabama with your stats. I got my undergrad from IU and my son is now at Bama and I think there are many parallels between the schools. The schools are about the same size and I think Tuscaloosa and Bloomington have very similar atmospheres. If you increase your ACT to a 32, you’d currently qualify for a full tuition scholarship there, even as an out of state student, so it might be worth looking into.
I don’t know anything about Ohio State, so I’ll let someone else address that.
I'm surprise that M2K hasn't suggest looking into Alabama with your stats. I got my undergrad from IU and my son is now at Bama and I think there are many parallels between the schools. The schools are about the same size and I think Tuscaloosa and Bloomington have very similar atmospheres. If you increase your ACT to a 32, you'd currently qualify for a full tuition scholarship there, even as an out of state student, so it might be worth looking into.
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If the student likes IU and Purdue, then he/she may like Bama as well.
What is the student’s major? Hotel Management? Something else?
Right now, the student would get a 2/3 tuition award. If s/he gets an ACT 32+, then s/he would qualify for full tuition merit (if awards don’t change…we’ll find out in a couple of months).
Since you are looking at colleges in both Ohio and Indiana, I recommend considering Miami University of Ohio. It is much smaller than the others (about a fourth the size of OSU, and a third the size of UM or IU). Miami has a very nice campus, and a strong reputation for undergraduate teaching.