<p>3.3 GPA
SAT around 1950-2050.
School doesn't rank.</p>
<p>Any College that offers full scholarships to students in your score range.
Use the college View Search and check the"look for schools where my scores will be above average" box.
Also, community college will be an option for nearly no cost.
Scholarships also depend on outstanding extracurricular achievement though!</p>
<p>What is your CR+Math</p>
<p>I think that a big part of getting full rides (for me at least) was about essays and how you present yourself as a candidate. However, I’d try to get your gpa to a 3.5 or above, and you will be a better candidate for many scholarship competitions.</p>
<p>With you current stats, half rides shouldn’t be that hard to come across. From there, you could apply for private scholarships. Colleges like the Colleges that Change Lives Colleges and small LACs might not be your favorite choice, but they will give a ton of merit aid for a 3.3er and are more likely to read your whole application and consider you that way.</p>
<p>Also, look into schools that meet all of your need (tuition-EFC) or have a reputation for getting pretty close to it. </p>
<p>As for specific schools? Half rides would probably be Beloit, Ursinus, Lake Forest, Albion, University of Detroit Mercy, all of those types of schools.
Full ride? Talk to college reps about that or check out financial aid calculators for sepcific schools.</p>
<p>To give you some idea of expectations, here’s the University of Alabama’s page on merit scholarships for out-of-state applicants:
[url=<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama<a href=“You’d%20need%20a%20minimum%20GPA%20of%203.5%20and%20a%20minimum%201400%20CR+M%20SAT%20points,%20with%20the%20application%20submitted%20by%20Dec.%201,%20just%20to%20be%20considered%20for%20full%20tuition”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s Transylvania University’s page:
[url=<a href=“http://www.transy.edu/admissions/aid/academic_scholarships.htm]Transylvania”>Scholarships, Grants and Aid - Transylvania University]Transylvania</a> University. Academic and Other Scholarships<a href=“A%203.3%20GPA,%20with%201260%20CR+M%20and%20an%20application%20by%20Feb.%2001,%20could%20get%20you%20$10K/year%20against%20total%20costs%20of%20%7E$39K/year”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>If you need more than the above, look at less selective schools where your stats will stand out. Unfortunately, though, the much less selective schools typically have less money to offer. So rather than looking for a “full ride”, it may be more realistic to look for a less expensive, more affordable school (such as a local directional state university or community college).</p>
<p>I agree that some of the “Colleges That Change Lives” might be worth a look for merit money.</p>
<p>@bark- My sat results come back in a few weeks</p>
<p>@sagacioustud- Lake Forest’s net cost calculator shows I can afford the school, if I add up scholarships, loans, and my personal savings! Woot!</p>
<p>@everyone- thanks for the info,</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Do you have enough “personal savings” for all 4 years or just for one?</p>
<p>Also, you can’t rely on the NPC, so be sure to have other back ups just in case.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids- Just one. I do plan on getting jobs throughout the four years to help myself out. I will have backups- if no school I apply to gives me enough aid, I will go to a CC.</p>
<p>There are several threads on this topic in the financial aid forum, so go there and keep scrolling down until you find them. You also could use the search function to look for the two threads started by momfromtexas. Some of the scholarships mentioned no longer exist, but the search strategies that are discussed there are unbeatable.</p>
<p>@happymomof1- The problem with momfromtexas’s threads are that I can’t really relate- her sons were intelligent, competitive kids. I am not as much. So whereas her son’s may have been able to get a full scholarship at an average state school, I’d be able to get one at the crappiest of crap schools where the average student got in with a 1300 out of 2400 SAT score.</p>
<p>Well if you want a full ride, then that is what you will have to do.</p>
<p>Sit down with your parents. Talk about the money issue. Find out just how big an aid package you are going to need.</p>
<p>They won’t talk. Oh my god, they won’t. I tried with my dad today. I very seriously said “Dad, I need to know how much you’re willing to contribute to my college costs. I want to go away for college. We should talk about this.” He responded “We’ll talk about it when the time comes, just focus on your studies now” and I said “They time HAS come- I’m applying for schools next school year. Don’t you understand how much stress this is putting on me, not knowing anything” and he said “Okay, noted”.</p>
<p>!!?!?!?!?!?!?!</p>
<p>So yeah. I’m kind of in the dark.</p>
<p>@agreatperhaps I know how frustrating it is when parents aren’t really ontop of their financial situation. What I did was figured I’d be paying for all of my college myself. I took the merit aid I hoped to get subtracted it from the tuition of different colleges. If you can estimate your family EFC (ask for W2 and tax forms and go to an online calculator) take that “family contribution” and go into the process thinking you will have to cover that yourself. </p>
<p>And, by the way, I enjoy your user name. John Green fan, are we? Maybe even a nerdfighter? :)</p>
<p>So many nerdfighters on CC :p</p>
<p>Idk man.</p>
<p>Good advice from sagacioustud. Often “We’ll talk about it later.” means that there are no savings, and the parents have nowhere else to cut in the budget to make it work.</p>
<p>If you have a solid CC option as your back up, check that CC’s websites for scholarships too. Our CC has some full tuition scholarships that are open to students with a 3.0. By planning courses well, those students can finish their associates degrees for the cost of books and transportation.</p>
<p>And if your mom is the one who writes the checks each month for all the bills, try to get her to run some of the NPCs with you. She might be the one who can help you out.</p>
<p>Often “We’ll talk about it later.” means that there are no savings, and the parents have nowhere else to cut in the budget to make it work.</p>
<p>Exactly. So assume that they can’t be counted on to be regular sources of money. They may be able to help with textbook purchases or whatever, but if they can’t find a few hundred a month to put towards college then they won’t be able to even contribute $4k per year. </p>
<p>As for “going away to college,” that may be a fine goal, but unless you get the funds for that, it may not happen. That may also be an issue for your parents. They may think that commuting to the local school is “good enough.” Their money situation may be so tight that the thought of spending $10k per year on room and board is just frivolous.</p>
<p>You may want to see if anything here may work:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html</a></p>
<p>There’s only one ‘local school’ which they would be able to afford, and I would actually just move out and go to CC and get a part time job than go there. It’s our main state university, but out state’s school are more expensive than most so it’d just be cheaper to go to another state’s school, even with the extra cost of room and board. </p>
<p>My mom is worse than useless in this situation- it’s “you’re much too young to know anything about finances- so rude, when I was your age I knew nothing about my parents finances. You don’t need to know anything, why do you want to know? College? Oh, your dad will take care of it later, stop worrying”</p>
<p>And I say again !!!</p>
<p>If any of the schools with the automatic full rides (see link in #18) is suitable for you, put it on your application list as a safety, so that you can go there when your parents tell you that they cannot contribute the financial aid expected family contribution.</p>