I’m a junior and trying to determine my safety and match schools. I live in NJ so I’m considering state schools like Rutgers (New Brunswick), TCNJ, and Montclair, as well as Drexel in Philly and UDel out of state. What I’m having trouble finding is information from the schools on scholarships. I hear often about people getting full rides due to academics, but I can’t find the general basis per school on WHO they give large scholarships too.
Right now I have a weighted cumulative GPA of 4.35 (unweighted is somewhere around 3.9 probably), 1350/1600 SAT (taken as a sophomore May 2016) and a 1470/1520 PSAT (taken October 2016 as a junior). I am ranked in the top 2% of my class, am taking 3 APs this year and 4-5 next year, and I’m a girl going into biomedical engineering. However, I have no idea how I rank next to other students and as proud as I am of my accomplishments so far, I know there are better applicants out there. What should I work toward in order to garner these kinds of scholarships?
Are you National Merit?
Your GPA is solid, but the SAT score can use a little help if you want your pick of automatic full rides (not full tuition only). If you study hard for it and get 1400+ you should be able to have a nice list of safety schools with full rides. So that’s what it would take, I suppose.
Are you an URM? That will make a huge difference for Rutgers. Your SAT is too low for Rutgers large scholarships. My D had a 1500/1600 and about .1 lower in GPA and got nothing this year. My son had a 4.0 unweighted and 32 ACT last year and got 0. Your chance of getting a scholarship is much greater if you are a URM. Rutgers is really into diversity. In any case, keep working on your SAT score.
You will get some scholarship from Drexel. My guess is about $15- $20k based on my S’s offer. I think a bit may be based on financial need too. Not sure about that though.
I don’t know about TCNJ.
Take a look at past scholarship threads to get an idea of stats for each college.
Whoops, didn’t realize you wanted full rides from these schools specifically. Ignore me.
Montclair has zero money. I would not bother to apply there if you need money. Look instead at Rowan (great merit aid, up and coming school, especially in engineering). You could also look at Ramapo (not sure about engineering, but they give good merit aid) and Stockton - both of these are smaller schools with small reputations but are building them by bringing in high caliber kids with good merit aid.
TCNJ built itself up this way in the early 90s, and they don’t give out much money anymore. Seeing that Rowan and TCNJ have similar costs, Rowan is the better financial deal. Look over in the “College” threads specific for Rowan and TCNJ for more info. I am a graduate of TCNJ (recipient of that merit money in the 90s) and my daughter and foster son are students at Rowan now and recipients of significant merit aid. In my daughter’s case she will graduate with zero debt, in part because of that.
My NMI was 219, cutoff for NJ is 221 or 222 I think. I’m not an URM - just a white girl in a moderately suburban part of NJ with a larger income bracket (yet not nearly enough money to fund 4 years of school, especially w most schools at $30,000-$70,000 a year). I’m taking the SAT in two weeks for the March test and expecting a much better math score - I was only halfway into algebra 2 and scored a 650 when I got a 1350. My essay was also 22/24 so I’m not retaking. I’m planning to do Bio M and Math II SAT subject tests since I’m taking honors instead of AP Calc next year. Sidenote: is AP Physics worth dropping GPA over if I’m going into engineering, or should I take AP Environmental for an easy A?
Thank you about the info on Drexel, Montclair and Rutgers, tho! I figured Rutgers was really hard to score any scholarships from but I’m holding out for a better SAT score hopefully over 1450 that could help me with scholarships for other schools.
By the way, my post refers to Rutgers New Brunswick. It is easier to get a scholarship to Newark or Camden.
I think OOS students with 33 ACT and top class rank got about $10k from Pitt this year, that would still leave about $30k.
Suny Buffalo offers a few Presiddntial scholarships I think
Ohio State gives National Buckeye scholarship and also other scholarships depending on stats.
U Toledo gives some merit. Also Case Western and U Rochester.
In the south I think U Alabama Birmingham has BioE and great merit.
Wichita State might also be an option.
Look at the “flagship matching program” at U Maine
U Delaware has some competitive merit
Take a look at University of Alabama’s scholarships. Also, U of Vt and Boulder are generous.
Full rides are rare if you’re not a NMF. You may be hearing about people saying that they got “full rides” when really they either just got free tuition…or they’re low income and they got a free ride need-based aid.
Talk to your parents about how much they can pay each year. If they can pay, say, $15k per year, then if you get a free tuition scholarship then you’ll be fine.
Really? UVM’s OOS tuition is $40k. CU-Boulder’s COA is almost $50k.
ASU has pretty good automatic scholarships based on grades/SAT/rank so you can just enter your info and have a firm number from them in 10-15m.
And full tuition, full ride is not particularly plentiful in the Northeast.
@Russug 1400+ SAT is absolutely no guarantee of a full ride. I would think 1500 and above would greatly increase your chance of a full ride but even then that is usually not enough. NM finalists are in a much better position to receive full rides. Full rides are rare, full tuition is much more available, even for top students.
Does Temple have what you’re looking for?
Take a look at the partner schools for the Stamps Foundation which is a full COA scholarship at some (most?) of those schools: http://www.stampsfoundation.org/partners/#wheretoapply Also take a look at the profiles of students who have received the scholarship to get an idea of what they’re looking for and if it may even be a possibility for you. Sometimes it’s not the gpa and test scores that will set you apart, but the extracurriculars you have been dedicated to. However, having top 1% test scores and an UW GPA close to 4.0 is probably what gets them to even look at your ec’s.
Not even full ride would be necessary, but full tuition or like half of total cost would be what I’d aim for. I know full rides are hard to achieve and I’m just trying to get whatever I can
Look for the ’ inexpensive college’s : 25k all inclusive" thread in the financial aid forum, perhaps pinned under 'most popular fa threads ’ or something of the kind.
Augustana in Illinois will be 25k or so for your current sat score. Look into Drake, Hendrix, Truman State, UMW for that level of scholarships.
If ou’re interested in stem, UTD is worth looking into, with AES scholarships for 1450 and opportunity to compete for McDermott if you hit 1500.
UC Boulder is not generous. Have no idea why that was mentioned.