<p>I have a 2250 superscore and 100.5 weighted gpa (dunno how to convert) so how would I figure out which type of schools I would be able to get good scholarships from? How do you guys figure this stuff out? A lot of the time the schools dont have specific grade requirements listed so how would you know your chances of getting good scholarships and full/half rides and that stuff?</p>
<p>thanks for any help</p>
<p>The rule of thumb seems to be a school in which your admission stats puts you in the top 25% of all accepted applicants.</p>
<p>U of Alabama has guaranteed merit for those stats. More if you are a National Merit.</p>
<p>Look here for Merit schools:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html</a></p>
<p>Also – You will need your parents to run EFC. Most schools reduce your financial aid package by the merit and expect families to pay the full EFC. Other schools “gap” – which means the EFC + Merit + FA will be less than the total cost of attendance.
[EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp)</p>
<p>Also – Be aware some top schools do not offer merit and instead only have financial aid.</p>
<p>Are you an int’l?</p>
<p>If so, then not all scholarships are available to you. Also, FAFSA isn’t for int’ls either.</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of your best SAT from ONE sitting. Some schools do not use superscore for scholarships.</p>
<p>How much can you or your family contribute?</p>
<p>You mention wanting to migrate? Don’t know if you can do that if your purpose is for education. You would be applying for an education visa.</p>
<p>In general, the most selective schools (such as those in the US News top 20 or so) do not offer merit scholarships because they do not need to in order to attract the best students. The exceptions (Chicago, Duke, Hopkins) offer a few, including a few in large dollar amounts, but the competition for them would be intense. We’re talking more than very high scores and grades here. WUSTL is the one top-20 school I can think of that offers merit scholarships to a high percentage of students (~25%), but the average grant is <$10K.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html</a></p>
<p>If $10K-$15K would make a difference, then the sweet spot for you may be schools ranked in the US News 21-50 range or so, including LACs. If you need much more than that, then you may need to look at less selective schools including public universities like Alabama that seem to have a hard time keeping their top students in state.</p>
<p>For detailed, reliable information about the number of merit grants and average amounts, look to section H of a school’s Common Data Set document. Google for the school name + “Common Data Set”. Usually it’s a pdf or a spreadsheet, so you’ll need the appropriate application or viewer.</p>
<p>If you are an international candidate, the place to start is at the local office of EducationUSA [EducationUSA</a> | Study Abroad, Student Visa, University Fairs, College Applications and Study in the U.S. / America](<a href=“http://educationusa.state.gov/]EducationUSA”>http://educationusa.state.gov/) The staff there have helped students just like you before, and can tell you which colleges and universities here have given significant scholarship money to students with your profile.</p>
<p>lol what did I say to make you guys think I’m an international student? I’m not so i dont have to worry about that lol.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice guys. will try looking up the common data sets and seeing what those specific schools have to offer.</p>
<p>btw, my sittings are March (R: 710 M: 690 W: 780) June: (R:670 M: 760 W: 710) if that helps. im not exactly sure about the efc though since the situation with my parents is a little weird.</p>
<p>You need to find out what your EFC is likely to be. There are good calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>Since you describe your parental situation as “a little weird” you might want to pop over to the Financial Aid Forum and get more specific advice.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>It looks like from your past posts that you’re applying to BS/MD programs. A lot of those programs award scholarships for the undergrad portion because the kids accepted to these programs are much stronger academically than the school’s general student body. </p>
<p>Most schools don’t release their cutoffs for merit scholarships, but if you talk to people who applied in previous years and got merit money it’s usually easy to figure out what it is.</p>
<p>*
Most schools don’t release their cutoffs for merit scholarships, but if you talk to people who applied in previous years and got merit money it’s usually easy to figure out what it is. *</p>
<p>While it’s true that many schools don’t post assured merit, you cannot tell how much merit you’ll get by talking to students from previous years. With the economic downturn, many schools have cut back their scholarship offers.</p>
<p>However, at Bama, you would get at least free tuition with your SAT scores and GPA…that is assured if you apply by Dec 1st.</p>
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<p>That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to get any idea about what scholarships they award. The economy may have affected schools in that the amount of scholarship you’re awarded might be different than someone with the same stats who applied the year before, but getting info from previous years is still a good way to gauge whether you’re going to get any merit money at all or what range it could be in.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help guys, and especially mom2collegekids.</p>
<p>and yeah schrizto, im kinda applying to the bsmd programs as a shot in the dark since i dont think im as qualified as most others applying (wish i knew about these kind of programs earlier so i could’ve built up better ecs and would’ve tried harder throughout highschool grrrrr). im gonna try Brown PLME\USC\Union College\Villanova\VirginiaCommonWealth\GWU just to see if i can get lucky or something lol. chances are i wont get into any so im trying to see where would be good to go to for pre med.</p>
<p>ill see if i can figure out that efc business.</p>