Where can I get a full ride?

College Search & Selection
1

Hey CC!

I’m currently applying to schools but realizing I should probably find a couple safety schools where I’m confident I can get close to a full ride (tuition + room and board). I can’t really afford to pay anything for school and my FAFSA efc is 0. I’m in-state California so I applied to UCs which is probably my best option, just want to add on a couple of private safeties. Also applying to a bunch of fancy schmancy privates with big aid but don’t want to count on any of those.

Ideal school: mid-size, strong in econ/ir/business, on the liberal side, preferably not too much of a party school, makes it rain on my aid offer

Stats:

Who is me:
California
White
Male
Low-Income
Public high school in wealthy area

Arbitrary for-profit testing:
ACT - 36 Composite Single Sitting (36M 36E 36R 35S waiting on writing)
SAT - 2330 Single Sitting (800M 780R 750W)
Other College Board gold mines - Math II 800, Literature 730, Spanish Reading 750, Spanish Listening 740
Even more CB Ponzi Schemes - Calc AB 5, Human Geo 5, English Lang 5, Spanish Lang 5, Spanish Lit 5, Statistics 5 (and a couple that I took for no reason without self-studying or taking the class so they’re 3s or 4s, probably won’t submit)

Grades:
Expected after 1st semester senior year:
UW: 3.8 UC: 4.25 W: 4.28
Really weak 9th and 10th grade years, very strong upwards trend (9th 3.8, 10th 3.8, 11th 4.8, 12th 5.0)
Senior year class load: AP Calc BC, AP Art History, AP Microecon, AP Gov, AP Physics, AP Comp Lit
Trophies:
-2nd Place in a speech event at speech and debate national championship
-2nd Place at an international debate tournament
-1st Place FRC Robotics World Championship
-1st Place Boys State California Oratory
-1st Place Boys State California Legal Advocacy

Things I ditch class to do - just a few to not waste your time:
-Debate: 3 years Finalist for the US National debate team (Top 15 in the country, many individual awards, coaching middle school debate, and invited to a tournament in Korea over the summer
-Local Homeless Shelter: 9 years Volunteer for a long time, first ever minor on the board of director for a couple years, and head of a group of high school students that intern at the shelter
-Robotics: 2 years Business lead for hs robotics team, raised about $140,000 each year, and was invited to Japan for a sponsor tour
-Business Consultant (Paid): 3 years Coaching and working for local startups and larger corporations coaching on pitch decks, business strategy, and marketing
-Spanish Translator (Paid): 3 years Translating Venezuelan birth certificates, translating online college courses
-Entrepreneurship: 2 years Work with a small team to develop a GPS bike computer, pitched to local angel investors, project eventually failed but makes for a cool story and shows my interest

Thanks!!

2

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

3

Pitt, the merit deadline is tomorrow!

Many deadlines have passed.

http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

Were you a National Merit Semi Finalist?

http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com

4

I checked out the full tuition website, but I really need somewhere that can cover room and board too

5

I’ll submit for Pittsburgh, and no I’m only National Merit Commended

6

UA Huntsville and U Mississippi have later deadlines
I suspect that you will get into one of your reach schools, but if not maybe @mom2collegekids can help you out with U Alabama

For privates, check here:

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-09-19/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need

7

Check the yolasite list again (http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/).
The Alabama (Tuscaloosa) deadline has passed, but it lists several full ride (or tuition + housing) scholarships with deadlines that either have not passed or are not posted.
UA-Huntsville, Troy University, Florida A&M, etc.

As a high-stats, low-income applicant, you might do nearly as well with need-based aid
(although schools with the best offers usually are the most selective).

8

The UA Tuscaloosa deadline is TODAY!

Are you a NMSF??

Do your parents own a business?

9

UAH

UA (get it on it TODAY)

10

Alabama or other schools with full tuition scholarship probably won’t be significantly less expensive than UCs for a California resident with FAFSA EFC = $0. Full *ride/i scholarships (which are a subset of those in http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ ) are likely to be less expensive. But check school web sites, since some have changed.

Did you run the net price calculators at the UCs? UCs generally appear to be good for economics (and if you like math in your economics, UCB, UCSD, UCI, and UCSC offer higher math intermediate economics options), although only UCB, UCI, and UCR have undergraduate business.

11

What your major? You might want to try some meet need school as well. Lafayette College came within a few dollars of my efc without loans. Occidental which is n CA also meet need.

12

Run the NPC on these : Whitman, Lewis and Clark, St Olaf, Grinnell, Macalester, Earlham, Lawrence, Beloit, Kenyon, Denison, Lafayette, Franklin and Marshall, Dickinson , Muhlenberg, Skidmore, Vassar, St Lawrence, Hobart/william Smith.

13

What happened to your list?

Current College list in approximate ranking order:
1.) U of Chicago
2.) Stanford
3.) U Penn (with Huntsman, lower without)
4.) Brown
5.) Georgetown
6.) Harvard
7.) Johns Hopkins
8.) Claremont McKenna
9.) Cornell (legacy)
10.) UC San Diego
11.) Washington U
12.) UC Berkely
13.) George Mason (accepted to speech team)
14.) UC Los Angeles
15.) UC Santa Barbara

14

Thanks everyone for all of the advice! I’m adding on a few of the privates for financial aid and a few of the publics with merit aid

@mom2collegekids Not a NMSF unfortunately, only commended

@ucbalumnus Is the efc for the UCs the same as the net price? UCs definitely seem like a good option.

@sensation723 Undeclared, but in the area of business/econ/ir

@ClarinetDad16 Still applying to all of those but realized that none of the, are safeties where I know I’ll get a full ride, hence the thread

15

Net prices at UCs tend to be EFC + student contribution. Student contribution is $5,500 federal loan plus some work earnings (summer and part time during the school year). Run the net price calculator on each campus to see.