Where can I get good Merit aid?

So as my current financial status holds, I will not get very much need based aid. My parents make about 160k a year, so I won’t get very much aid there. They also told me they would only pay 5k a year for my education. I have Med school aspirations, so I don’t want to be cripled in debt coming out of undergrad. Does anybody have any ideas of a school where I can get great merit aid? I applied to Pitt because friends from my school with similar stats have gotten similar scholarships. A Full Ride to a large public university would be the goal. I know Alabama gives full tuition, but is there anywhere where I would have a good chance for something more? Thanks for any advice, here are my stats.

ACT 34 (E 34, M 35, R 34, S 32)

  • SAT II: Math2: 800 Bio M:790 Physics: 760
  • Unweighted GPA: 4.1/4.33
    -Weighted GPA: 7.2
  • Rank/Percentile: 8/310
  • AP: Statistics 5, Physics C Mechanics 5, Microeconomics 5, Macroeconomics 5, Biology 4, Lang 4
    Senior Year Courses(all APs): APUSH, Calc BC, Chemistry, Spanish Lang, Enviro, Lit and Comp, Physics C Electricity and Magnetism

Awards
AP Scholar With Distinction, Johns Hopkins Book Award, Eagle Scout with Bronze Palm

Extracurricular (place leadership in parenthesis):

-Eagle Scout (Assistant Senior Patrol Leader
-Varsity Track Team 4 years( Captain 2 years)
-Physics Olympics( Captain 2 years)

  • Grade School Track Coach (4 years)
  • Private Tutoring Business in all subjects
    -Ping Pong Club( Captain 3 years)
    -Basketball Team
    -FBLA
  • NHS, world language honor society, history honors society, math honor society, English honor society
  • Salsa Dancing Club

Job/Work Experience:

-Dishwasher at Pizza shop in 10th grade ~10 hrs/wk
-Acme Cashier in 11th grade ~15-20 hrs/wk
-current waiter at a retirement community ~15 hrs/wk

Volunteer/Community service:
Eagle Scout Project- 500 hours

  • NHS community service- 50 hrs
    -Grade School Track Coach- 200 hrs

Duel Enrollment: A in chemistry course at local college

Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
Income: ~160k

Pretty stingy, hey? They will save almost that much not having you home. Do they not want you to go to college? Also Temple. Try competitive merit.

Have you seen these two sites?

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

In addition to the large publics, consider also applying to some small privates so you can compare offers once your acceptances come in. As a male with great scores, you might get significant merit aid at places like Denison, Wooster, Earlham, Centre and Alleghany. You won’t get the D1 sports, but they have a great record of applicants getting into med schools, and there are excellent opportunities to do bio and chem research at these schools.

Will you qualify for National Merit Semifinalist or National Hispanic?

<<<
they would only pay 5k a year for my education.

I have Med school aspirations, so I don’t want to be cripled in debt coming out of undergrad. Does anybody have any ideas of a school where I can get great merit aid?
<<<

Can I ask why your parents will only spend $5k per year with such a strong income?

How do they expect you to pay for college?

What is your major?

You mention Eng’g in another thread. If so, then Alabama would give you an ADDITIONAL $2500 per year on top of the free tuiton.

For you to get a “free ride,” you’re probably going to have go down the ladder.

You won’t be “crippled in debt” because you can only borrow the following amounts:
Frosh 5500
Soph 6500
Jr 7500
Sr 7500

How did you do on the PSAT? Are you a NMSF??


[QUOTE=""]
I applied to Pitt because friends from my school with similar stats have gotten similar scholarships.

[/QUOTE]

?? Similar to what??

You might get some money from UPitt, but how much do you think you’d get? I don’t think you’ll get free tuition from UPitt.

Do you realize that YOU can only borrow $5,500 for freshman year?

With your parents’ $5k and your $5,500 loan, that means that you will need AT LEAST a free tuition scholarship so that the $10,500 plus summer earnings can pay for the rest.

<<<
I know Alabama gives full tuition, but is there anywhere where I would have a good chance for something more?


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

You’d likely have to go down the ladder quite a bit to get more.

<<<
I’m applying ED to Wharton at Penn, but I’m also applying EA to UVA, And villanova. I was already accepted at Pitt, and I’m also applying to Brown, and Penn State Schreyers


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

Why are you wasting time applying to these schools when your high income parents have already said that they’ll only pay $5k per year??

How would you pay for those schools if you got in??

YOU can only borrow $5,500 for freshman year. How would the rest get paid??

WHAT schools are your financial safeties? These are the schools that your know FOR SURE (not just hoping) that you will get HUGE merit (at least full tuition ) from them? So far, I don’t see that you have any financial safeties. You could end up with no affordable schools.

The minimum loan thing does not apply to me because my parents said they would cosign on loans for me. I’m applying to Ivy’s because what my sister did was go to Penn and graduate with a significant amount of debt(80-90k). Friends who graduated from my school typically get full tuition scholarships to Pitt based on similar scores and GPA and rank. In the end, I would like to weigh my options between ivy if I get in and cheap state schools like Pitt and penn state

The reason they won’t give me anything is because I have 2 siblings who will go to college starting my sophomore year, and they both went to college on full ride scholarships. They think debt is something I should have to handle unless I get a full ride.

Where do you live? I’m guessing you live in Pennsylvania, but our state is huge. If you’re in the eastern half of the state, you should try TCNJ in Jersey. I don’t know that they give room and board, but your travel costs to a place close to home will cut your expenses. And TCNJ is a great, up and coming school. U Delaware gives a full ride - I know someone who got one. Give Fordham a shot - they offer a couple of full rides and I think being a high stats Hispanic might help there.

How do you feel about some of the Catholic schools? Scranton, Providence, DePaul, etc. would probably all offer you full tuition. (I’m not sure about >tuition, though).

Sorry for the double post, but if you’re looking for lots of merit, the key is to get in lots of applications to schools you wouldn’t mind attending. You know Temple and Alabama will give you full tuition so you’re looking for schools that you like better or can beat their offers. I think there are quite a few privates that will give you full tuition, when the results are in, you’ll need to decide if you prefer any of those schools to Temple or 'Bama.

<<<<
cheap state schools like Pitt and penn state


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

Penn State is not cheap. Are you instate or OOS? Even instate at Penn State would require over $100k in loans. OOS for PSU would be even more.


[QUOTE=""]
The minimum loan thing does not apply to me because my parents said they would cosign on loans for me. I'm applying to Ivy's because what my sister did was go to Penn and graduate with a significant amount of debt(80-90k

[/QUOTE]

Do your parents know that you want to go to med school? They’re willing (and YOU"RE willing??) to cosign huge loans for UNDERGRAD when you will also have $200k-300k in loans for med school??? Do they realize how insane that is?

This sounds like an insane plan.

What kind of work does your sister do?

BTW…if your parents have co-signed your sister’s loans, they may not be able to keep qualifying to keep cosigning your loans or your younger siblings’ loans. Their income isn’t so high that they can show that they can pay all this debt back if their kids default.

I am instate for Pennsylvania as I live right outside of Philadelphia, and yes the med school loans may be too overwhelming as you were suggesting. That is why I am considering a finance or economics degree instead because I am a very strong math student and an interested in business. That’s why I’m applying to Wharton. If I got in( very low chance) I would sit down and do a cost benefit between schools to see which school offers most on either the financial side or the prestige. I realize that with business a lot of it is about networking and making the best of your opportunities, but I also realize there is some value to attending Wharton or some other prestigious business school over a lesser one. Unfortunately I do not have a coherent plan of what I want to do with my life as a high school senior. I think I will accept the best offer from the colleges I am accepted to, then take advantage of all opportunities afforded to me at whatever college I attend.

Whoa! You’re right outside Philadelphia? I’d strongly urge you to apply to St. Joe’s, Temple, and Drexel. If things are too horrible at any of them, you could always commute. Full tuition at Temple is guaranteed and in all likelihood, SJU would give you full tuition (I heard through the grapevine that something like only ~30 kids apply for it - there’s an extra essay- but they have more than a dozen full scholarships to hand out) and you could quite possibly get a full scholarship at Drexel as well. In Philadelphia, SJU’s Haub is second only to Wharton in employer desirability. And if you graduate at the top from St. Joe’s, you can write your own ticket in the Philadelphia area. St. Joe’s has an excellent co-op program in its business school. If you earn co-op money while going to school, you really could live away from home and still graduate debt free. Also, if you graduate at the top from St. Joe’s, Temple, or Drexel, you should have the connections you’d need to eventually get into Wharton for grad school. And a Wharton MBA is worth a lot more than a Wharton BS. Think about the best use of your loan dollars.

Also, Penn State has an accelerated BS/MD degree which might be of interest to you. It’s even more competitive than Schreyer, but I think you have a shot. http://science.psu.edu/premed/premedmed/accelerated-premed-medical Keep in mind that it’s all work and no play and not for you if you’re not sure you want to be a doctor.

Thanks for the very detailed reply @halfemptypockets ! I have considered Temple but my parents won’t let me apply there because it is in a bad part of town, and if I were to venture off campus it could be potentially bad. I realize that doesn’t happen to just about everyone there, but they fear for that. I didn’t realize St. Joe’s gave out large merit scholarships? That is awesome because I know they do have a good business program. I am on the border of whether to apply to the Penn State program for accelerated med. I’ve done a lot of research on it, and feel I would definitely do that program if I were accepted, but feel my medical extracurriculars are too weak. I did significant shadowing over the summer with an Internist and an ophthalmologist and really enjoyed my time learning there. The only problem is that I get the sense most strong applicants for those programs have shadowing experience along with significant hospital volunteer hours and some medical research. My scores and GPA may be average to above average for that program, but I feel the volunteering and lack of research hold me back.

It seems Penn State is much worse for crime than Temple

Temple - http://ope.ed.gov/security/InstDetails.aspx?706172656e7469643d32313633333926756e697469643d32313633333930303126796561723d323031342673656172636843726974657269613d3331336437343635366437303663363532363732363437343364333133303266333133333266333233303331333532303337336133313336336133353338323035303464267264743d31302f31332f3230313520373a31363a353820504d

Penn State - http://ope.ed.gov/security/InstDetails.aspx?706172656e7469643d32313437373726756e697469643d32313437373730303126796561723d323031332673656172636843726974657269613d33313364373036353665366532303733373436313734363532363732363437343364333133303266333133333266333233303331333532303337336133313337336133343334323035303464267264743d31302f31332f3230313520373a31373a343420504d

^^^Yeah, except Temple’s in a slum, while State College is a nice little downtown. Here in the Philadelphia area, it does seem every single year at least one Temple student is shot. I was able to find two murders in 2015 and at least two students shot in 2014, and another one beaten to death. Sometimes it happens off campus and might not make government statistics. It always makes the news here, but it doesn’t stay there long because, well, it’s in North Philadelphia and life is cheap there.

ETA: I do think the area is changing, much to the dismay of its long time residents. Temple is safer now than it has been in three decades. And if you stay on campus, and in the very immediate vicinity, you’re fine. There are probably a lot more cops in the Temple area than in all of sprawling State College. But parents worry about their kids. And kids sometimes do stupid things, like wander around off campus, drunk, at 2 o’clock in the morning. I wouldn’t blame parents who wanted to keep their kids out of the area.

@scidude34 - it’s called the Dean’s Scholarship. Check it out! http://www.sju.edu/information/scholarships

From the link:
“Scholarships are awarded on a highly competitive basis. Typically recipients have a 3.75 GPA and a 1350 SAT score or a 30 ACT score. For students who apply for admission as test optional, official test scores must be sent by the application deadline to be considered. Submission of test scores will not affect your admission decision. Applicants must apply for admission through Early Action. The scholarship application is due by January 15.”

You may want to look at LaSalle U. As at St Joe’s, you are likely to get full tuition. I don’t know how strong their pre-med curriculum is now, but 25-30 years ago this was a top destination for bright local kids opting to save their money for med schools and the prep was outstanding.

Accounting is also a traditionally strong major and a new business school is under construction. Not the greatest neighborhood but light years better than it used to be.

Temple’s campus is actually quite nice and I think the area gets a bad rap. Agree that St. Joe’s is worth a close look as well. Commuting to any of these three might make your limited budget feasible.

Do you think going to one of the big 5 schools mentioned would help or hurt my chances to go into medicine? It would be easier for me to succeed and get a very good GPA, but Med schools would most likely see that the college I went to was comparatively easier than an Ivy or UVa. I would also have much less debt if I went to a big 5 mentioned which is a major plus. I think if I get a full tuition to Pitt I will go there regardless because of their strength in health professions and business.