<p>I can relate to your daughters’ situation - graduation class of '08 in central Illinois. Similar stats too. I applied Mizzou, Truman, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and WashU in StL. I also visted a few other schools, such as U of Kentucky.
I’m headed to Mizzou this fall, but have not forgotten Truman. Based on my Summer Welcome (orientation) and other campus visits, I feel like Mizzou is “good” big school - it didn’t feel big once I was on the inside.
If your daughters have any questions about Mizzou for current students, feel free to contact me late August : ) <em>Check out the FIG options</em> Not only will it help me academically/socially, helped me get into the dorm I wanted! : D</p>
<p>If your either of your daughters are interested in Yale they should apply. If they win the “lottery” you would get MAJOR financial aid with your income. On top of that, the Yale student’s EFC would be cut in half because you would have another child in college. Worth a try.</p>
<p>It’s far away, but USC (University of Southern California) has great merit aid and your twins sound like they are at the top of the stat pool for admitted kids there. They like sports at USC!</p>
<p>abvanslyke: We would love to hear more detail in refernce to your school selection process. If you have some time, would you mind? </p>
<p>As for the rest of you, thank you. Our list is growing. The girls are researching your suggestions. As I said before, they are attempting to choose two oos and two privates to visit. I thought that would be manageable.</p>
<p>University of Missouri and Truman State University will remain on our list. The girls liked both schools for different reasons. During our tour of University of Missouri on Thursday, the Honors College really perked their interest. Merit aid at both universities remains a mystery. I suppose we won’t know until admissions letters are sent. </p>
<p>Overall, it seems that there has been a shift from merit to need based aid. I feel that I have lied to the kids. I always told the girls (and their younger brother) that if they worked hard they would be rewarded with academic scholarships. We have saved every month. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beginning to feel we went about it the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong, the girls will be fine. I guess we a just a bit frustrated by the lack of financial support for academically talented, hard working students. Sorry for the vent…</p>
<p>There are many of us who have gritted our teeth & bit our tongues when students who so not have academic stats even close to those of our kids have received full ride athletic scholarships. It is one of those “life is not fair” moments that Mom told us about. It’s okay to vent here! :)</p>
<p>^^ Should be “do” not. System won’t let me edit today.</p>
<p>Based on what I’ve found, it seems as though midwest, east coast and southern schools offer far better merit aid to OOS than west coast schools. Someone already mentioned Auburn, but University of Alabama has awesome OOS merit scholarships. Check out this Presidential Scholarship:</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Undergraduate”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>
<p>Thanks for the University of Alabama tip. Point of clarification…when a scholarship pays for the cost of oos tuition, is that the full cost (meaning free tuition) or does it just bring it down to the in-state cost. Some of the sites are a bit confusing to me. Thanks!</p>
<p>Generally, it means that it just brings it down to in-state costs. If it’s free tuition, they will usually say so in no uncertain terms!</p>