Where to look for scholarships..?

Paying for College
1

<p>I'll be a senior next year. I'm from a low income family, so I definitely need to apply for scholarships. I'm a little overwhelmed right now, so I'm not sure where to start looking.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: 2330/1550</p>

<p>SAT II: US History - 790
Chem - 790
Math II - 790</p>

<p>GPA - 3.91, Rank 2/512</p>

<p>Subjective factors:
I've run cross country varsity for three years and won a few awards. My EC's are focused around writing, and I've won a few writing awards (nothing major).</p>

<p>Where should I start looking for scholarships? What's a good number of scholarships to apply for? Thanks for any help :)</p>

2

<p>Your best bets are to apply to private colleges with generous need based aid (as long as low income/low assets) and to generous merit aid schools (see lists on this board).</p>

3

<p>Questbridge: [QuestBridge</a> National College Match Program](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/students/program.html]QuestBridge”>http://www.questbridge.org/students/program.html)</p>

<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: What’s the Bottom Line?](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php]Project”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Note that deadlines for honor colleges/ merit scholarships can be earlier than the regular deadline. Also, most “scholarships” come from the schools themselves.</p>

4

<p>Yes! With your stats, you need a two prong strategy…</p>

<p>1) Schools that are generous with need based aid (those that meet 100% of need) - those will likely be your reaches and matches - like ivies, Stanford, Vandy, USC, UVA, UNC-CH, etc</p>

<p>2) Schools that will give you huge merit for your stats. Those will likely be your financial safety schools. Apply to a couple with competitive big merit and a couple with assured big merit.</p>

<p>Are you a likely National Merit? What was your PSAT score?</p>

<p>Are you a URM?</p>

<p>Are you low income because you live with a single parent? If so, does your non-custodial parent make a decent income?</p>

5

<p>I think I missed National Merit by a little (216).</p>

<p>And I’m an Asian from CA lol, the worst pool to be in. My parents are still married, and we all live together. Very low income (below 25k) and moderate assets (we have a house, three old cars, some savings).</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help so far :)</p>

6

<p>I think you would also be eligible for a Cal Grant ([Grants</a> for College Students, College Grants, Grants for School California: Cal Grant awards](<a href=“http://www.calgrants.org/index.cfm?navId=11]Grants”>http://www.calgrants.org/index.cfm?navId=11)), so I would look into some California schools. </p>

<p>If you are going to look for scholarships, the “local” ones have better odds. Your public library/ high school might have a list of them.</p>