<p>My family makes a little more than $200k a year so I doubt I'll be getting much if any financial aid. I have read a variety of threads discussing scholarships but they frequently only mention minimum requirements. I was just wondering given my stats if anyone could let me know where I would be a competitive for a full ride scholarship ( or a relatively large scholarship) based on scholastic merit. I realize no one can guarantee anything, I'm just wondering what school I would have a shot at (assuming I get in).</p>
<p>My stats (I'm currently a junior):<br>
-2190 SAT (CR-750,M-710,W-730) *will retake to improve math
-top 10% of class (most likely top 5 in a class of 400)
-96/100 unweighted average
-5 AP's as of this May (more than my school's max): Euro-5, Lit, Chem, Physics, Calc AB
-senior year course load: AP calc BC, AP Span, AP Micro/Macro, AP Bio, APES, AP Lang, AP Stat, Orchestra, Research
-I'll be doing science research at Fordham over the summer
-community service: Hurricane Sandy volunteer stuff, Peer Tutoring, Wrestling Stuff
-clubs: nat honor society, span honor society, mathletes (no leadership)
-4 years wrestling
-no hooks</p>
<p>Let me know if i'm missing anything or was unclear in anyway. Thank in advance.</p>
<p>What state are you from? and if you took the PSAT, was your score equal to or better than the cutoff for this years Seniors in your state? If so, then you should qualify for a lot of NMF $$ at U’s that want to bring in smart, hi stat students. </p>
<p>Drop the AP stat class, since you will already be taking AP Calc. The WORST thing you can do , especially your first semester Senior year, is to take TOO many hard and time consuming AP classes and have your grades suffer. There is NO NEED to be an AP slave- it will not impress admins.
The college application process is like a part time job in itself. With your current schedule you wont have time to sleep or eat, let alone study AND have time to fill out college applications, write great essays ,ask your teachers for recommendations, do outside activity and keep your GPA up .
The first semester Senior grades are VERY important to colleges. They want to see that you can maintain or improve your GPA with increasingly hard classes.
Schedule a study period your first semester- you will need it! </p>
<p>@thumper1 thanks for the link but i’ve already checked out that thread. If i meet the “minimum requirements” what are the odds of receiving a scholarship</p>
<p>@melonparkmon my PSAT score was only a 200 and won’t even make achievement letter cutoff (or whatever it is) because i’m from NY. As far as APs I’m really not worried about it being to much since it’s about the same course load as this year for me (all of my non AP classes are “college level” since my school doesn’t offer an AP class in the subject). I also plan on filling out most of my applications this summer. Thanks for the response though. Do you have any other suggestions?</p>
<p>AP classes are NOT college level classes - they prepare you to take college classes in those subjects and allow students to avoid taking basic introductory classes in college. I think you are vastly underestimating the amount of work required by that many AP classes. What AP scores do students from your school score when they take various AP exams ? If they are mostly in the 3-4 range then it shows the classes are being taught in a rigorous manner following the recommended readings and course load. If they are only getting 1-2 then the classes arent hard enough and you run the risk of not getting college credit .
And taking AP stats is a waste of time. </p>
<p>Is there any reason your family not supporting your college education?
If you are NMF, it would be easy to find full ride somewhere. Otherwise, you need to aim low. Look for schools that offer more merit aids and your credential to be way above 75% at them. </p>
<p>On that automatic scholarship thread, if you have the stats you get the scholarship. </p>
<p>what is your major and career goal?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, of the AP courses, calculus BC (having taken AB already) and statistics are probably the lighter ones in the schedule, especially since the OP is two grade levels ahead in math (calculus AB as a junior). So trimming the workload by dropping AP statistics probably won’t trim it by that much, at least compared to dropping something like AP biology. AP statistics is not very valuable in terms of college subject credit, although general knowledge of statistics is good to know.</p>
<p>To OP: My D is a senior with somewhat similar stats, and we searched hard for merit scholarships (we make too much to get financial aid, yet not enough to feel comfortable about spending $65/year on college). I will list some schools that seem to give decent amounts to a decent amount of students that you might want to target for (Still very competitive) I am not listing schools where a tiny fraction is given a big award (need Ivy-like stats to be even considered), such as Rice, WashU, BC, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Duke, UChicago.</p>
<p>I hope this list is of help.</p>
<p>USC
Case Western
U of Rochester
Northeastern
RPI
Fordham
GWU
Boston U
Pepperdine
U of Pitt (including OOS)
U of Maryland (including OOS)
U of Delaware (including OOS)
U of Richmond
Lafayette
Drexel
Muhlenberg</p>
<p>“I am not listing schools where a tiny fraction is given a big award (need Ivy-like stats to be even considered)”
,
Woods, USC gives its big merit scholarships[ 200 1/2 tuition and 130 full tuition scholarships ] to less than 5% of applicants, which this year totaled over 51,000 . Their scholarship guidelines state that recipients ARE among the top percentile of all students nation wide. </p>
<p>Candidates are selected by USC faculty and staff
from an extremely competitive international
pool. Applicants pursue the most demanding
curriculum and achieve at the highest level.
Average SAT and ACT scores are in the top 1–2
percent of all students nationwide. In addition
to academic criteria, candidates’ talent,
perseverance, innovation, involvement and
leadership are considered.</p>
<p>5% would qualify as a tiny fraction , dont you think?</p>
<p>@menloparkmon: My definition of “tiny” was more referring to absolute numbers, not necessarily a tiny “fraction”. I have no doubt USC’s merit scholarship criteria is VERY selective. Still, the number of awards (330, according to your figures) is quite “large”, the way I see it. I was NOT implying that all of the schools listed have similar criteria of getting merit aid. Probably USC is by far the most difficult one of the bunch. I was merely pointing out schools the OP might have a shot at (or at least aim for), AND give merit aid to a non-negligibile number of students (330 for USC). So, I stand by what I said</p>
<p>5%=5%.
The odds of anyone receiving a substantial scholarship at USC are the same as the chances of anyone getting into Stanford. </p>
<p>A couple of schools we saw that had some automatic awards for reaching certain GPA/Test score targets:</p>
<p>Baylor
New Mexico State</p>
<p>I know there are more out there. A lot depends on if you want to get a decent undergrad education at the lowest price point or if you want a prestige school. </p>
<p>5%=5%.
The odds of anyone receiving a substantial scholarship at USC are the same as the chances of anyone getting into Stanford.</p>
<p>@menloparkmom: I never said this wasn’t true. USC gives out a non-negligible number of merit awards. That is why I put it on my list, as this was the criteria for being on my list. It has nothing to do with odds of receiving one. Given OP’s stats, some on the list have very long odds of getting one (USC), some have much higher odds (Drexel/Delaware), and others are in between.</p>
<p>woods1234, thanks for a great list. Many of them are on the list we’ve made, but I did get a few new ideas. We are in your situation, strong student with strong need for merit aid.</p>
<p>A couple of additional colleges that offer merit scholarships are Notre Dame (very tough to get, on par with USC in terms of difficulty, I would say) and Villanova (very competitive)</p>
<p>Notre Dame offers few merit scholarships…so I wouldnt even consider that school as a source. Not on par with USC which offers a good number but highly targeted…to NMFs and (it seems) to students with super high stats who offer something the school wants (maybe from a state where they want more students?) The OPs current M+CR is not likely high enough for USC merit. More like a 1550 is needed.</p>
<p>If you’re not a NMSF, then getting a scholarship at USC is even more difficult. that stated number of USC awards needs to be adjusted down if you’re not a NMF. </p>
<p>OP…It’s fine to apply to a small number of schools with competitive merit, but since those are competitive then you need to also apply to schools where merit is assured.<br>
there are always a number of posts in the spring from students who didnt get any of the merit awards from the schools who have limited awards.</p>
<p>Tulane gives out quite a few merit scholarships. My son wasn’t offered one, but your stats are slightly higher than his. </p>