I’m a high school junior and considering my options for college.
My family cannot contribute more than 30k, the lesser the better obviously.
I have a 3.89 UW gpa, I’m not sure what my weighted gpa would be but I have taken 3 AP classes, a couple of honors, and a few IB.
I haven’t gotten my ACT scores back yet, but my PSAT was 1410. I wouldn’t mind going to a school with lower averages than mine if I could get merit scholarships ( if possible with my grades).
My ECs honestly are lacking.
I am primarily interested in an urban campus, an added bonus if it is in the East.
Really, I just want to get out of my home state of Minnesota, although I know that I should (and will) still apply to UMinn Twin Cities.
I have had trouble in my search finding a school that has good academics along with a decent social life.
Any help or suggestions, either colleges or tips for my search (or reality checks?), would be greatly appreciated.
Congrats on your hard work and success! I suggest you google colleges that give good merit aid and colleges that meet full financial need. The latter might not meet what your family considers full need and might be “need aware” in admissions, considering an applicant’s ability to pay, though your family is able to pay a lot, which is great.
Schools that come to mind include Denison University (small town but relatively close to Columbus, which is a pretty large city) and College of Wooster in OH; Miami of Ohio (also not in a large city but a nice campus with 16k undergrads); Clark University and College of the Holy Cross, both in Worcester.
I like this simple merit aid chart from Miami of Ohio. Note that they super-score for admissions AND aid and deadline is December 1 for merit aid (true of some other schools as well).
http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/
Are you interested in STEM subjects? Case Western in Cleveland is an urban campus that gives generous merit aid, although they might very well not get you down to 30K. Maybe also RPI. Here’s a link to the school’s Rensselaer Medal, which comes with $25k per year in merit aid. Could you work with your counselor to see if your high school is signed up for that and if you could be considered. It always seems like a no-brainer for a school to participate.
https://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/scholarships-and-grants/rensselaer-medal
I believe the University of Richmond in VA also claims to meet full need–not positive on that. Beautiful campus in a fun, up-and-coming city.
I have no idea about aid, but maybe Universities of Cincinnati and Dayton. Good luck!