<p>My Basics:
-800 CR
-770 MATH
-720 WRITING (had a shoulder injury)
-National Merit Finalist
-Congressional Award Silver Medal
-Eagle Scout with three palms
-Habitat for Humanity student leader (several hundred hours of community service)
-Designed curriculum for an independent study
-Great essays and recs</p>
<p>USC - told me I didn't even make it into the second round of the applicant pool for merit scholarships
Richmond - Didn't get Richmond Scholars or anything
Davidson - Belk semifinalist (top 60)...I thought they were super pretentious and unfriendly during my phone interview, which was weird, and of course I didn't move on to the next round (now accepted, but without any merit aid at all!)
UT Austin - $2500
Drexel - $10,000
Tulane - $30,000 (But no Deans honor or presidential or anything)
UMD College Park - Still haven't heard about $$$ (In-state)
Case Western - $29,000
Georgia Tech - nothing
Rice - hear about admission this week</p>
<p>Sure, I got a lot from Tulane and Case, but really enough...</p>
<p>If you want merit aid, you apply to schools where your stat’s are above the 75 percentile for that school . . . preferably far above! And even then, there’s no guarantee.</p>
<p>But if you apply to a school with hundreds (if not thousands) of equally talented candidates, what incentive would the school have to pay you to attend?</p>
<p>You also neglected to mention your GPA - was that deliberate or an oversight?</p>
<p>If you are named a NMS, are accepted by USC and name USC as your first-choice school by the deadline you will receive a 1/2 tuition (approximately $24,000/year) Presidential scholarship plus an additional $1,000/year from NMC. You do not have to be invited to interview for the USC NM Scholar 1/2 tuition USC Presidential scholarship or be among those admitted in January. The three requirements are:</p>
<p>-Be accepted by USC (acceptance is NOT guaranteed for NMF)
-Advance to NMS
-Name USC as your 1st-choice school by the deadline</p>
<p>There’s an old saying about why robbers like to hit the banks. It’s because that’s where the money is. And you have to do the same. You are competing with a whole lot of students with stats as good as yours at a lot of those schools. As a NMF, there are schools where you were likely to get free tuiton, and you don’t have them on your list. Alabama would have given you a full ride. You skip the schools where the goodies are beckoning a went fro some schools where the chances are very small. USC and Davidson are very, very competitive for those top awards, Also the awards usually have a grade/SAT matrix there, so if your grades aren’t up there, you would not have been eligible for some of those awards. My son had scores like yours with a 3.0 UW and didn’t get anything from Georgia Tech either. His friend who was a Richmond Scholar had lower scores but very high GPA and was accepted and WLed to some Ivy league schools. It’s that competitive.</p>
<p>Given the thousands of dollars you and your family will be paying out, you may want to consider a gap year. In that year, you could volunteer or work in an area related to your interests, building (maybe literally) on your Habitat and Boy Scout credentials. From there, apply again to colleges and universities better known for significant merit aid. We have a family friend whose daughter was caught in a similar situation with similar credentials all but ignored by the ivies. She took a gap year and applied to other universities. Rice offered an excellent aid package and she had a wonderful experience. Now she’s a young professor at Pitt. Getting off the prescribed path, especially for a NMS with your scores, is not the norm but my sense is it would be of interest to many top colleges with merit aid. If you go that route, spend some time researching high merit-aid colleges. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. My GPA would be somewhere around 3.8, but my school doesn’t calculate GPAs. At a normal high school, all the accelerated classes I’ve taken would actually help my GPA! Point is, I have very good grades in all the hardest courses my school offers. I know there’s strong competition at these schools, but I guess particularly at Georgia Tech and USC I’m surprised that I was cut from the list so quickly.</p>
<p>@Dodgersmom, my stats are far above the 75% at the vast majority of schools to which I applied.</p>
<p>@alamemom thanks a lot! Hopefully it’s not too late to switch my top choice for NM. I did just recently apply to Oklahoma, since I know I’ll get a basically full ride plus study abroad and other stipends - one of their reqs, unfortunately, is declaring OU as my top choice, so I’m not sure how I’ll get around that.</p>
<p>GPAs are often recomputed by the colleges themselves. They don’t just go by what your school reports. Looks pretty good for you for USC as NMF. DId you even look at what schools are on that list? </p>
<p>A lot of times the awards go for reasons other than just gpa/test scores too. Like I know a young woman engineering major who is there on a scholarship. Female engineers are sought after. Geographics can do it too. Tough to get one of the BC awards from NY, I can tell you. Why pay for a NYer when you can get so many just begging to get in with the same stats? Take the kid from Wyoming even if his stats are a bit lower. </p>
<p>@dschulz1031
Drexel gives full tuition to National Merit Finalist. As you are a finalist, contact them to confirm this. You need only get them a copy of your finalist letter by May 1, is my understanding. </p>
<p>"National Merit Finalists Scholarship</p>
<p>Drexel’s National Merit Finalists Scholarship is offered to incoming freshmen who have reached finalist standing with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The scholarship covers full-tuition and is renewable each year that you maintain a 2.75 cumulative GPA and full-time status in your undergraduate degree program.</p>
<p>In order to be considered for Drexel’s National Merit Finalist Scholarship, you must submit a copy of your finalist notification letter to Freshman Admissions via <a href=“mailto:enroll@drexel.edu”>enroll@drexel.edu</a> by May 1st."</p>
<p>@officiating holy crap thank you so much i totally forgot about this!!! must’ve read it before i even heard i was a NMS semifinalist…wow my list just got longer I’m not sure how I’ll narrow it down from 9 schools to 1 in the next month!</p>
<p>@officiating do you know if I can stack the National Merit Scholarship with the small AJ Drexel scholarship I got? If I could put some money towards room and board, fees, etc. that would be even better!</p>
<p>Scan your letter and send it via email asap. Also considering faxing it. At Drexel, it is important to get a name of a person when you confirm the award. If you are thinking of Drexel, it would also be importantly that you immediately apply for the honors program. I believe that it will not result in additional Monday. However, it will result in other perks. Our D received an email reminder to apply. She deleted it, but mentioned it a few days ago. </p>
<p>Edit to Add: I do not know if they stack awards. I have heard that some do not as a friend’s daughter could not stack her award at Northeastern. I have no idea whether Drexel will stack. Either way, having to pay no tuition for all 4 years and have access to a great city is a very good deal. </p>
<p>Your best bet is to use your NMF status. I think even at this late date you can apply, get into and get the awards for some of those schools that offer huge amounts to Finalist. Check 'Bama, OK, Tulsa, UT-Dallas, Auburn and others that are mentioned often. Go to the NMF area of this thread and some of the veterans should be able to give you advise. As posted above, you actually have one in hand already with Drexel. Full tuition is tough to beat. </p>