what schools might offer me a full ride/full tuition scholarship based on merit?

spazzymcgee918 · 06-09-2012, 04:00 AM

SAT- 780 cr 780 writing and 700 BLEH math
ACT- 31

i have a 3.9 gpa unweighted 4.4/4.5 weighted and sufficient extra curriculars i think, a lot of them are all focused on international things and then engineering club, i've taken any honors/ap class my school offers, errr my class rank is not very good i'm in what they sayy, the 'third decile' so anywhere from 21%-30%, but my grade has about 65 kids in it maybe less and they're all evil scientists

i plan on going into civil/environmental engineering

and i have no problem going to a less than stellar school, i'd much rather attend a lesser school for cheaper than a better one for less, and my family has said that unless i get offered a lot of money from some school i will have to go to san jacinto community college and stay living at home... D:

so far i've found louisiana state gives full tuition for my stats i think,
and that university of pittsburgh mayyyy give full ride

any other suggestions?

ps. i'm not that worried about my low sat math score, because while i want to do engineering, i always do the best in math in school just poorly on standardized tests for some reason... frustrating as hell. also my worst class is always english yet i always do the best in it on these tests... tis quite odd man quite odd indeed!

dodgersmom · 06-09-2012, 05:56 AM

Quote:

i always do the best in math in school just poorly on standardized tests . . . my worst class is always english yet i always do the best in it on these tests... tis quite odd man quite odd indeed!

When you figure it out, let me know . . . my son is the same way!

Check out the three University of Alabama campuses (main, Birmingham, and Huntsville). Look for scholarships for both incoming freshmen and incoming engineering students. The combination of the two might be enough to get you what you need.

And do a search of this sub-forum for threads with the words "automatic," "guaranteed," or "full ride" in the titles. There are several that you'll find useful.

ChristineF · 06-09-2012, 07:03 AM

Check out Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan. You should be eligible for free tuition and a$2000 scholarship towards room/board, making it about $6,000 total, not including books. There are no "fees" at Oakland U. As stated above, check out Univ Alabama Birmingham and Univ Alabama Huntsville. Also, check out Troy University and several Missouri publics might work, too. Good luck!

lastminutemom196 · 06-09-2012, 07:34 AM

If you want to be closer to home, check out University of New Mexico

Its seems very generous.

Undergraduate Scholarships :: | The University of New Mexico

cptofthehouse · 06-09-2012, 08:31 AM

Will you qualify for financial aid? After you get a few sure things on you list, and that may include commuting to a local state school or community college, throw in a few of the above suggestions and also look for some lottery tickets like Case Western that may have some nice awards. Once your bases are covered, you can branch out and take some chances. What can your family afford for you?

mom2collegekids · 06-09-2012, 08:50 AM

Alabama is the highest ranked school that would give you the most money for your stats.... (Currently ranked #75, but has been rising every year.)

If you apply by Dec 1st, you'd get:

Full tuition (from the university)
2500 per year (from the Col of Eng'g)

These are assured scholarships if you have the stats (1400+ M+CR SAT and a 3.5+ GPA...which you do) and you apply before Dec 1st.

The application goes online about July 5th....so apply and get your acceptance and award early and relax!

You'd qualify for their Honors College.

You'd also be a good candicate for it's Computer-Based Honors Program....selective group of 40 students per year.

Bama has a brand new mega-sized Science and Eng'g Complex. Academics are strong, campus is gorgeous, people are friendly, and the engineering program is very good.

Can you visit? If so, let me know.

spazzymcgee918 · 06-09-2012, 11:42 AM

i do not qualify for financial aid much usually, my parents make 100k, but they said they're not going to help pay... so it will be paid for by me working and since i've never had a job they're like 'san jac for you'. hopefully i can find a well enough paying job though! but regardless any scholarships will help i'd like to get a job and not have to spend absolutely everything i make on college and be loan free! and thanks i will look into alabama i've had some other people suggest that but not for finance reasons just cuz they like the school but i've always discounted it cuz it's in alabama... but if i could get that much in scholarships then who cares!! thanks for all da help peopless!

BobWallace · 06-10-2012, 12:26 AM

Your stats qualify you for an automatic full ride at Louisiana Tech. (And also at Troy University, but they don't offer engineering.)

Presidential Scholarship
• Must be an admitted incoming freshmen (all majors).
• Requires: GPA: overall 3.0 (on unweighted 4.0 scale), and
• ACT: 32 or SAT: 1400 (CR+M)
• Unlimited awards which pay tuition, fees, and on-campus regular dorm and
meals for four years.
• Student must remain full-time and maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0.
Application Deadline: Apply for admission by priority deadline of Jan 5. Updated ACT/SAT accepted through December test date.
http://www.latech.edu/admissions/Sch...%20website.pdf

There are more automatic awards you qualify for listed here:
Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships

Including full tuition at Utah State, maybe a little closer to home.

MichaelGScarn · 06-10-2012, 01:04 AM

My situation is pretty similar to yours (little help from parents, won't qualify for aid, 2330 SAT, bad rank, prospective engineer) so you're definitely not alone. I'm looking into the following:

Rutgers (Full ride)
UA Huntsville (Full ride)
University of Alabama (Full tuition + engineering grant)
Pitt (Full tuition- I don't think they give out full rides like you said)
Cooper Union (Full tuition)

There's not much else out there for kids like us. There are a lot of schools that give out good merit but close to none that give full tuition/full rides. Most of the ones that do are, and I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, pretty bad. Find out if you qualify for NMF because that will open up a million doors for full ride opportunities

BobWallace · 06-10-2012, 01:22 AM

The schools that give full tuition/full ride scholarships are not "close to none", there are many, many schools that offer these, however most of them are extremely competitive.

Here is a thread that catalogs the many possibilities for competitive full scholarships:
Institutional Merit Based Scholarships (Full Tuition +)

And finally, Pitt does award full ride scholarships: "University of Pittsburgh academic scholarships may range in value from $2000 per year to full tuition and room and board."
University of Pittsburgh: Undergraduate Admissions & Financial Aid

prefect · 06-10-2012, 06:03 PM

What was your PSAT score? Is it possible that you will be national merit/national achievement/national Hispanic scholar?

mom2collegekids · 06-10-2012, 09:34 PM

MichaelScarn....are you a likely NMSF? what was your PSAT?

Spazzy: "i will look into alabama i've had some other people suggest that but not for finance reasons just cuz they like the school but i've always discounted it cuz it's in alabama."

Cuz it's in Alabama? lol...have you ever been to Alabama...or Tuscaloosa? It's not like some Third World Nation. lol.... Oh my. I spent most of my life in Southern California and the last few years in Alabama. While I enjoy visiting Calif, I'd never move back there. Alabama is lovely (beautiful trees and rivers), the weather is typically good (sunny blue skies, fluffy white clouds), the city of T-town is great (Named "Most Liveable City"), the Bama campus is drop-dead gorgeous.....what the heck are you thinking?

floridadad55 · 06-10-2012, 09:44 PM

Perhaps university of miami or tulane

spazzymcgee918 · 06-11-2012, 03:56 AM

i've been to alabama and didn't like it very much... but not tuscaloosa and not to the university of alabama campus so i'm going to consider it anywhoo! and i realize it's silly lol, but i'm from houston and just used to a giant city. sorry if i offended you....

and my psat score was crap 200 or 201 i think so no i don't think i'll qualify for that...

thanks michaelgscarn! i'm sure you will get lots of loverly offers with that sat score que inteligente! i used to dream of going to cooper union but that 8% acceptance rate slowly killed that dream

lastminutemom196 · 06-11-2012, 06:07 AM

What about UT Dallas?

Academic Excellence Scholarship - Office of Undergraduate Education - The University of Texas at Dallas

Your scores look like you qualify, but I am unclear how class ranks works at UT-D.

If you really need a full ride, or close to it, to be able to go to a four year school, you are going to have to be flexible, which I think you know.