Looking for schools with good merit scholarships

PapaSmurf · 10-09-2009, 05:11 PM

Can anyone suggest any good schools where I could get a full ride or at least a good amount of financial aid? I'm going into engineering...probably civil/environmental. My parents make $90,000/year combined. I live in Michigan and I'm looking into schools that would be cheaper than U of M (about $20,000/year) that would actually be worth going to...so preferably tier 1 or tier 2 schools. A more urban school would also be cool. I know I don't have that many extra-curriculars so yeah...

My stats:
Class rank- 6/460 at a noncompetetive public high school
GPA : 4.02
ACT: 32 (English 34, Math 32, Reading 32, Science 29)

Ap classes:
Gov (11th) - 3
Physics B (11th) - 5
Physics C (12th)
Literature (12th)
Calculus (12th)

I've also been in a special Math/Science program since 9th grade. I guess it would be considered uber "honors." My high school transcript also shows most of my classes as CP or honors...even required classes that everyone takes lol

Extracurriculars:
Freshman Link Crew (only 11th lol)
NHS(only 12th lol)
Mu Alpha Theta (11th & 12th) maybe president this year
Ski Club (10th &11th maybe 12th, learned to snowboard in 10th grade)
Community Service ( 80hrs) - this summer I volunteeed at my county's food bank by sorting food and packing boxes, and I also volunteered at a library.

mom2collegekids · 10-09-2009, 06:18 PM

Well, you can get ful tuition (including the OOS portion) from the University of Alabama with your ACT and your GPA. Plus...If you apply as an engineering major, you'll also receive $2500 a year (which can go towards your residence hall). The scholarships WILL STACK.

UA is an awesome school. Both my kids are there (one is an engineering major, the other is a math/physics major).

We are from California (I graduated from UCI and my hubby graduated from Purdue and from Iowa), so we really "checked the school out" before sending our kids there. My hubby (an engineer) swears that the curriculum at UA is more challenging than what he had at Purdue. He insists that our son is learning things as an undergrad that he didn't learn until grad school at Iowa. The school is gorgeous, the academics are strong, the dorms are NICE!!!, and the spirit is high. I can honestly tell you that UA is not some "deep-south" school.

Below are some links for your to check out.

UA has recently completed its second phase of it's Engineering and Science Complex...these buildings are amazing....
Phase 3 has begun this fall. Here is a link to Phase I (called Shelby Hall) Shelby Tour

You would also qualify for entrance into the Honors College (must apply), and then you'd be able to be in the awesome honors dorms, have priority registration, and take the small honors classes.

Students in the honors dorms each have their own private room (yea!) which is in a 4 room suite with a living room, kitchenette and 2 bathrooms (kind of like a 4 bedroom apartment - each kid with his own room)

Here is a link to the newest honors res hall. Housing & Residential Communities - The University of Alabama When you go to this page, scroll down to the smaller pics and you'll see various pics of the interior & exterior of the res hall.

Here is a link to the Virtual Campus Tour Virtual Campus Tour - The University of Alabama I recommend viewing in full screen. Then use your mouse to "move around". Be sure to also click on the numerous icons on the bottom to view various parts of campus.

Honors College... Honors College - University Honors

With your stats, you would qualify for the University Honors College. Since your an Engineering major with high stats, I suggest that you apply to the Computer-Based Honors Program - it's an elite group of 40 kids (avg ACT is 33 or SAT equivalent). My older son is in CBHP. The Computer-Based Honors Program is a nationally recognized undergraduate research program which pairs academically elite students directly with leading research professors and cutting-edge computing technology to complete scholarly research projects in any field of study. Here is the link.. Honors College - Computer-Based Honors

SCHOLARSHIP info..........................

This scholly is worth about $80k for an OOS student because the scholly increases to cover any future tuition inceases!! ) please, see below.

Presidential Scholar
An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive the value of out-of-state tuition for four years.

If you have any questions...feel free to post here, send me a PM, or to look at some of my posts/threads in UA section here at CC... University of Alabama - College Confidential
I wrote a lot in thread: UA Campus Tour Tips <3 UA Campus Tour tips .... <3

And...you may have heard....UA has a football team.

LOL

But, even if you're not "into" sports, my DS1 wasn't into football either, until going to UA...the spirit is contagious...LOL

Oh...and assuming that you're male...UA has beautiful women on campus...honestly...better than any California campus...and I've been on UCI, UCLA, USC, and several other campuses in Calif.

PapaSmurf · 10-09-2009, 06:33 PM

Wow thanks! I read on a different thread about Alabama being good for scholarships but since I'm not...white (half Filipino) and from Michigan, Alabama seemed kind of...unfitting, but yeah I've just been influenced by too many southern stereotypes. I like how you mentioned the girls too lol. Thats always something to consider...at least in my opinion lol

PapaSmurf · 10-09-2009, 06:43 PM

I'm still open to any other colleges anyone might suggest...

ebeeeee · 10-09-2009, 07:35 PM

Even with merit money I'm not sure you are going to find tier 1 or 2 schools that are going to be cheaper than 20,000 per year. For instance, I have one at Northeastern University who gets 16,000 a year in merit money but that still makes the COA around 25,000 per year.
To get down to less than 20K you are looking for almost a full ride. To find that you might have to look at tier 3 schools.

midmo · 10-09-2009, 08:24 PM

Alabama sounds good. If you want to consider another out-of-state school, peruse the web site for Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly known as Univ. of MO-Rolla. It is primarily an engineering and related school. Unfortunately, it has a lopsided M/F ratio.

As a MI resident, you are eligible for the Midwest Exchange rate, which is still 25K per year. But, there are a lot of merit scholarships (I'm told) and I'm guessing you could bring that down. Note, though, that the deadlines for merit scholarship applications is fast approaching for many schools (Nov. 1st at Rolla and other places), so you do need to start looking into things.

Good luck.

mom2collegekids · 10-10-2009, 06:54 AM

>>> Wow thanks! I read on a different thread about Alabama being good for scholarships but since I'm not...white (half Filipino) and from Michigan, Alabama seemed kind of...unfitting, but yeah I've just been influenced by too many southern stereotypes. I like how you mentioned the girls too lol. Thats always something to consider...at least in my opinion lol <<<

LOL...UA is not "all white." I wouldn't say that it has as many Asian students as California schools or NE schools, but for many reasons more and more Asian students are now coming to UA. It is not a "deep south school" - I rarely hear any southern accents when on campus.

Let me explain... Huntsville and Birmingham are two big cities that attract many "transplants" from all over the US (Huntsville because of Cummings Research Park, and Birmingham because of commerce and banking). The children of these transplants go to UA. So, many of them are not native Southerners even tho Alabama may be their state residence.

When we first visited UA, I didn't know what to expect. We are Catholic, so I was concerned that my Catholic kids would be out-of-place on a southern campus. Well, I was very wrong. Not ony are there many Catholic students, profs, and dept heads, there is also a big Catholic parish across the street from the school. At orientation, the ass't provost gave a welcoming speech and mentioned her own Catholic upbringing. I don't think she would have done that if she thought she was before a "hostile crowd." LOL

The campus is surrounded by churches of all stripes, a temple for Jews, and worship places for Hindus, Moslems, etc. A new Hillel is being built for the Jewish students. So, UA is more diverse than one might first think.

>>> Even with merit money I'm not sure you are going to find tier 1 or 2 schools that are going to be cheaper than 20,000 per year.<<<

I guess ebeee didn't read my post or didn't know that UA is a ranked school. LOL That's why I recommended UA. However, I do agree that it will be hard (if not impossible) to match UA's offer or to find another ranked school that won't require a lot more $$$ from you.

You could go to UA for about $7-8k out-of-pocket since your tuition would be covered PLUS $2500 towards your housing. That would only leave food, books, misc, and the balance of your dorm costs. That's an unbelievable deal for any student, but especially for an OOS student.

UA implemented this strategy several years ago to attract the best and brightest. That's why it has so many NMF and other high-stats students on campus. The $$$ attracts their interest, and once they visit, they love the school.

I strongly suggest that you click on the links in my earlier post. Start with the virtual tour and go from there.

And...if you get a chance to do a campus visit, you'll see that I was right about the gorgeous girls.

patsmom · 10-10-2009, 08:45 AM

Quote:

And...if you get a chance to do a campus visit, you'll see that I was right about the gorgeous girls.

I can vouch for that - my niece is a junior there and she's gorgeous

!

She's OOS, also. She's from PA and I never in a million years thought she would like it at Alabama but I was wrong. She absolutely loves it there. Mom2collegekids is right. You should give it a look.

Erin's Dad · 10-10-2009, 03:21 PM

Look at the sticky at the top of this forum: Best schools that give the most merit based aid

gcnorth · 10-10-2009, 03:29 PM

Case Western and Tulane have good engineering programs and are known to offer good merit aid.

mom2collegekids · 10-10-2009, 05:29 PM

From the OP...
>>>> Can anyone suggest any good schools where I could get a full ride or at least a good amount of financial aid? <<<<

So, that means he needs schollies that pay for nearly all of his costs - since a full-ride is tution, room, board, books. His family income is too high for much F/A - and whatever he is given in F/A will likely be loans.

Therefore, schools like Tulane or Case Western which at most will only give 50% of tuition aren't good choices because that will still leave the student with about $28k per year to pay (the other half of tuiton, plus room, board, books).

I don't get the feeling that is what the OP is looking to pay or borrow $100k plus. I get the feeling he's looking for someplace where he'll only have to pay about $10k per year (more or less).

OP...please correct me if I'm totally off-base.

mom2collegekids · 10-10-2009, 05:34 PM

My Quote:
And...if you get a chance to do a campus visit, you'll see that I was right about the gorgeous girls.

>>> Pat's Mom quote: I can vouch for that - my niece is a junior there and she's gorgeous !

She's OOS, also. She's from PA and I never in a million years thought she would like it at Alabama but I was wrong. She absolutely loves it there. Mom2collegekids is right. You should give it a look.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Erin's Dad's quote: >>> Look at the sticky at the top of this forum: Best schools that give the most merit based aid <<<

LOL...yeah, we did OT a bit...but, hey, isn't it a good thing for a school to be a two-fer...a place for great merit and good eye candy???

My boys think so... LOL (and my hubby thinks so, too... LOL ....I have to limit his time on the campus

)

PapaSmurf · 10-10-2009, 09:21 PM

What about the University of Miami (Florida)? Does anyone think I would have a shot at a full scholarship?

mom2collegekids · 10-10-2009, 09:57 PM

^^^ none of Miami's schollies are full-rides. They have a competitve full tuition scholly, but they don't say how many students are given that scholly...it could be 1, 5, 10 students...who knows?? You might write to their scholly office and ask how many usually apply for that one, and how many are usually awarded. (Personally, I don't like when they don't give a number for competitive schollies...if they awarded a large number, I think they'd say it on their website.)

Since the full tuition scholly is a competitive scholly, anyone (including you) has a shot at winning it. But, don't rely on any school with a competitive scholly to be one of your financial safeties.

Also, be careful about any schollies that are for a specific amount - say $15k per year towards tuiton. That may work out to be half tuition the first year, but as tuition increases, that $15k will no longer cover half of tuition costs. And, of course, after paying your portion of tuition, you still have room, board, books, etc, to cover.

Here is the info from their website...

Freshmen Academic Scholarships
Estimated Amount
Tuition costs listed are estimated
for the 2009-2010 academic year

Isaac Bashevis Singer Scholarship
Full Tuition
$34,000 annually
$136,000 total for four years

University Scholarship
$24,000 annually
$96,000 total for four years

Dean's Scholarship
$16,000 annually
$64,000 total for four years

Trustee Scholarship
$11,000 annually
$44,000 total for four years

Collegiate Scholarship
$8,000 annually
$32,000 total for four years

fuzzyfirebunny · 10-11-2009, 12:06 AM

Having flipped through the University of Washington in St. Louis brochure, I noticed they have a LOT of scholarships- granted they seem pretty competitive, but if you get it, a good portion of them cover all costs or full tuition.
I've also heard USC gives good aid/merit based scholarships, but I think that UA would probably still end up being cheaper than both of those schools..