Merit scholarships, medium size schools, science major

my-3-sons · February 2012

Lisam128-You mentioned being worried about crime at UMiami. Please note that UM is located in the affluent Miami suburb of Coral Gables, not downtown Miami. Please don't rule it out without a visit. UM really has everything your D wants and needs. The merit aid is very generous and the marine bio program is tops. Stock up on sunscreen.:)

kpgriswold · February 2012

Also consider tiny Eckerd College in St. Pete. They have a highly recommended marine bio program, and if your D is a high achiever, they will throw money at her as they did ours.

wis75 · February 2012

Consider the overall academic and social fit of the school. She could change or tweak her major. She will want strong programs to match her strong HS credentials. Often flagship public U's will have a peer group because of Honors programs. Look at the overall caliber of other colleges. She may discover another passion. Do not worry about the city a school is in as much as the campus itself and then the area close to it. No one would choose Yale for New Haven. Do not discount Miami unless the school itself has problems with safety.

HImom · February 2012

What about USoCal? It offers generous merit aid and has a WISE program to encourage females in STEM, particularly future engineers. It has an outstanding engineering school.

musictwins · February 2012

To poster above, C of C in South Carolina did not recently drop tuition, the school in Charleston, WV just dropped tuition. C of C like many LACs is female dominated however just around the corner is the very male dominant Citadel, and I am sure those young men are very aware of the number of females at C of C

notrichenough · February 2012

^ Too bad about Auburn. I wonder how long Alabama will continue their scholarship program.

pierre0913 · February 2012

Here are the guidelines for receiving a merit scholarship at Clemson: http://www.clemson.edu/financial-aid/documents/rschol1213.pdf

Let me know if you have any questions about Clemson! It's not huge (as in 40,000 students) or small either but it's pretty medium sized. We have about 16,000 undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. We have a fantastic science/engineering program as well as agriculture, nursing, education, business etc.. (pretty much any technical/professional fields).

audellmom · February 2012

Auburn's OOS Presidential or National Scholars tuition award is about 3/4 tuition ($15k right now) plus some other $$ perks. I talked to an admissions rep and they thought that if tuition did go up, the award would be adjusted. There are also departmental scholarships within the college of science and mathematics available to OOS students. These can vary anywhere between $500 and $2500, and can be combined with any other award.

Office of University Scholarships - Auburn University

Office of University Scholarships - Auburn University

audellmom · February 2012

I would also mention that LSU has a very coastal-specific environmental science school, with undergraduate and graduate degrees. They've been heavily involved in wetlands conservation, coastal bird preservation and the BP oil spill clean up.
Home of School of Coast and Environment
LSU also has an honors college. It's a big school, lots of opportunities, but not highly ranked. They have OOS scholarships (some of which are very big) but they are limited in the number awarded yearly, and they are competitive.

Entering Freshman Nonresident Scholarship Programs

I believe your D's stats would qualify her for the big award: full tuition, room, board, stipend, study abroad funds, paid research fellowship.

Lisam128 · February 2012

I just spoke with a friend whose D has a 1490 like mine (albeit on her first attempt) and she said merit was not extensive as her D's scores didn't get over the 1500 mark. I just came home and urged D to STUDY for SAT in June!

notrichenough · February 2012

^ From what I remember, most scholarships based on stats drew the highest line in the 1400-1440 range.

Which schools offer scholarships for SATs over 1500?

Lisam128 · February 2012

Btw my home computer died yesterday and I worked all day today so all these messages and suggestions were a wonderful surprise! It will take me a while to sort through what you sent. Thank you all and please keep them coming!

Lisam128 · February 2012

Notrichenough....it was university of Miami

my-3-sons · February 2012

Many, many kids at UMiami with SATs under 1500/1600 receive very nice merit aid. The whole app is considered when making awards, not just SAT scores and gap and class rank are very important. The applicant pool is very strong and the family may have been expecting too much or have a different perception of an "extensive" award.

If your D has the great score of 1490/1600 on her first try, she should have a terrific chance of raising it above 1500 with a little study. Good luck!

crester · February 2012

Question: is it important to check what GPA is necessary to KEEP these scholarships? In other words - how many of require a 3.5 vs 3.0, etc.? If a school requires a high GPA, a family could be left high and dry if a STEM program throws a curveball. 'Bait and switch?'

mommusic · February 2012

crester--it's something to keep in mind, but I wouldn't call it "bait & switch." These scholarships go to the hardest workers & those most likely to do well in the program. You can't blame the colleges for having a GPA requirement.

I say this as someone whose S had a wonderful scholarship for 4 years...unfortunately, he had some issues that caused him to take 5 years to graduate, so we were out a full year of high-priced tuition. I still would not have had him go to another school and forego the scholarship, however.

notrichenough · February 2012

Question: is it important to check what GPA is necessary to KEEP these scholarships?

It is wise to know the conditions so you are not caught by surprise. Some require a certain course load, some do not allow you to take any time off (i.e., if you take off a semester for any reason you lose the scholarship).

Most of the scholarships I've seen require a 3.0 to keep, which shouldn't be a major hardship since the average GPA is now 3.2-3.3 . I've seen a few that require a 3.2, I don't remember seeing any that require a 3.5.

amandakayak · February 2012

fwiw - UMiami does have great merit but the 24K/yr offer to my ds last yr (with similar stats to your dd) was not enough to compete with other offers. Also if you do a trend of their tuition increases year-over-year, they are comfortable with higher increases than the other schools we were looking at - so projecting out for example, they would exceed Cornell sticker price in 3 yrs. The merit award was static. Another consideration was higher cost of living in Miami.

MisterK · February 2012

University of Pittsburgh gives out full tuition scholarships, and they're very friendly towards out-of-state applicants. Your D sounds like she would be competitive. They have bio/chem, not sure about marine bio.

Lisam128 · March 2012

Will check it out. Older D was accepted to Carnegie Mellon, but did not attend. I liked the area.

Merit scholarships, medium size schools, science major

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