<p>I’m thinking that a merit scholarship at UMCP, USC or UM is looking very attractive and I’m more likely to be at top of my class by graduation.</p>
<p>How are Honors Programs regarded for grad school?</p>
<p>SAT 1550/1600 2200/2400</p>
<h1>1 in class (out of 550) 4.0 UW 4.67 W</h1>
<p>Have 7 APs (4 in Euro, 5s in Stat, USHist, Calc AB and BC, Eng Lang, Chem, and Psych). I’ll be taking another 5 AP courses senior year.
Athlete, 4 time Varsity Captain in X-country and Track.
Awards and Community Service.</p>
<p>I’m a parent of a student who graduated from hs recently. My son was a top student who did not hesitate to consider the advantages of attending a school that offered him significant merit money. I would encourage you to consider the schools you listed, but don’t forget to include some very good private schools that offer full merit awards, also. Off the top of my head, they include Rice University, Washington Univ St. Louis, Carnegie Mellon Univ., Vanderbilt Univ, Univ. of Chicago. The awards are not easy to get, but you look like a possible candidate. Some require separate scholarship applications, some do not.</p>
<p>In my son’s case, he has accepted a merit award of about 40K/year to Vanderbilt Univ (good for 4 years if maintains a B average.) His test scores were very high, he had a great AP record, lots of awards, interesting and varied ecs, good grades–but not 4.0 uw. He had a good “leadership” record, which seemed to be important.</p>
<p>Look at a variety of schools that offer programs that interest you. Cast a wide net, and be flexible. And please don’t let other students who are completely hung up on “prestige” talk you out of considering schools that are not in somebody’s top 10 list. Graduating from school with no debt is a big deal. As for graduating at the top of the class, you should not assume that schools like Univ. of MI will offer you little competition in that regard. Many many very top students attend the schools you listed.</p>
<p>I was considering attending Muhlenberg, 73 best liberal arts college I believe, I think I would get a pretty decent scholarship there. I’ll probably end up going to Binghamton because of money :(.</p>
<p>I definitely know numerous students who go to our state school (for free), over much more elite colleges. Many simply apply to only the state honors program to begin with, knowing money is an issue, but I do know quite a few who have turned down very real options at elite colleges, even after seeing their acceptance. </p>
<p>The schools you mention are all quite strong, anyway. Not super-elite, obviously, but not colleges where you’re clearly too strong to be comfortable in. I think if money is a major issue, going to one of the schools mentioned would not seriously detriment you.</p>
<p>Most private elites are reasonable with financial aid and will meet the need for most of the students they admit. When you apply to a school in the top 15 and make it through such an enormous amount of competition, that’s telling you they would very much like for you to be a part of and contribute to their school. They will meet your financial need, pay for the amount of money your family cannot afford to pay for, but they will expect you to do your part.</p>
<p>If your looking for a full-ride to a school to save some money, sure maybe you should look at ‘lesser schools’ (which generally do not include schools like U of M), but if you’re looking for a school that will be affordable for you, you shouldn’t hesitate to look at top schools. I’ve met students attend top schools like Stanford, Columbia, Northwestern and Duke with a very nice financial aid package that cover up to 30K to 35K a year.</p>
<p>And definitely look at Rice. I’m don’t have the exact numbers off the top of my head, but they pride themselves in being a private university that offers an education at a reasonable price.</p>
<p>There’s no need to ‘opt’ for a lesser school AGAINST YOUR WILL. It’s possible.</p>
<p>Lejeune, although your chances of getting into Michigan are excellent and the odds of your getting some merit money are good, I would not refer to Michigan as a “lesser” school. Michigan is a legitimate top 25 university and can lay a very strong case for being a top 15 university. Obviously, it is not as impressive as Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford or Yale, but it is certainly not a “lesser” school.</p>
<p>A note on Michigan’s honor program. It is generally only availlable to students enrolled in the college of LSA (Arts and Sciences). So if you plan on majoring in Engineering or Business, there is no honors option. Given your stats, I would say your chances of getting into the honors college are very good. At Michigan, given the overall quality and wealth of the university, there probably isn’t much of a difference between the honors college and the regular university. The main benefit of the honors college is housing! hehe!</p>
<p>Sorry, I thought the OP was referring to Michigan.</p>
<p>Alexandre, I think you misread my post; thinking the OP had meant UM as Michigan, I meant to correct the OP that the term “lesser schools” does not usually entail a top public like Michigan.</p>
<p>I was referring to U of Miami, sorry about the confusion. I was also using the term “Lesser” somewhat tongue and cheek. I think U of Maryland CP is also an excellent school as are many that seem more generous than the “Top 10”. Personally, I think all top 5%s should be able to continue their education free of charge, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>Have u visited any of the schools yet?
u should to help u pick which one u like best because ur prolly gonna get into both.
also apply early to get the best deals.</p>
<p>The question doesn’take sense because anyone who did proper research figured out where they could afford and didn’t apply to those they couldn’t.</p>
<p>If the real question is does money prevent kids from going to schools the answer is yes.</p>
<p>CK100 that’s a good point, however, ever so gray is the path that leads us on our pursuit to the best college (for us). My parents are approaching retirement and my sister is two years behind me with sights on Stanford or Yale. I guess she watched too much of “The Gilmore Girls”.</p>
<p>My point is that, I’m not sure what I want to do or be post grad, so the idea of going in debt beyond 30-40K is troublesome to me. Which makes “The Lesser Schools” with merit aid very appealing.</p>
<p>That much debt troubles me too. The way I see it, if you think you’re heading for business and can get into a top school, I’d borrow. Maybe for law too. If you’re planning to go into medicine or engineering it doesn’t matter. It seems to matter for some PhD programs but not for others.</p>