<p>Personally I just want to reinforce what Northstarmom is saying here. No one is saying that your HS record isn’t just fine. The problem is, you fall into a hole many of us are in. It isn’t enough to just “get into” a school - you have to figure out how to afford it too. Your parents may not feel that with $150,000 income they can pay $40,000+/year for college. YOu may have siblings they are thinking of too.</p>
<p>So the trick for you is to QUICKLY identify some schools that might offer you strong merit money and would become affordable. You also need to identify public schools that you can afford. Don’t forget that in order to get good merit money you need to (1) Identify schools that give out good merit aid and (2) Be at the very tippy top of a school’s applicant pool.</p>
<p>I know nothing about schools in Texas, or even in the south for that matter. Go over to the parent forum and read the threads on there about merit money. Don’t forget to take into account travel expenses.</p>
<p>Some good merit money schools I know of: Denison University, Case Western, College of Wooster, Allegheny College, DePauw Univ, Ohio Wesleyan.</p>