If you are a top student with perfect/nearly perfect GPA, SAT and NMSF with strong extracurriculars but no hooks like Olympic athletics, preferred skin color, homeless parents, billionaire legacy, cancer cure, Broadway experience or other acchivements of high caliber, do colleges court you or even have interest in you? Is there a way to make them notice you?
All the of NMSF scholarship schools:
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Plus all the mail you get from taking standardized tests.
My comment will just be from D’s experience. After the PSAT you will start getting loads of mail from some very impressive schools. Some schools have a much larger direct mail campaign than others, so this will vary. When you’re touring or doing college fairs or meeting one on one with admissions officers during school visits, it does feel like courting. Their job is to procure as many applications as possible, because that determines % admitted which is an important stat. Lost in this is the true difficulty gaining admission to the highly selective schools. I don’t feel that the top schools really court anyone once it gets serious, mostly because they don’t have to. And to be quite honest there are many, many students out there with perfect GPA, almost perfect SAT and NMSF. Even with those stats, leadership positions and community service, no one is a sure bet at any of the highly selective schools. For example my daughter’s friend IS an Olympic medal winner with great grades and good board scores and she didn’t get into the Ivy of her choice. It all works out in the end. But don’t expect to be “courted.”
I guess “courted” was a poorly chosen word. I should say really “notice”? I don’t mean fake attention like U Chicago’s mass love letters.
How do one get noticed, not counting costly college visits or summer camps.
Exactly what kind of attention are you expecting? A few like Arizona State U will pay for you to visit, but for the most part they aren’t going to contact you (other than e-mail and mail) until you apply.
Do college representative look for these kids when they visit high schools?
I seriously doubt it, I think only recruited athletes are sought out like that.
What are you asking this for? Is it because you are worried about getting into a good college or getting good financial aid?
My question is about good college and good merit scholarships. I was wondering if a Yale representative comes to your school, does he takes any notes about bright students he meets?
UChicago flew me out there all expenses paid before I applied. I know WashU also does this. There were a few vietnamese people who were also flown out. If you’ve got a little bit of minority in you there are loads of diversity fly-in programs.
Academic performance usually is the single most important factor in college admissions.
So yes, colleges will be interested in a student with perfect/nearly perfect GPA and scores, NMSF status, and strong extracurriculars. If you make a serious effort on your applications, you should have no trouble getting admitted to an excellent college.
That’s not to say you’ll be a shoo-in for admission to the very most selective schools, or that those schools will shower you with merit money. At many of the most selective colleges, all or most financial aid is need-based. Affluent families are expected to cover the costs.
Yale (and other schools of that rank) does not give merit aid. If you want to know which schools give merit aid, first look at the links in post #1 and this one:
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
and post a new thread with your stats and how much you want to spend and the parents of cc will give you wonderful recommendations.
Seek this out, don’t expect the schools to come to you (other than through mail, e-mail, college fairs, and visits to your school and your town).
"My question is about good college and good merit scholarships. "
then look at these colleges as well as the ones on the list above- they will pay you to go to their college .
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
TOP colleges receive ten - twenty applications for every spot open .
They dont come laden with merit $$ for hi Stat kids, in order to convince the to go to their college, because they dont need to.
I don’t know about colleges seeking particular kids out when they visit a school, but showing up at their presentation, and engaging the presenter in lively conversation is always a good idea. The folks who do these roadshows are generally the regional admissions reps that actually read the files from your area, and if you make a positive impression on them in person, I think it can help your cause a bit.
And yes, as @menloparkmom said, if you’re talking about tippy-top schools, virtually none of them are going to offer any merit money anyway. At slightly less selective than tippy-top schools, near perfect grades and scores are very likely to get you in, often with merit aid, regardless of whether or not schools “notice” you in advance based on your PSAT scores or something.
And finally, there’s a lot of really great schools out there, and a kid with spectacular stats that applies to a decent chunk of them is liable to get in to some. They may not get in to HYPS, but there’s plenty of other fish in the sea. My D had strong stats and none of the super-impressive differentiators listed in the OP, and she got in to most places she applied. It’s not THAT brutal out there, if you’ve got the numbers.
The following selective colleges grant merit awards averaging at least $10K/year to at least 10% of enrolled students:
Avg Award … School
$36K Washington & Lee
$24K Davidson
$24K URichmond
$22K Vanderbilt
$22K Case Western
$21K Duke
$21K Tulane
$19K USC
$19K UMiami
$19K George Washington
$18K Brandeis
$17K Grinnell
$17K Mt. Holyoke
$16K Notre Dame
$16K Wake Forest
$16K Smith
$14K Rice
$13K Kenyon
$12K Macalester
$12K Colorado College
$11K Harvey Mudd
$11K Bryn Mawr
Source: Kiplinger’s
I know, no one expects merit aid from highly selective schools but ones ranking just below those might.
One poster mentioned “little bit of minority” for flying in. I’m not sure if a middle class Asian kid from an educated suburban family would meet that criteria, unless he has a hook.
An Asian high stats might be attractive to an LAC because that would add diversity to their student population. I had a couple of really frank discussions with a Chinese mom who is a close friend. She basically admitted that in her kids highly competitive high school and community, no Asian parent lets their kid apply to an LAC because the families are very prestige aware. The kids apply to Ivies, other highly selective schools or to the state flagship. So an LAC could very well include Asian students in their fly in programs.
OP, these are some of the more highly regarded liberal arts colleges (LACs). Check them out:
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Pomona
Middlebury
Wellesley (women only)
Bowdoin
Haverford
Carleton
Claremont McKenna
Wesleyan U
Vassar
Harvey Mudd
Hamilton
Washington & Lee
Grinnell
Davidson
Colby
Smith (women)
Reed
Bates
Oberlin
Macalester
Bryn Mawr (women)
Barnard (women)
Scripps (women)
Kenyon
Whitman
Richmond
Holy Cross
Trinity
Skidmore
Sewanee
Occidental
LACs tend to have very small classes, small student populations, relatively smaller campuses, excellent access to professors, few or no discussions led by TAs (there are no, or few, grad students on campus…), and total focus on undergraduates. Those are some advantages that LACs have over universities.
Some disadvantages are that they do not offer as many majors or classes, there are not as many research or internship opportunities available (LACs are typically in small towns or suburbs and research budgets do not rival universities’), and there is not as much name recognition among the masses.
But you can get a great education at a LAC - they’re definitely worth your attention.