Feel like I'm wasting my time.

Paying for College
1

<p>I feel like a lot of these scholarships I find on cappex or fastweb or even my school website are really just sweepstakes. I don’t want to take a ton of time applying for something I know I have a one in a million chance of winning so how can I tell which scholarships are worth my time?</p>

<p>For example, (though this is definitely not a sweepstakes) I was looking at scholarships through the Daughters of the American Revolution. (I want to be a history major) They only give out 25 awards and the application process is extremely rigorous. I doubt I’ll apply. Am I just being lazy?</p>

<p>My parents made around $66,000 this year. I’m their only child. Is it impossible for me to get need based aid?</p>

<p>INFO
I’ve only applied to two instate schools.
Austin Peay State University
University of Tennessee Knoxville
I submitted the general scholarship application ages ago, but have no idea when I’ll hear back from them.</p>

<p>ACT: 31 (with super score. Is it too late to take it again? For scholarship purposes I guess. Ehhh. Next date is in February. Probably too late for any purpose.)
Highest Subscores:
English:35
Math:29
Reading:32
Science:28</p>

<p>GPA:
3.67 unweighted (although it’s more like 3.56 on the transcript because it doesn’t have senior grades.)
4.00 weighted
My grades freshman year were awful and are the main thing weighing down the GPA. If you look at my GPA by respective year (unweighted) it goes like this
Freshman:3.08
Sophomore:3.75
Junior:3.83
Senior: 4.00
Will anyone take this into account?</p>

<p>Lacking in ECs
National Forensics League
Mock Trial
All State choir
Summer school tutor and volunteer online tutor
Very little volunteering besides that, but I’m trying to start getting into it.
Pretty much no leadership.</p>

2

<p>5 APs
AP Euro:3
AP Lang:3
APUSH:5
AP Bio:-
AP Lit:-</p>

3

<p>There are schools that would give you financial aid at that income level, yes. There are also schools that would be glad to have a kid with your stats, some would give you merit (institutional scholarship aid - better than Cappex etc because it’s generally for all 4 years). </p>

<p>Some to look at that gave my S money (whose stats were less than yours)…but quick, it’s December and merit deadlines can be a lot earlier than normal ones!):</p>

<p>Berea College (KY) - free tuition and help with R&B if you get in</p>

<p>These are in Ohio and generous:
College of Wooster
Denison</p>

<p>Adrian (MI)</p>

<p>DePauw (IN)</p>

<p>Others may have further suggestions.</p>

4

<p>You need to pick and choose your effort on scholarships. Most scholarship money is awarded through the school, not independent sources.<br>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;