What colleges give merit aid and have honors programs for students with stellar grades, SAT"S, GPA and EC’s? I understand the IVY league does give merit aid and does not have honors programs. If Ivy league is is not a possibility then I would like to know the best school with a generous merit aid policy or one that has a superior honors program.
<p>What type of school? Private university, public uni, LAC? Honors colleges or an opportunity to pursue academic honors or money for honors?
I think even Harvard still has some ancient, convoluted endowed scholarships that under certain circumstances function as “merit” aid, even though for all practical purposes they are need based.</p>
<p>Now I think a quick answer to the first part your question would be Duke, UNC-CH, Emory and Carleton, not sure about Stanford. A more practical answer to your question would be large state unis and LACs that are solid matches to safeties for any given candidate. In other words, Duke and UNC, for example do have merit aid, but the average candidate, even the average val would not necessarily qualify. More info is needed.</p>
<p>I am interested mostly in Private schools and even LAC’s. My feelilng is that if I don’t get into my one or two top choices (Ivy league) then I will go to a place that will give me free tuition, room, board etc or atleast has an honors type program where they treat students with strong profiles (High GPA, SAT;s, EC’s etc) in a special way. Ii understand that U Mich has a very respectable honors program.</p>
<p>Franklin & Marshall has a John Marshall scholarship. Lafayette has a Marquis scholarship. BU has a program (might just be for engineering) where you have to go up and take a test, but the top scorerers get a full ride. WUSTL also has a full ride/half ride program for a fair number of students. But you have to really be up there to get any of these, i.e. be able to bump their numbers with your SATs and GPA.</p>
<p>Emory Scholars, Vandy I think has a program, many state unis, and a whole slew of LACs. Penn State ?Schreyer Honors COllege, Ole Miss has a pretty good one too, WHich is right for you depends on you stats, possible major, what state you live in, how large a school you want to attend, the specifics of the honor college (some of them are truly like going to a LAC,with or without merit aid; others have good merit aid for honors, but other than a few special classes, there is little academic/social benefit for the honors students.
Good merit aid LACs - Rhodes, Univ of Richmond, Trinity, DePauw, I think, St. Olaf, are some my daughter looked into, there are many others.</p>
<p>The Schreyer Honors College@Penn State is a very strong program and is very highly regarded. I’m a freshman in the honors college and the other kids in my class are amazingly smart. let me know if you have any questions.</p>
<p>Denison has good merit aid and an honors program.</p>
<p>Scott, tell us your stats and we can do a lot better job of identifying schools fo you. For all we know ,your idea of stellar stats is a 1400 ,3.8uw which won’t get you a 'ride at any of the schools mentioned. I find so many people that believe that a 4.0 Valedictorian with a 1400 has full-rides flying at her like so many moths to a flame. It ain’t true .</p>
<p>My stats are 1570, 800, 790, 760…3.99 UW GPA (2 A-'s in non acacemic sujects), Most Rigurous Cirriculum…(almost all AP’s my small school offers), I have leadership stuff at school…(Catain varsity team, captain math team, EIC etc) and have been in a few other clubs for 4 years, work for a local paper for 2 years and have a few minor writing awards one which is a national award. I published an article in a national magazine. I am a Merit Semifinalist.
Now that you know my stats…what would be a good school to pursue in terms of honors programs and scholarships if I do not get my favorite schools.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Those stats should give you a great shot at any of the schools mentioned above that offer honors programs/merit scholarships. WUSTL might be a good one for you to explore. Check their website. I think they offer 24 full scholarships (could be 12 full and 24 half–I don’t remember). It is a very stats-conscious school with a huge endowment.</p>
<p>Well, Scott you move to the front row. LOL.You really need to think about applying at the top schools that offer merit aid.This gets very quickly to purely personal choices. So ,I’ll just list where I would go:Rice, Duke, Davidson, Wake, Wash and Lee, Emory, Vanderbilt, Tulane, UVA, Chapel-Hill, or William and Mary. D, on the other hand would go to Grinnell, Rhodes, Kenyon, Centre, along with Davidson, Wash and Lee, and William and Mary . It would be appropriate for you to apply for the largest merit scholarships at any of these schools and a dozen or two more top schools. Good luck.</p>
<p>just something, but some schools have really good academic programs even though they don’t have honors programs. just means all the students at the school are held to the same [high] standard.</p>
<p>Great, scott (no pun intended) - curmudgeon’s list is a good place to start. The most selective schools on his list tend to use their merit scholarships to attract students that are of particular value to them, and even if your grades and scores put you right in line (after all, there’s nothing above 1600 and straight As) with the scholarship recipients - you may or may not actually be competitive, because its more about what they want rather than your achievements. Having said that, the things I think you should look for are the overall number and values of scholarships given vs cost of attendance, particularly for the private schools. Then with the honors colleges, the cost of attendance (think of scholarships as gravy for the OOS publics) vs the amenities and desireability of the honors college.</p>
<p>How many schools to apply to? This depends on how much FA you think you need, talk to your folks. If you are typical middle class/upper middle, you may get more merit money with your stats than need -based. If your family makes less than say 50K, the pure need-based aid schools may give you a better deal. Your ethnicity, and your geographic location play a part too, many of these schools are in the South and Midwest, if you are out of region they may be more interested in you. A good GC should be able to help - if you don’t have one, formulate a list, post it with where you are from and your ethnicity, and the good parents on this board can give you some idea of whether you stand a good chance of merit money or not. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s help, I have recieved alot of great info. Cangel, I live in the Northeast and I would not qualify for any Finacial Aid. Silly question…does WUSTL stand for Wash U??? Do you generally need to request these scholarhips and honors progams when you apply or do they offer it to you with their acceptance?</p>
<p>Yes WUSTL is Wash U. Curmudg’s list will be a very good place for you to start.
Requesting scholarships and honors is usually not necessary, but it depends. Sometimes there are separate applications, sometimes not, sometimes you must be nominated for the top award, but if you don’t make the cut for that you will be considered for the next level down and so on. If you are a senior, you need to get moving, because some of the most selective scholarships have Dec 1 deadlines for nomination (you have to submit an app, but you don’t have to commit, the Dec 1 deadline is more a measure of the sincerity of the student for whom the school is a safety statwise).</p>
<p>My daughter is similar statwise to you (slightly lower scores, similar grades, ECs), no FA, and out of region geography for us would be the NE. She has some specific wishes for size and location of school, so she is applying to a couple of safeties that should get her some merit money, and about 5 reaches/match-reaches. As you may have noticed, the purely numerical definition of a match breaks down when test scores are 1540 and up, so it gets hard to say what schools might be 50-50 or 60-40. We encouraged her to find a potential merit aid school closer to home than her reaches, mainly because we thought she could get a better education for the money and effort(as opposed to a merit aid school requiring a 2 hour car ride and a 4 hour plane trip). We realize though that she may get less merit aid than she would have gotten from a comparable school in the NE, a school for which she would have been an unusual applicant. It is all a trade-off, and you have less than half the info you need to make a reasonable choice of where to apply!</p>
<p>That’s why it is extremely important to do some preliminary research, then get your parents involved in a serious discussion about what they can afford to pay, and what they are willing to pay.</p>
<p>Yep. What cangel said.</p>
<p>Towson University in Maryland. It is part of the Maryland State University system and is a nice gem: small classes, strong programs in performance, art, design, business, education, and communication.</p>
<p>Scott,
If you are a senior, you need to do some serious research now on scholarships. Some college merit scholarships have early deadlines, and some have already passed. A good place to check is the colleges’ web pages in the financial aid or scholarship section. Other places to check are back messages of CC.</p>
<p>The responses have been GREAT. Yes, Northstarmom, I am a senior. Looks like deadlines are approaching for these opportunites. I will start looking at the websites of the colleges mentioned. Thanks.</p>