How to get the most money possible for college

Paying for College
1

Hello,
I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get the most financial aid possible when applying to colleges. Whether it’s applying for certain scholarships, or perfecting an interview strategy, I’m open to hearing any suggestions. I am going to post information about me below hoping it will help you better understand me as a student and person. Hopefully it will help lead to certain scholarships, or jobs, that would suit me best so that I can get the maximum amount of money a college could grant me.

White
Female
Middle class
Applying for: Major: History / Dual Major/ Minor: Theatre
GPA: weighted: 4.0 unweighted: 3.5
AP’s: 6
APUSH Score: 4. AP Eng. Lit. Score: 4
SAT: 1970

EC:
Jobs: Referee K-2nd graders (for one fall season), currently a Lifeguard at a day camp for one full Summer (working approx. 40 hours per week), currently a Hostess at a restaurant during the fall/winter/spring

Volunteer Service: Set up and take down of Senior graduation, set up and take down of 8th grade graduation, worked the Senior dinner night at my school, was a Tour guide for 2 Open Houses at my current High school, I am a member of my school’s Key Club (we do volunteer services), and a member of my school’s Habitat for Humanity program, I helped with the set-up and take down of my town’s Relay for Life walk (for 2 years in a row), I volunteered to do Stations of the Cross at my Church, I helped out with my school’s 8th grade theater production for 2 years, I participated ina walk to raise money for starving children in Ethiopia, I am a member of my School’s Select Chorus and we volunteer to sing at Funerals as well as community events, I aided in my school’s Book Swap (brought books and supplies to different teachers), I also volunteered at a MS Center to aid in the organization of an MS Event, and I also recently did a run to help find a cure for MS.

Extracurricular Activities: I played on a travel soccer team my Freshman year, my Sophmore through Junior year I switched to a different travel soccer team (I was a starter on defense), I also play Soccer for my High School team (I played 2 years on JV and 2 years on Varaity), I played Basketball for my school my Freshman year of high school, I have done all of my school’s shows (we do about 2 a year, one drama and one musical), I was in my local college’s Equity production, I was a member of my town’s Theater program for 8- 18 year olds for 5 years (in which I received many lead roles), and I have been taking Voice lessons for 7 years.

Awards/ Certificates: Book Award ( I was awarded a Scholarship to a college for my academic achievements), I have my Lifeguard Certification, I also have my Basic Life Support Certification, I am going to be one of the head counselors on a Christain retreat I am going on in the Winter, I also received an Academic Award from my school for my improvement in my math class

Skills/ Achievement: I am a member of both National Honors Society, as well as Spanish National Honors Society

Athletic Achievement: I played on JV for 2 years ( the second year I was the Captain), now I am on Varsity for my second year

Leadership: One of the Head Counselors for a Retreat in the winter, Head Producer for my school’s play organization (an executive staff leadership position), was selected to attend a retreat run by adults from our school (on,y a select few are asked to go), Selected to go on a Leadership Retreat outside of school ( only 5 people from our school were selected to go), and I was the Captain of my JV Soccer team.

P.S. I know that my SAT score is not very high, I am planning on retaking it in October to hopefully get a higher score.

2

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

Read ALL the links in the thread I just put here. Lots of information. You will need to check college websites as criteria do change for scholarships.

The best awards come directly from the colleges to which you get accepted.

Retake that SAT…what is your CR and Math breakdown? Those are the scores that matter in most places. You want that total to be 1400 or higher, if possible.

What about the ACT?

3

Which state? EFC?

4

Thank you @thumper1 for all the information! My math score is a 630, and my CR is a 650. I tried the ACT but I did not do well on it, I did better on the SAT. and @4kidsdad New Jersey

5

Your test scores matter most, not your ECs. You need to practice for the fall SAT exams. Take all 3 fall SAT exams.

Don’t bother practicing the W section.

What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year for college?

Right now, you have a 1280 M+CR. that’s about an ACT 29. If you can bump that up to a 1300 or higher M+CR, you’ll get more merit money from some schools.


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volunteered to do Stations of the Cross at my Church, I

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Do you or your parents want you to attend a Catholic univ?

6

@mom2coIIegekids my parents are saying they will pay $20,000 a year at most, and I have been looking at a lot of Jesuit Universities such as Boston College, University of Scranton, and Fordham University (all of which I would happily attend). I also looked at a few Catholic Universities, for instance, Villanova. I would like to attend a Catholic University, but I am also open to applying to public/ private (with no religious affiliation) schools as well.

7

Have your parents run the NPCs on Fordham’s, UScranton’s, Nova’s, and BC’s websites. Those are a variety of schools known for a variety of aid.

I doubt that the first 3 will be under $20k with aid. BC “meets need” but we don’t know how BC would judge your need to be.

8

Ok! Thank you so much for your input! @mom2collegekids