<p>Do these sites seem legitimate? I am desperately seeking aid, and I think I would be a good candidate for these scholarships… but they seem a bit fishy. Anyone else think so?</p>
<p>[College</a> Admissions, College Search, College Scholarships, College and University Admissions.](<a href=“http://www.applyingtoschool.com/default.aspx]College”>http://www.applyingtoschool.com/default.aspx)</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Science and Computer Engineering Academic Scholarship – Education-Portal.com](<a href=“http://education-portal.com/pages/Computer_Science_Academic_Scholarship.html]Computer”>http://education-portal.com/pages/Computer_Science_Academic_Scholarship.html)</p>
<p>And I have used some search sites (fastweb, etc.) to look for college scholarships… I am a high school senior living in St. Louis, I have a 4.376 weighted GPA, an ACT composite score of 32, and I am an Eagle Scout. I am also ranked 18 in my class of 422, and I have a twin sister. I ran track and cross country (not well enough to get any athletic scholarships).</p>
<p>I have an older sister currently in her sophomore year at Truman State. My twin sister has special needs, which means she will require a financial contribution from my parents for at least the next 7-8 years or so, if not for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>I want to pursue a degree in computer science / engineering</p>
<p>I applied to these schools:</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis - Wait Listed
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Accepted, loan based aid
University of Wisconsin, Madison - Accepted
Purdue University, West Lafayette Indiana - Accepted</p>
<p>Backup Schools:</p>
<p>University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou) - Accepted with Merit based aid
Missouri University of Science and Technology - Accepted with Merit based aid</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it looks as though I will be attending Mizzou, since everything else is too expensive. I applied for some Eagle Scout Scholarships, but I doubt I will receive any; my involvement in boy scouts was basically limited to my eagle scout project. I was in the order of the arrow, and served a few positions, but I didn’t attend any leadership camps or earn any eagle palms. I also submitted a scholarship to the St. Louis mothers of twins club, but if I recall correctly that scholarship is only $1500 or so.</p>
<p>If I go to school at Mizzou, I will have very little debt to deal with after completing my BA in CS… and that should make me ecstatic. From what I’ve heard, having no debt after college is somewhat rare, and pretty awesome.</p>
<p>However, I toured all of these out of state colleges and I was so ready for a new experience outside of Missouri. I really like Wisconsin… I would kill to go there. I’ve heard so many great things about it. But I would be taking on $17,000 in debt after each year (in a best case scenario, assuming I get a few scholarships). I’m just so bummed… Wisconsin’s computer science program is one of the best ranked in the country. And they accepted me!!!</p>
<p>I’m just so frustrated that all of my hard work didn’t pay off in the way I wanted it to… I struggled to get my Eagle Scout, and I worked hard to maintain good grades. And all of the schools I applied to let me in (barring WashU). But I can’t pay for any of them…</p>
<p>If I could work up enough money to go to Wisconsin for under $5000 in debt each year, that would be amazing. But I don’t know how… this is a very tough situation. Does anyone have any info that could help me? Scholarships? Loan advice? Should I suck it up and stop being selfish?</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your help! I look forward to reading any comments!</p>
<p>opiaboy</p>