My son is close to a straight A student. Offering up AP classes since Junior year. He is a GIFTED performer in the arts. Lead in the school plays since Freshman year. Parts in feature films. In addition, excelling in choir - All State level for several years. Performs in the school band, local professional band at an advance level; Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony . He’s taken advance summer courses at Johns Hopkins in pre-med as well as Harvard with public speaking. He offers up endless activities outside of the school; People to People, Therapy Dog visits to hospitals and senior centers. It’s endless…he’s looking to apply to a college but NOT to a theatre department. He’d like to have access to theatre/band but looking to advance his studies in other areas. Will this action hurt his chances of getting a merit scholarship? Having been so focused in the arts over the years. What’s the best way to get a “full scholarship” to an ivy league??
Welcome to CC. Unfortunately none of the schools in the Ivy League offer merit scholarships, so the only aid you can receive is based on financial need. Unless you are eligible for financial aid your only alternative to full pay at those schools is for your son to win outside scholarships. The same is true for most of the schools that you are probably considering. “Full scholarships” if you are referring to tuition plus room and board are pretty much nonexistent. Some top schools with competitive(very) full tuition scholarships however are Duke, Vanderbilt, and Washington University in St. Louis. Johns Hopkins has a 75% tuition scholarship. Are those schools you would consider?
Does your son have SAT or ACT scores? How did he do on the PSAT?
Run the NPCs (Net Price Calculators) on specific school websites to see if your family qualifies for financial aid. If you do not and can’t afford the EFC (expected family contribution), then your son needs to apply to schools with merit scholarships.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
This list is helpful for looking for how many scholarships schools actually offer. Note that it is sortable.
What does he want to get his merit aid FOR? If it’s for music or theater…at a college which awards such aid…he may find that not majoring in that field will reduce his chances of significant aid.
However, if his academics are superior, there are colleges with great arts programs…that offer merit aid fo academics…but also have great access to arts opportunities.
Are you saying you will not qualify for need based aid…and therefore want merit?
If he is that gifted a musician…he might want to read about Skidmore…which offers a scholarship by audition for musicians.
As I recall…Davidson has a generous…audition by invitation only scholarship for musicians as well. This is one of only a few merit scholarships Davidson offers.
Other ideas…University of Rochester. Your kiddo would be able to take lessons from a grad student at Eastman, and Rochester has good ensembles.
Case Western…another choice…again they have good ensembles for non-majors…and he could take music lessons at Cleveland Institute of Music…most likely with a grad student.
If he wants to continue playing in an ensemble once he gets to college…he needs to check very carefully on the availability to do so. My DD played an underrepresented instrument…and very well. She wanted to continue in college…and that was THE hardest criteria for her to fulfill…because so many programs she was looking at had music majors…and the music major on her instrument would have gotten the orchestra seat.
If you qualify for need based aid…and the school is affordable for you with that…your kid would find excellent arts opportunities at Yale, Harvard, MIT…all have lots of talented musicians…but they don’t award any merit aid.
Music and performing arts do give departmental scholarships to students studying in specific areas. If one is not going to major in those area, they would not give much, if at all, the student even one has great achievement in that area. I know some schools would give a small scholarship to students who participate in the band or orchestra in college though.
Is your son interested in either double majoring in theater or minoring in theater?
Case Western offers good merit aid generally (regardless of major) plus four full tuition theater scholarships (by audition) for majors, plus two smaller scholarships for theater minors. It’s a highly ranked theater department in a university where many students double major, particularly across humanities/STEM disciplines.
http://theater.case.edu/undergraduate/undergraduate-scholarships/
If you don’t mind a Christian school, Baylor gives merit scholarships and has a strong performing arts program. The scholarships are tied to standardized test scores/GPA, not a particular major.