<p>My family’s short on money and I have to head to college in a year! You guys seem knowledgeable so, I was wondering if anyone knew of any schools with strong need-based aid and maybe some merit aid if I’m eligible.</p>
<p>About Me:
I want to major in either Political Science, Psych., or History. History is a definite but I want either Political Science of Psych. to supplement it so a school that’s strong in those areas would be nice. I love Japanese culture so if can take a credit or two of Japanese that would be nice! I really want to learn Spanish as well so if the school doesn’t have Japanese that’s still a plus. I live in MD and can’t go too far west because of expenses. (Unless its cheap to get back and forth and live there, then I’m cool with that!) I want to live on a beautiful campus and I’ll most likely be in the dorms. I want to be able to get out and do things whether I decide to join a club or go off campus for bit. A diverse campus would be nice! Not necessarily racially but people’s interests in things. I’d also want a good amount of people on campus. Campuses with around 1,000-2,000 people seem dauntingly small. I love the beach as well! (Not needed but I thought I’d throw that out there.)</p>
<p>Stats:
3.4 UW GPA (Really bad freshman year. My recommendation letter from my counselor will mention stress from my mom losing her job and my sister, who lives with us, having a baby. Maintained 3.6 sophomore year and estimated 3.8 this year. Grades aren’t quite finalized yet!)</p>
<p>SAT: Best composite 1700. Weak math area. Hoping to change that.</p>
<p>ACT: Predicted 30 (hopefully)</p>
<p>APs: Took APUSH and Eng. Lang tests this year. Taking AP Bio, AP English, AP Psych. and AP US Gov. this year)</p>
<p>Hooks: Black, Immigrant parents, great grandmother is Hispanic, 1st gen. college student (2 older half-sisters have graduated from college. Does it still count?), raised by single mom, challenging school, and an upward trend. (and possible awesome recommendation letters!)</p>
<p>Really it would probably be cheapest to apply to state universities in MD. Tuition is lower and there are usually merit scholarships for residents. Also does MD not have scholarships for lower income families, and do you qualify? Also I know my school heavily advertised lots of scholarships offered by outside institutions for people pursuing political science. Look into those types of scholarships that pertain to what you want to study.</p>
<p>@astults13 The major schools in MD seem to be more STEM based to be honest even though their other programs are pretty good and I still love them and have been considering them! I just want to check out some more options.</p>
<p>@M’s Mom and @momrath. I’ve been thinking about both of those programs and considering them but I’m a little bit outside of the DC metro area and I feel like I’m unlikely to get anywhere with Questbridge. I feel as though I might no blend in as well as well. I want to go to a good school but maybe not something quite Ivy level even though that may sound a little strange. I’ll still try though!</p>
<p>Which county are you in? Some of the community colleges have honors programs and scholarship programs in addition to the state and federal financial aid. If you don’t like the looks of UM-CP or UM-BC, would Salisbury or Towson work for you?</p>
<p>Your grades and test scores are on the edge of the range for some guaranteed merit-based scholarships. There are a number of threads about that issue in the Financial Aid Forum. If you scroll down, you are sure to hit them.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 UMD and UMBC were two of the main schools in MD I was looking at! I was also considering Loyola since my counselor knows some on in admissions. Even though my mom can’t pay a lot, one thing she ruled out is HCC. Lol. That always bugs me! A lot of scholarships have a 3.5 GPA requirement and I’m right there and will be there when I graduate. I would be there if I hadn’t slacked of freshman year!</p>
<p>barkk… actually its 28 to get 15K per year…total cost of attendance is 20-25K…</p>
<p>uab is 26% AA. 11k undergrads, urban campus. wouldnt call it a beautiful campus… ie its not traditional old college buildings, but imo it is a nice campus.</p>
<p>it does offer a minor in japanese. </p>
<p>dorms are “reasonable” ie 5200 for the year…freshman dorms are suite style or full apartments…(full kitchen etc)… about 2200 students live on campus</p>
<p>Thanks. UAB is a school that I’ll check out. What do you mean by urban campus? Is it something similar to NYU and Pittburgh were it isn’t actually a ‘campus’ in terms people usually think of.</p>
<p>allyjay…the campus is downtown birmingham…but all buildings are pretty centralized around a quad type area (the green)…it does stretch over blocks but that includes about 7 hospitals and med school etc…all buildings for undergrad are all close together.</p>
<p>(btw a beach is about 4 hours south in gulf shores.)</p>
<p>How do you guys feel about schools like Georgetown, American, George Washington, and William and Mary for me?</p>
<p>I think that Georgetown and American are known for need-based aid. I’m not sure about GW. A girl from my school goes there. Her mom’s a private school teacher and is sending another daughter to college next year. W&M is pretty expensive but I used the net-price calculator and it only said 2,000 a year. Not sure how accurate that is.</p>