Schools I should be looking at due to lack of need-based FA

Paying for College
1

<p>I will not be receiving any need-based financial aid from any school, including top schools most likely. With that being said, what schools should I be looking at in terms of merit aid with these stats? As of now, I’ve been accepted to PSU main (in-state) and am kind of going from there. I’m looking to apply for computer engineering.</p>

<p>My stats:
SAT: 2230 (730 CR/790 M/710 W)
SAT IIs: 730 Math II, 730 US History
ACT: 33 C (35 E, 33 M, 32 R, 33 S, 10 essay)
AP tests: Language (5), US History (5), Chemistry (3)
GPA: Really high and inflated…not sure how much the number would actually help.
Rank: 1/125</p>

<p>My extracurriculars are extensive and I feel as though I am very competitive at top schools, save maybe HYPSM. I do not wish to post them for privacy reasons.</p>

<p>So far, I have these schools on my list:
PSU
OSU
Rice
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
RPI
UVA
GT
Case Western
Yale, Stanford, Penn, Duke as unlikely reaches.</p>

<p>I can afford to pay full-price at schools, but I’d like to try to avoid that by applying to more schools known for merit money and keep my options open. I know that OSU (financial safety) gives great merit based scholarships, and I should, according to their website, hopefully get about $18,000 in merit money per year, lowering my COA to <$20,000. This leaves me with two questions then: 1.) are there any other top-100 USNWR schools that have decent engineering programs and give out semi-automatic (i.e. high probability for competitive applicants) merit awards that would lower the COA to around $20-27k?</p>

<p>2.) Besides the schools listed above, are there any, say, top-40 schools that I should definitely be looking at for merit awards? I’m hoping to lower the COA to around $40k and below for these more top-tier schools. Rice is my top choice right now, and I know they give out a decent bit of merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>The top schools are generally not going to give much, if any, merit money because they don’t have to in order to attract the best students.</p>

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<p>Look at the thread about scholarships and low cost schools at the top of this forum section.</p>

4

<p>You would get an excellent guaranteed merit scholarship,at University of Alabama. And if you major in engineering you get an additional stipend.</p>

<p>Also, there is another scholarship,that is more competitive…and you could be in the running for that. @mom2collegekids‌ shroud be able to answer this.</p>

<p>Apply soon…I believe the dead,one is December 1. Application is not difficulty or lengthy. You need to complete,the scholarship application as well. </p>

<p>I don’t know enough about the other award…which I believe is a full ride.</p>

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<p>You may get some small merit aid from a few schools in the top 40 but that may not likely to lower the CoA to below $27k. You may need to aim lower for achieve that goal.</p>