<p>Hey I’m posting this in the parents forum because I’m hoping that many of you have had experience in chasing scholarships for your son or daughter. I’m wondering what scholarships would be a good fit for me and worthwhile for me to apply for. Also, any advice on how to best get scholarships would be appreciated! Here are my stats:</p>
<p>I am about to be a Senior in Arizona</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Male Asian (2nd Generation)
GPA: 4.0 UW/4.9 W
Class Rank: 1 out of 530</p>
<p>SAT:
2280 Overall (first try and ive only taken it once)
1560 Math+Reading
800 Math
760 Critical Reading
720 Writing</p>
<p>SAT II:
World History-740</p>
<p>AP Test:
World History-5
Calculus AB (expecting 5)
U.S. History (expecting 5)
English Language (expecting 4)</p>
<p>EC’s:
4-year Varsity Basketball
Will be Varsity bball captain this upcoming senior year
Special Olympics Basketball Coach
YMCA Youth League Referee
YMCA Employee
Nighthawk Basketball Camp Counsler
Internship With Univ of Ariz Track Coach
People Club Treasurer
Connect-4 (similar to Link-Crew)
Show Choir
Univ of Ariz MEDCAMP 2007
Had a poem published </p>
<p>I will most likely be a National Merit Finalist in the fall</p>
<p>*i know that my EC’s are a little weak, but thats b/c im so focused on basketball. my school is really good at bball. last season we had one player sign with ASU, another Army, and one more at Western New Mexico State, and this coming year we start two kids over 6’9" (im the shortest starter at only 5’10" haha). we were in the state championship last year, and U of A comes to our open gyms to scout us. unfortunately, im not sure if colleges will know how good my HS team is and i dont think many people know how much a commitment basketball is (countless hours shooting, lifting, conditioning, playing, etc)</p>
<p>once again, thanks for your input and taking time to read this!!</p>
<p>bball, I think your best bet is finding all the scholarship possibilities at the colleges you apply to. Often there are extra forms to find and fill out in addition to the application. Look all over the website including in the college major that you choose. Sometimes these are pretty well hidden.</p>
<p>Go to your counseling center and find out which scholarships have been won by previous students with your stats from your school. Often times these will be local. In addition if you get a local paper start reading this because often scholarship winners for this year will be mentioned around now. This way you can look for them for next year. Local scholarships seem easier to win than national ones. I know you wanted more specifics but this is the best I can do for you.</p>
<p>if your hs has a good program this is where your coach comes in. Coaches of teams whose players are sometimes recruited by colleges almost always have lots of college contacts. Most will put together a dvd of game film highlites to champion your cause.</p>
<p>on the academic front talk to your gc about academic scholarships. Our son’s gc was wonderful although many others are not very good. If the latter is the case this is where CC could help. There is a thread here listing scholarships offered which would be a good place to start your own research.</p>
<p>My recommendation would be to concentrate your efforts with college sponsored scholarships. Privately offered scholarships can be a huge waste of time and even if you get a big one, many colleges merely reduce their finaid package by the same amount so the net to you is zero, though sometimes the reduction is in the loans offered which is a good thing.</p>
<p>WARNING: if you get any local award in cash and want to participate in college varsity sport, do NOT take the money directly. It must be sent from the sponsor directly to the college to comport with NCAA rules.</p>
<p>Have you already heard from the National Merit people? People who will have either commended or semi-finalist status should have already been asked by NM to highlight two schools to which NM will send an interest notice.</p>
<p>Have you checked here on CC to see what last year’s NM cutoff for Arizona was and check it against your PSAT score?</p>
<p>I ask, because National Merit semi-finalist status (ALMOST all semi-finalists go on to finalist status) can score you big scholarships at some schools.</p>
<p>Are you planning to play basketball in college? (It sounds like you don’t expect to be recruited, am I right?) If so, have you thought about DI vs DII vs DIII?</p>
<p>What type of schools do you want in terms of size/location/atmosphere?</p>
<p>Do you have any specific major in mind?</p>
<p>Will your family qualify for need-based aid? If so, have you estimated your EFC?</p>
<p>I do not plan on playing basketball in college, as much as I love it.</p>
<p>I am interested in a big school atmosphere (USC, UCLA, etc) with good sports and I would rather not go to a small school. I am also thinking about going into the medical field.</p>
<p>My family makes decent money (about $150K) and i do not think i will qualify for much, if any, need based financial aid</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice, but does anybody have more specifics on certain OUTSIDE scholarships that worked well for your son/daughter. for example, websites like fastweb give me a huge list of outside scholarships and im curious as to which are worth trying for. Thanks!</p>