Jdubs ?
The college entrance exam process ? and qualification for financial
aid ? is far different today than it was for we parents. Many things
have changed, not the least of which is the introduction of need-based
aid and the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
application.
Perhaps the greatest surprise for parents ? given the heavy emphasis
on the SAT -- is that the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)
is the criteria for identifying National Merit Scholars. And even
more surprising is the extent to which it?s used as the ?gold
standard? for college recruiting.
When we went through the process in 2003-2004 we found:
? many state universities use it for admission to special honors programs
? the service academies (Air Force, Navy, Army) all recruit from the
list, inviting high school juniors to special summer sessions. (Warn
your son that reveille is 5 a.m.)
? though the National Merit Scholarship is only a one-time $2,500 even
selective schools usually offer a larger scholarship as part of their
package.
? some public universities make aggressive attempts to recruit merit
scholars, offering full tuition. Our experience with a daughter and
friends was that they tended NOT to be the top tier of competitive
colleges. Still, Carleton College ? the eventual choice of my
daughter ? offered $2,500 per year.
What may be a bit of a surprise to you is that ?need based? financial
aid is offered at virtually all schools. I checked The College
Handbook, published by The College Board, and all 13 of the schools
you identified base financial aid on need rather than ?merit?. (Note
that I?ll provide links to all of the books mentioned but a good
public library will have them in their college reference section):
The College Board
?The College Handbook 2005?
http://store.collegeboard.com/product_detail.asp?item=006941
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP
============================
As you can see from the link posted earlier, the Ohio cutoff for
National Merit Scholars in 2005 ? the group that would include your
son ? is 214. The balance of the process includes an application by
him and submission of transcripts, and SAT scores are irrelevant to
that process because some juniors won?t have taken the SAT yet:
?College Confidential?
2005 NMS Qualifying Indices for All States
http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?69/87773
You should be proud, this already puts him in the top 3.8% of all
students nationwide. The Merit Scholar recognition is usually awarded
to about two-thirds of those who qualify:
National Merit Scholarship Corporation
?National Merit Scholarship Program?
http://www.nationalmerit.org/nmsp.html
Incidentally, the scholarship program will notify your son?s high
school before they do you, if he?s selected.
Obviously, one of the KEY questions to ask while going through the
applications process is: what do you do for National Merit Scholars,
both financially and in classwork?
SO HOW DO THEY EVALUATE NEED?
===============================
Schools have almost universally gone to the FAFSA form, which takes
the income and assets of both parents AND students to come up with
national guidelines for financial aid. There?s quite a bit written
about FAFSA and how the formulas are applied but a good introduction
is on the U.S. Department of Education site, which has the forms and
deadlines. Most of this process is automated (a bit like a credit
reporting process) and is done online:
U.S. Department of Education
FAFSA
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
U.S. News & World Report in its Sept. 6, 2004 special report on
colleges, did an interview with the general manager of the FAFSA
program and it?s also a good overview of the program:
U.S. News & World Report
?Understanding the AID form,? (Davis, Sept. 6, 2004)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/040906/6fafsa.htm
The entire U.S. News & World Report content is linked below, though
there?s a charge for their popular (and controversial) college
rankings:
?College?
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/cohome.htm
WHAT ABOUT THE SAT?
=====================
Another major change in the college application process is in the SAT.
Preparation classes have become routine, though they weren?t when I
went to college. And today it?s common for students to take the test
2 or 3 times, submitting the highest scores to schools without
penalty. When I applied to college we were told that retesting would
result in discounting of the later scores.
I?ve taken all of the schools in your list and put the SAT scores that
represent the top 25% of the class, per data from The College Handbook
2002. Since you had none west of the Mississippi, I added one:
Carleton: 1470
Duke: 1500
NYU: 1420
UNC/Chapel Hill: 1340
Wake Forest: 1380
Columbia: 1510
Boston University: 1360
Emory: 1460
Vanderbilt: 1400
Michigan: 1380
Richmond: 1390
St. Johns: 1120
MIT: 1560
UTennessee: 1230
As an FYI, you may find Barron?s ?Guide to the Most Competitive
Colleges? very interesting. It lists the top 30 in the opinion of
Barron?s Educational Services and actually includes only 4 on your
list. A bit surprisingly, it includes all FOUR service academies ?
including the Coast Guard Academy. The book is excellent in its
detail and student commentaries:
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764112724/002-3869308-1332809?v=glance
SPORTS
=======
Both sports and ROTC scholarships are important sources of college
funding. Though not merit-based, you should know about how sports
scholarships operate and potentially use them in the process.
Peterson?s Sports Scholarships & College Athletic Programs is an
excellent guide to NCAA division I, II and III programs. As you can
imagine, the division I programs at the larger schools have more
sports scholarships to offer:
Amazon.com
?Peterson?s Sports Scholarships?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0768915244/qid=1104541678/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3869308-1332809?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
But this Peterson?s guide is excellent for another reason ? it offers
more detail on SAT scores than any of the other guides that I?ve seen,
having the top 3% of math and verbal scores for students. And it has
detailed information about contacts at each of the school?s programs;
which schools compete in golf; and lots more details.
OTHER MONEY
=============
There is a lot of other scholarship funding for the college-bound.
Enough that Benjamin R. Kaplan wrote a book in 2001 called ?How to Go
to College Almost for Free?:
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060937653/qid=1104542116/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-3869308-1332809?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
There are several good reference guides as well, including the
following guide that has some interesting lists of ?top? scholarships
for sports, aviation, women and a variety of other categories:
NSRS The Scholarship Book, Prentice-Hall
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0735203776/qid=1104542283/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-3869308-1332809?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
and:
Peterson?s College Money Handbook 2005
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0768915031/qid=1104542334/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3869308-1332809?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Google search strategy:
?National Merit Scholarship?
?National Merit Scholar? by state
There?s a lot to cover in this process, so if anything?s unclear or
incomplete, please request a clarification before rating this answer.
Happy New Year,
Omnivorous-GA |
