Scholarships

Answered

Hi @Hockey_Guy,

Thanks for your question. It's a good one because there are a lot of high-achieving HS students wondering the same thing.

While you are a very good student, you will be hard pressed to find a single college that will give you a full ride cost of attendance award for a 3.8/33ACT. You might get an award that will cover up to 50% of your cost of attendance but that still means you have to come up with 25-30K to attend an out-of-state public school and up to 40K-45K for a private.

Generally, the cutoffs for GPA in a combination with SAT/ACT test scores are like 3.9+ and 1500/34 at schools like William & Mary 1693, Washington & Lee Johnson Scholarship, and Syracuse Coronat Scholars, UVA Jefferson Scholars, UNC Morehead-Cain.

If you have super strong ECs and community service and leadership qualities, I would suggest you look into private merit scholarships that can be used at any university.

These would include the following:

Cameron Impact Scholars Program

Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship

Coolidge Scholarship program

The other alternative is to apply to a US Military Academy where you will receive a full ride in exchange for future military service. These are excellent schools. Your ACT will qualify you at these schools in the top 75%. Westpoint would be the hardest of these to get into since their GPAs are typically in the 3.9-4.0 range.

US Military Academy - Westpoint DI hockey

US Naval Academy - Annapolis MD Club hockey

US Air Force Academy - Colorado Springs, CO DI Hockey

US Coast Guard Academy - CT DII Hockey

If you get recruited for hockey I think you have a little more flex. transferring out after a year because you were recruited to play a sport. I'm not 100% sure of this though so do your own due diligence.

Unfortunately, ACT.org doesn't have a National Merit Scholarship program. While the $2500 award itself is not a big thing. Many colleges like USC and others give you an auto-50% off tuition if you are a National Merit finalist.

Good luck.