I'm a junior in High School (Memphis,TN). I have a 4.0 gpa on a 4.0 scale. I made a 1480 on the SAT and a 35 on the ACT. I'm an African-American female and the first to go to college in my family. I want to go to SPELMAN (Atlanta, Georgia). Tennesee is willing to give Tennesseans money for college, but only if they stay in Tennessee. I don't want to. Are there any sites (other than fastweb) that might have scholarships for me. Am I looking to early--I'm only a junior. P.S. Do I need a FASFA? I heard there are scholarships for left-handed people, too. If that's true, am I eligible if I write with -BOTH- hands? Tiare- Thanks. I'm not only thinking of Spelman..lol. That's just my number one. I also have Vanderbilt, University of Tennessee (KNOX), and Northwestern. I just want to go to a school with a nice medical or engineering program. I want to become a cosmetic/reconstructive surgeon or a computer engineer. My options are wide open. But I mainly want to stay in the south or somewhat near it.
Financial Aid - 4 Answers
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1
First off, EVERYONE needs the fafsa, that is your one and only ticket to the big government money and all schools pretty much use it as well to determine any aid they may offer you, so yes you need to file the fafsa. You sound like an outstanding student - dont put all your eggs in the spelman basket. you should, at the very least, look into other private colleges. IDK about your state, but in Cali the state schools can longer use affirmative action however the private schools can. There are probably many private schools that would love to have you since you are a minority and excellent student and some will make you great offers to get a bright African American into their student body. I really think that the fact that you are minority with those type of grades/scores, this will open a lot of doors for you (and $$$$$)
2
In order to qualify for any type of financial aid you would need to fill out the FAFSA, so do that as soon as possible. Also If youre looking for an HBCU (which Spelman is btw) you can try Tennessee State University. MY family is from everywhere except TN but that seems to be where everyone in my family attended.lol Good Luck.
3
Okay, if you are a Junior in high school, you won't fill out the fafsa until February of your senior year, but you do need to start looking for scholarships NOW. You will have the best luck starting directly at the schools you are wanting to attend. Start a notebook, with a calendar through to your senior year, write down all the scholarships and the criteria and deadlines...even if they require you to wait till your a senior, by this time next year you will have everything in place to apply for everything.... (you can never apply for too many scholarships- FREE MONEY!!) THAT IS AN AWESOME ACT SCORE!! You are just 1 point shy of a perfect score and you are only a Junior. I'd work very hard and try taking it a couple of times again to make a perfect score.... then, more opportunities might open to you... but I think you got a good shot now. I seem to recall reading somewhere a lot of southern schools give scholarships to those who make a perfect score on the ACT. Definitely worth looking into.
4
Yes, you'll need the FAFSA as everyone here has stated. Junior year is the best time to start looking at schools that interest you. And with your SAT and ACT scores, there are lots of schools that would kill to have someone with your grades on their campus. I'd speak with your high school counselor about your desire to go to Spelman, but also, have other schools in mind in case Spelman doesn't work out. Your counselor should also be able to help you with scholarships, or point you in the right direction. Many schools offer scholarships, too, so you can look into that possibility as well. Good luck to you and congrats on the great test scores!
