High School Seniors/College Freshmen: It's Not Too Late to Get Scholarships to Dream Schools
Thanks so much for offering to give me feedback and review pieces of my book.
Thank you for being part of my super tiny list of editors/feedback givers for my book on college scholarship strategy, the same strategy I used to get to $200k+ and into my dream schools! :) Everyone on this list will get free copies of the book when it comes out in March.
Below is a very rough first draft of the introductory chapter. I’d love any feedback you can give in the next two weeks so I can incorporate it into this chapter and the next chapters. Feel free to forward this as well if you think this could already help a young student feel hopeful that it’s not too late!
START:
I managed to get over $200,000 in scholarships and into Yale - even though I didn’t learn about how the college system worked until my last semester of high school. I started caring about grades and extracurriculars that late.
I didn't start building a college-admissions resume until my first semester of college - so it's not too late for you if you're HS junior/senior or even college freshman.
It all anchors on whether you can get into the $50,000+ universities that offer “full need met” promises - for your family’s income level - sometime before your junior year of college.
Often times people default to going to the public university nearest them thinking it's the cheapest option.
In my experience, that was untrue. I couldn’t afford my local university (University of Texas at El Paso) - even though it was cheaper than most universities at only $8,000 a year. The more expensive universities were cheaper because those cost me $0. The expensive universities had promises that if any U.S. students get in with a family income below $70k, the school offers automatic scholarships, often full scholarships. Those top schools that charge $50,000+ a year have money to give full scholarships - and those scholarships usually include dorm, daily meals, and study abroad.
Focusing on automatic scholarships that are guaranteed with admission is easier than national private and merit-based scholarships. With university scholarships, you’re only competing with other students who want to get admitted.
You can still establish yourself as a competitive student for these universities by getting top grades and interesting extracurriculars the 2-4 semesters before you apply.
Draw up a plan to stand out during the 2-4 semesters before you apply for college. These 2-4 semesters could be your senior year + your 1st year at a community college/university, your 1st two years of community college/university, or your last 2 years of high school. (University admissions counselors love to see growth, so seeing someone excel more during their last years is not unusual). If you’re already a high school senior, consider going to a community college and maximize those 2-4 college semesters.
The strategy I used: 1. Find power vacuums/empty leadership positions to fill like student senate, debate, etc. Aim for 2-3 leadership positions. 2. Get great grades by doing stuff like using text-to-speech apps to turn your reading into audiobooks, avoiding professors that only give <10% of students As, turning in essays several weeks early for feedback, etc. 3. Find very interesting volunteering near you: teaching ESL at churches, volunteer with IRS, or anything that uses your specific skills like language skills, etc.
By doing this for three college semesters, I got into multiple $50,000+ schools with automatic full or nearly full scholarships.
Why this works:
Those top $50,000+ schools struggle to attract people whose family makes under $70,000 a year, the median family income in the US. If your family makes around this much or less, you can follow the same strategy I did to get multiple full scholarships. The less your family makes, the longer the list of schools whose promises you qualify for.
These top schools aren’t just Ivy League schools. It also includes Oberlin College, a top music school and liberal arts college, Smith College where some dorm rooms have full sized pianos, Lehigh University where 40% of students go abroad and 30% go abroad more than once, University of Chicago, Occidental College where Obama went, the gorgeous University of Richmond where I went, Wesleyan University, George Washington University in Washington, DC, etc. These non-Ivy League schools have acceptance rates between 15-50%, much more doable than Ivy League's 4-6%.
Hola, Abi. You are off to a very good start with your draft. Allow me to offer some bullet comments.
1. It should be Coca-Cola.
2. My work with students at several VA Community College System (VCCS) confirms your comment that many CC students assume the only option for them is a local public sector school because U. Richhmond is just too expensive, etc.
3. Another special VCCS program is Great Expectations: https://greatexpectations.vccs.edu/
VCCS provides special funding and support for Virginia students who have aged out of the foster care system. Over the years, I have worked with several Latino/Latina students in the Great Expectations program from Richmond-area community colleges who moved on to UR. Other states may have similiar support services for these students.
4. Although you certainly thrived at UR, I have had several Latino/Latina students in my classes over the years who have struggled.......not academically, but socially. Personally, I think minority students going far away from home to a private university, need to also consider student support services: mentoring, internships, opportunities for engagement with local Latino/Latina professionals, etc. An excellent financial award just not be sufficient for success.
5. I just sent to you via email a new column by Michelle Singletary, a Black financial columnist at "The Washington Post." She received a full-ride college scholarship, but also highlighted that support assistance as noted in the previous paragrph was crucial.
6. Ms. Singletary also highlights a major new scholarhsip program for minority students sponsored by Fidelity Investments. This initiative targets minority students with "B" grades .....excellent students who do note have "A" grades largely because of various external factors. I think mentioning this type of initiative would be helpful and also broaden the scope of the chapter.
7. In the case of UR, you might want to also note that the university provides a full tuition scholarship to any accepted student who is a resident of Virginia and has family income of below $65,000 per year.
8. Your comment about the importance of geographic diversity in the application process is very true. My niece and nephew from Albuquerque (Rusty's kids) both graduated from the College of William & Mary in the early 1990s. (The College mailed home my niece's first semester final grades via "international mail!")
Hope the above is helpful. Saludos muy cordiales.
I love this target audience and the message you have for them. When I mention that I work at the University of Richmond, so many people react by saying "Oh, great school! We could never afford it, though." There is such an information gap about what financial aid is available, especially for families making $70k or lower, and it's tragic because many high-tuition schools would actually be less expensive than state public universities for families in this income bracket.
You might consider leaving out Yale at the beginning, though. It might seem inconsistent with the later part about the opportunities at all of the non-Ivies?
Another idea would be to use the net price calculators that colleges to provide to put some numbers on the claim about aid. You can input hypothetical income levels and see, within a close margin of error, what various schools will provide in aid. Maybe a chart with a single hypothetical family and the results of that calculation at a series of schools, as of 2023?