List of Schools and Scholarships Available
Let’s break it down - if we focus on a handful of schools to apply for scholarships to, it is possible to get the maximum amount
Overall Approach
Scholarship application process can be a bit time consuming - each application is likely to ask for one essay at least
So it is smart to take a holistic approach to your applications:
- Apply to 5-10 schools that you want
- Application costs are ~$100 per school so you will want to select carefully
- For your 2-3 top picks, spend the additional effort to apply to as many scholarships as possible
- You can base your ranking on whatever, what school is your favorite, possibility of getting more money, etc.
Remember the big picture
In my opinion - undergrad prestige is not insanely important. Yes, top companies will recruit heavily from more prestigious schools, but going into debt for this sole reason will ususally not be worth it. High risk.
You will want to optimize for money first, then for prestige.
Having good grades in college, good internships and extracurriculars, plus putting in the time for preparing for interviews will make a world of a difference.
I CANNOT emphasize enough the extracurriculars and internships, ESPECIALLY if going into Comp Sci
FASFA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid - Being american has multiple benefits, this is one of them. If your family doesn’t have the means, you can get free money from the government to go to school. This is SUPER Helpful and its additional AND independent to whatever each school might give you
You qualify for this.
It can be up to ~8k a year, so this is something we need to take advantage of…
One grant you might apply for is the Federal Pell Grant
The Meat and Potatoes
Georgia Tech
They offer multiple scholarships for Out Of State students when they complete the Georgia Tech Application for Scholarships and Financial Aid. You are automatically considered for all by filling this applciation, although criteria for each will vary
You NEED to apply before the Priority Deadline for all schools if possible to maximize amount of money they will give you:
- Link: https://finaid.gatech.edu/apply/fall-first-year
- Priority Deadline - Jan 31st 2024 for Students of Fall 2024. IN your case you would be a Fall 2025 student, so likely the deadline will be Jan 31st 2025, although it hasn’t been publicly posted yet
Institutional Scholarships
These basically are scholarships that come from Georgia Tech themselves…
Link: https://finaid.gatech.edu/undergraduate-types-aid/scholarships/institutional-scholarships
- Stamps Scholar - Full Ride, they pay for everything. You apply and there is an interview process but I am confident you could get this
- Gold Scholar - Same process as the one above, but they do not state if it is a full ride. However it is a lot of money. If you dont get the one above you could get this one
- Provost Scholar - They give you in state tuition rate. Pretty good if you stack it with other grants/money
- Godbold Scholarship - Need SAT of 1500 or higher and financial need. This one seems good and you could qualify
- BlackRock Scholarship - This one is awesome, but they grant only 2. Also it seems to be AFTER you complete your first year but basically covers everything for the remaining years, PLUS they give you an internship with BlackRock (youd make so much money)
Outside Scholarships
You can get many scholarships not assocaited to any school - Your highschool counselor will be your best friend to help you with this
You need to speak to them to see what opportunities are available for your school: this could mean a couple extra grand a year!
Georgia Tech provides these links to look into: https://finaid.gatech.edu/undergraduate-types-aid/outside-scholarships/