scholarships?

Hello:

It may also depend on how the interview goes. My GPA was about a 3.2 and my overall OAT was 320-330. I had a great interview with Dr. Johnston from SUNY, and then I received a letter that the school was awarding me a $5,000 scholarship a few days later.

Most scholarships from the optometry schools are based on GPA, so we're talking about 3.6+ or OAT scores 370-380+. It may also be given if you have a lot of community service, excellence in research, special circumstances, etc.

You can always contact the school's financial aid office and see what kind of aid is available.

- Rosanna

That is sweet. I wish I have the stats/qualifications for scholarships.

You decided to go to Berkeley...was it because the instate tuition is still better than the 5k scholarship SUNY offered?

stompy said:

You decided to go to Berkeley...was it because the instate tuition is still better than the 5k scholarship SUNY offered?

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It was one of the reasons. As I mentioned before, you will need to decide for yourself the positives and negatives for each school. My decision was based on a number of factors including cost, where my family lives, where my then boyfriend was, prestige, housing costs, etc. At the end, Berkeley was the right match for me.

As you probably know, you can claim NY residency after one year so therefore you can pay in-state tuition at SUNY for the remaining three years. The cost of living near SUNY is a lot, and even though it's expensive to live around Berkeley, it cost a lot less for me and there was always an option for me to live at my parent's house and commute here.

- Rosanna

Are there scholarships that are based on merit for 2nd year students? Meaning if our stats aren't so hot now but we do well in our 1st years, are there scholarship packages that are avaliable?

I had a friend who got scholarships from ICO and Pacific. He had a 3.55 GPA, Overall OAT of 380 and Science OAT of 390. He heard about the scholarship from ICO immediately upon recieving his acceptance last December. I think ICO gave him 10K/year for each of the 4 years assuming he maintained a decent GPA. Pacific gave him their entrance scholarship of about 5K which was only for first year. After first year he could try to compete for some other scholarships at Pacific. I don't think he had much extracurricular stuff going on. Hope that helps!

Did he end up going to ICO?

<Quote>Did he end up going to ICO?</quote>

No he went with SUNY instead. I think SUNY offered him some kind of scholarship, but it wasn't huge. He went with SUNY because of the sweet in state tuition after first year (like 15K compared to ICO's crazy tuition).

Potato! said:

<Quote>Did he end up going to ICO?</quote>

No he went with SUNY instead. I think SUNY offered him some kind of scholarship, but it wasn't huge. He went with SUNY because of the sweet in state tuition after first year (like 15K compared to ICO's crazy tuition).

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Is there any other schools that have the in state tuition after the first year?

Yes, all of the public state school do. However, you must be an US Citizen to qualify for state residency and thus the lower in-state tuition. Canadians like you (unless you a dual citizen) and me are out of luck.

jefguth said:

Yes, all of the public state school do. However, you must be an US Citizen to qualify for state residency and thus the lower in-state tuition. Canadians like you (unless you a dual citizen) and me are out of luck.

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Ah, yeah thats what I figured. Got my hopes up for a second though.