Scholarships for Aspergers--US only

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I am a HS senior and I just got accepted to my dream school, but without the merit scholarships I was hoping for. My family is quite well off. They make about 120K annually, have some money in the bank, and a least 1M in assets. Plus, I'm the only child. So, I doubt we will get financial aid. However, what most people don't know is that we're loaded with mortgage bills (25K per year) car payments (on 6 cars) and medical expenses (our "premium" insurance policy basically pays for everyone else to have cheap insurance.) In addition to my mental heath which requires meds, my mom and I both have medical conditions, and we owe an under-the-table loan to a relative. I have been accepted to other schools with large merit scholarships, as well as some that are public and cheap, but the major I am seeking is very specialized and those schools do not offer it. I only applied to 3 schools that offer the major. My #1 that I was accepted to is nearby but will cost 50K per year, my #2 is across the country and I haven't heard back yet. I have not heard back from my #3 yet, but it is a cheap school only a few states over but the area is horrible. What would you suggest I do. I am not willing to change my career plans.

I meant to ask if aspies can get scholarships. Lol.

Get rid of some of the cars? What the heck do you all need 6 cars for?

most of them are broken.

At this point it is still just a waiting game. You should keep applying to scholarships, though honestly I never had any luck with them even though I had a 4.0.

Wait to hear from the other schools, wait to hear about financial aid, there is not much else you can do. You don't have to make a decision until April.

What is the major and career you are going for? You don't want to have to change your career plans, but often it is possible to go at a career from multiple different majors.

I want to be a screenwriter. I also applied to regular English, writing, and theatre programs. But, being an aspie, the more specialized the better because...well, you know how it goes. I want to avoid gen eds in other subjects as much as possible.

As an aspie I definitely understand the desire to go for the more specialized route. I study paleontology, which is a small, interdisciplinary field; a pretty even mix of biology and geology. My solution was to double major, because there really aren't any programs with a paleo major.

In your case, if you can't go to one of the schools with the screenwriting specialty, don't worry, you will be fine with one of the other schools. You may not like the gen eds as much, but they will be good for you. Even if you are going into a specialized field, it is helpful to have a broad base of experience. It looks good to prospective employers, and it gives you more to fall back on when you are just starting out and trying to get a foot in the door. A lot of times that foot in the door may need to be in a bit of a round-about way; taking a position that is near what you want, but not exactly it. Sometimes you will need a completely unrelated job to support yourself until something better works out.

You can also supplement your classwork by doing your writing on the side and working to get that writing out in some form. Since it is not my field, I don't know entirely what is out there, but student groups are always an option. I know one of my friends in undergrad did a production of a script she had written with friends recruited as actors, although I know doing something like that would probably be difficult for an aspie.

I'm working on my masters now, and in the last few years I have learned that the way to be specialized is to have a variety of classes and experiences, many of them generalized, that all revolve around your final goal. Class A, B, and C may all be fairly general, but if A, B, and C are all pertinent to your field, then it can often be better to take the three rather than taking one single class that synthesizes A, B, and C.

As for things like math, science, etc., do your preferred schools not require them? Can you test out?

Just, don't limit yourself by thinking that there is only one path toward achieving the career you want.

i'm not sure. i think one doesn't require math, the others, it would be "dummy math." i don't mind science too much.

If that matters to you, you can look it up, it might help you make a decision. Schools usually have that sort of thing in their course catalog.

I looked for Aspie scholarships but, for some reason, I never found one to apply to. I sued my university after I graduated for wrongfully denying me a scholarship that would have paid for my entire senior year. But we never got to the merits of the case because they are shielded from lawsuits as a public university by sovereign immunity. Otherwise I would have won, I'm sure of it.

I meant scholarships in general.

Why did they deny you the scholarship?