<p>My child just received the following invitation from Mercer University:</p>
<p>the Jesse Mercer Scholarship Competition on Saturday, Feb. 4th, to compete for annual scholarships ranging to full tuition.</p>
<p>Mercer extends this invitation to a select group of talented freshman applicants. You were selected for invitation based upon your outstanding academic performance in high school. Participants will interview with faculty, participate in academic experiences, and tour Mercers campus. The interview is a key factor in the awarding of Mercers most prestigious scholarships.</p>
<p>Anyone familiar with this? How many students are invited, etc?</p>
<p>Great competition. My D attended the December event and received a very nice scholarship. I believe they had 100+ at that event. The Feb. event must be for those who applied after the initial deadline. Let me know if you have any additional questions. My older D also attends Mercer and loves it.</p>
<p>My daughter participated in 2006. It didn’t have a formal name then (lol). Mercer is very generous with their scholarship money. </p>
<p>I agree with bailey6, there were about 100 or so students participating. It was a nice competition and handled well. At that time, Mercer would “re-gift” the scholarships that were turned down. Don’t know if they still do that.</p>
<p>bailey6, can you give us novices some idea about the interview process and what to expect? My son will be attending the February event and neither he nor I have an inkling as to how to prepare. Did your daughter share any information with you, such as the types of questions they asked? He is very good at extemporaneous speaking but he also really does NOT like to be blindsided by unexpected things. Any information you can share would be very much appreciated. Thanks. :)</p>
<p>CFitz…I don’t remember her sharing any actual questions, but she did fine. I know she practiced with some friends who were going to other interviews and competitions. Just the general questions you would expect. He should be able to talk comfortably about his leadership roles and volunteer experiences. The actual interview itself was only about 20 minutes. The rest of the day was various presentations, tour of campus and lunch. Good luck to your son. Hope you have a nice day and enjoy the campus.</p>
<p>My son went through this last year. It was a very nice event. Before we went we googled “college scholarship interview questions”, printed a bunch out, then practiced them on the trip there. The interview was pretty short with only a few questions, but it turned out that we had covered every question in our practicing. My son didn’t get the full scholarship, but he got a very generous one. Another tip - most of the guys wore a suit for the interview.</p>
<p>cleaub, if you wouldn’t mind, could you give me an idea of the scholarship he received? They’ve already offered my son $20,000, and we’re wondering if he could do better by attending this event. It is a very long drive and he has so much going on with school right now, we are trying to decide if we should go for it or not… Any info would be so much appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the info on the Jesse Mercer Scholarship competition. I’ll tell my son to wear a suit, and I’ll get him to practice interview questions. </p>
<p>My son received another letter from Mercer yesterday, inviting him to compete for Stamps Leadership Scholarship at Mercer. Doing research shows this is the first year for Mercer to offer a Stamps Scholarship. He just has to fill out a one page application, but he has less than a week to submit it. Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>SoccerMom, my son just received the same letter and application, but it’s the 30th and the application is due day after tomorrow!! He went ahead and completed it but there is no way it would be received by the 1st if we were to send it via mail, so I emailed the two people on the letter and asked if we could scan and email it. Waiting to hear.</p>
<p>I would love to hear how this turns out. Mercer was my son’s first choice for multiple reasons. He is a Jesse Mercer scholar, but he has other offers and money may have to win out. He was not selected to interview for the Stamps and I sure wish he had been. It is a wonderful opportunity. Good luck.</p>
<p>My son received the Jesse Mercer scholarship but was also turned down for the Stamps. He is in the process of deciding between Mercer and U of SC, from whom he has received a decent scholarship and an invitation to be a Capstone Scholar. It is 3 hours closer to home too… I guess we’ll see.</p>
<p>My son was recently informed he was a recipient of the 2013 Stamps Leadership Scholarship from Mercer. It is an amazing opportunity - full tuition, room and board, fees, books, a $4000 per year enrichment stipend, and an Ipad 2 (he is most excited about that!). We are very proud and grateful that his college counselor at school recommended we look at Mercer.</p>
<p>My daughter was invited to the Presidential Scholarship weekend in December. Unfortunately, we have a conflict that weekend, with a once in a lifetime type event that has been planned for months. The admission counselor says she can attend the one in the spring, but fewer full scholarships are awarded. Does anyone have insight to how much more advantageous it is to attend the fall event? She has already been offered $20,000. Is it very likely to get more if she attends the fall event? Mercer is her top choice school, but we really don’t want her to miss out on her other event if the scholarship event is not worthwhile or the spring event is pretty equivalent.</p>