<p>congrats uskoolfish to your d---what does the deans scholarship include?</p>
<p>Thanks! The Dean's Scholarship is for $15M a year, renewable for 4 years if you maintain a 3.0 average. In the letter it states that it was awarded based on academic achievement and contribution to your school and community. D has a 97.7 average (top 5%), 1350 SAT, 30 ACT (but if superscored a 32.) She is School President, founded/directs an acapella group, newspaper editor, etc. She sent the school a voice CD and slides of her art portfolio. I think she had really good teacher /guidance recs and an excellent interview. To me, their award was probably based less on pure numbers and more on a wholistic approach, which was what they had said in their info session.</p>
<p>I called Brandeis financial aid office to ask why we received no financial aid, and was told that we didn't apply for it! I don't know how that happened, especially since we have a receipt from CSS that forms were sent to Brandeis. I was told that it's now too late to be considered for merit aid, but we could still be considered for need-based aid. Based on my info, I recommend that others who were accepted with no or low financial aid call the office and get info on their specific situation.</p>
<p>^^^ Wow....if you said nothing you would have just assumed she didn't qualify for a merit scholarship. Especially this year, with so many applicants, it just proves how pro-active you need to be. Hope it pays off!</p>
<p>For everyone who didn't get financial aid- did you file both FAFSA and CSS? Brandeis requires both.</p>
<p>According to the Brandeis Financial Aid page (if I'm reading it correctly), they ask for the CSS Profile + Business/Farm supplement, etc. up front. But they handle the FAFSA a little differently than many other schools, in that they don't require it until you're accepted:</p>
<p>"Please note that Brandeis does not require the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA, Code 002133) until you have been accepted to the University and have paid the University deposit. At that time, you may file this application online at <a href="http://www.fafsa.ed.gov.">www.fafsa.ed.gov.</a>"</p>
<p>Here's the source of that quote:</p>
<p>Brandeis</a> Admissions | Costs/Financial Aid | Financial Aid</p>
<p>I got an MLK Scholarship, and I don't think my family's finances warrant any EXTREME need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>My parents make <$110,000</p>
<p>I meant >$110,000.</p>
<p>I think getting into college has made me prone to typos.</p>
<p>just got the acceptance letter and I was amazed at the amount I got from need-based scholarships.</p>
<p>I died of laughter today because I got waitlisted.</p>
<p>Now, normally, this wouldn't cause me to laugh cheerfully, but here's the reason:</p>
<p>I originally applied to Brandeis because it had merit aid, but after I applied, I realized it was definitely a very poor fit for me. There were a variety of reasons (mostly lack of diversity) but by mid-February, I was already almost certain I would not attend even if admitted. In the meanwhile, I got acceptances from Barnard, NYU, Babson (w/ large merit), etc. </p>
<p>Today, I knew I'd get my decision from Brandeis so as I approached the mailbox, I was like.. "I better sent them a rejection quickly so someone else can get my spot." I was certain I'd get in, because I certainly had the grades and good essays (their application had very little meat to it). When I saw the small fat envelope, I quirked a brow, and opened it. When I read that I'd gotten waitlisted, I was just laughing uncontrollably.</p>
<p>The truth is, I don't know by what magic they figured out I was all wrong for them, but I'm certainly glad they did. There's a lot of colleges I like better and there's a lot of students who want to attend Brandeis a lot more than I do. Of course, I'm rejecting the waitlist option, but I just wanted to share this with you because I found it one of those rare cases when everything works out just the right way.</p>
<p>Congrats Ivana, zrocker! Will you be visiting Brandeis on 4/10?</p>
<p>A Persona, congrats on all the awesome acceptances! Brandeis isn't for everyone, but I'm surprised "lack of diversity" was one of your key concerns. Best of luck to you wherever you land!</p>
<p>^^"Location: State of Denial"...Texas?</p>
<p>Oh wait, nevermind.</p>
<p>Yay! I was accepted today all the way from Arizona. Anyways, I am glad to be chosen, but I already got accepted to my #2 school so I am just waiting on Stanford. Although, it is still nice to receive acceptances to show that all that hard work was not in vain.
Congrats to everyone else as well!</p>
<p>What was your #2 school? I'm guessing #1 is Stanford? I'm just wondering, 'cause I'm not sure how I personally rank Brandeis in my own list.</p>
<p>"Congrats Ivana, zrocker! Will you be visiting Brandeis on 4/10?"</p>
<p>I hope so! My parents are still unsure about spending the money for me to visit, but I think I can crack them. I keep trying to tell them why it's important, but they're a bit stubborn.</p>
<p>I'm still waiting on some reaches, and I would also like to visit Wesleyan (though my parents did not think that financial aid was very generous)</p>
<p>Rejected: (would have died of laughter if not upset by another rejection)
ACT: 34
GPA: 4.0/4.8
lots of ap's/ec
amazing recs form teacher and professors at columbia u that I did programs with... hmmmm</p>
<p>They probably thought that were they to accept you, you would probably go to some other, more exclusive school, like Columbia. So their yield rate would be harmed, and their ranking would be harmed, and so that's probably why they rejected you. Though I think the smarter thing to do would've been to waitlist you, if the yield rate was of concern. </p>
<p>I'm starting to dislike Brandeis though, because from what I've seen, they are rejecting/waitlisting so many smart and able students while accepting seemingly lower level students. I mean I know some other people with 1400-1500 SAT, 4.0 GPA, that were waitlisted. So strange.</p>
<p>accepted yesterday! with full tuition scholarship (alumni and friends)! this is such a relief.</p>
<p>aBeautifulMind, my #2 school was Wesleyan University.
And I knew a girl at my school who got waitlisted, and she ranked above me. It was actually astonishing, because I thought she would be a shoe-in since she was jewish. I know I'm stereotyping, but I have no affiliation, and I consider her to be much more intelligent. Random. But I will be giving up my spot, who knows, maybe they'll offer her my spot. ;)</p>
<p>aBeautifulMind, brandeis has a reason for rejecting all the students you think are smart. From what I hear Brandeis makes its selection based a lot on fit. Grades/scores do not say enough about a student. Just because someone doesn't do well on the SAT doesn't necessarily mean that they are not smart. Some people are better test takers than others and tests does not necessarily measure their intelligence</p>