<p>Hey. I’m glad to announce that I was accepted to American University as a transfer student, as well as admitted to the University Honors program.</p>
<p>There was no merit award in my acceptance package, though I called the aid office and was told that I received a $12,000 Dean’s Scholarship.</p>
<p>I was following a number of American University threads, and everyone that was admitted to the Honors program received $20,000+. I have a 4.0 GPA with 81 credits… how should I procede? I definitely can’t go to AU with just $12,000 — though I know that I’ll still receive financial aid.</p>
<p>Also, I was hoping to admitted to the School of Foreign Service’s International Relations major, not the School of Public Affairs Political Science major. How do I get into SIS? My entire application was about SIS.</p>
<p>Any input would be MUCH appreciated! Thank you.</p>
<p>First – Congratulations on being accepted. </p>
<p>The threads you read were students who got accepted fresh out of High School – you’re coming into AU basically as a Senior. Freshman merit scholarships are more holistic, and do not have a baseline or cap to them – for reasons including the fact that they can contribute more time and service to the school’s community, and that they often are choosing between more schools. The freshman merit scholarships are based on your GPA, essays, recommendations and extracurriculars. For Transfers, to even be considered for a scholarship you must have a 3.5 [which is down from last year when it was a 3.7] and amounts range from $6,000 to $15,000 per year and are renewable for 2 years only.</p>
<p>How should you proceed? You need to make a choice. How important is admission to AU? I was admitted to AU with a 3.8 GPA with 67 credits under the old 3.7 restrictions and I received a giant $0 in merit aid and no honors offer. I have to admit – it hurt because when I applied out of high school I received $15,000 but chose to attend another school that offered me more money. Eventually I received about $10,000 in financial aid – but that still doesn’t bring down the pricetag. It took a lot of thought, because I would be attending AU for three semesters. The result? I’m graduating with honors three weeks from today, with 8 internships under my belt, some fairly significant debt – but also a job offer already when my classmates from my old school are planning to move home in a few weeks because they can’t find jobs. My Mom says I’ve grown in ways she never saw at my old school, personally and professionally. It’s a completely personal decision, and I can’t tell you what to do, but for me it was well worth it and something I would do over and over even if given the chance to graduate debt free from another institution.</p>
<p>As for the SIS/SPA decision – that’s a really quick fix. Just walk into the SIS advsior’s office and tell them you want to declare your major there. Switching between the schools, particularly those schools, is not hard. You can even try e-mailing them in advance if you’re antsy about it, but they are notoriously bad at answering their e-mail from non-AU e-mail addresses. </p>
<p>Hope that helps? Any other questions just let me know.</p>
<p>AUTransfer, I thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed reply. And yes, your reply did help. I will reply back in the same respect by writing a thorough line-by-line response.</p>
<p>One: Yes, you’re absolutely right that the threads that I read were about high school seniors. However, I have only spent one year at my university, and the majority of my credits are from high school dual-credit. I plan on spending another 3-5 years working on my undergraduate degrees. However, now that I know that the awards are renewable for two years only, this plan may change if I go to American. I know that the Dean’s Scholarship goes up to $15,000 per year, and that the AU Presidential Scholarship covers much more than that for transfers. Because I have not yet received any official notice of any Merit award, do you think that my Merit Aid could still be adjusted? I plan on speaking with my transfer counselor early next week.</p>
<p>Two: May I ask what school you went to prior to American? I know that American is a great school, especially so if you are in the Honors program. I would love to go if it is financial feasibly for me, so I am waiting on the financial aid packet. My EFC is 0, so I can afford to take out so many loans. The financial situation at home is such that I wouldn’t be able to handle the steep price tag without some more aid. I applied to a total of 15 schools for transfer, so I’m waiting on other decisions before I put in my deposit to American. I understand that American is great with career placement, and I will definitely consider American as a serious candidate along side other schools.</p>
<p>Three: Thanks for the input on the SIS/SPA situation. I’ll e-mail my counselor and get it sorted out as soon as possible.</p>
<p>I congratulate you on your success, and I wish for even greater success to come to you in the future.</p>
<p>Edit: Didn’t read fully what you said above… anyway - keep my updated on what your need-based packet looks like, we have the same EFC.</p>
<p>Mid-May you say? I’m supposed to get my official award letter in the mail today. Not sure if that includes both merit and aid. My counselor switched me over to SIS this morning so I’m really stoked about that. I’ll keep you guys updated.</p>
<p>My wife was admitted to the Kogod School honors program. She has a 4.0 with 48 credits completed (58 after this semester with graduation this summer) and was also offered $12,000. She was also admitted to the University of Maryland Smith school for Business and even with the $12,000 from AU, Maryland is still cheaper as an out of state student and she should be in a running for a scholarship from Maryland.</p>
<p>Letter didn’t come today. I guess it’ll come tomorrow since they were sent out on Friday. I’ve to A LOT of corrections to do on my CSS profile, and a lot of faxing in tax information these next couple of days.</p>