<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My S was admitted to U Mich OOS and McGill out of country. His first choice is U mich but there's $15K-$20k/year price advantage for McGill. we don't qualify for need-based aid but we can afford U mich. However, with two younger siblings two and fours years from college, it sure would be nice to lessen our expenses. We go back and forth on how to choose between the two schools.</p>
<p>I'd like to advocate for my S for a merit scholarship at U mich. I realize there's a very low probability of success but the ROI is very high if they award any money and anything they can do to close the gap will help get my s to u mich.</p>
<p>I'm thinking I should start with an email to fin aid that lays out my reasoning for a merit award. Here's an outline:</p>
<ul>
<li>confirm u mich is top choice</li>
<li>let them know we're trying to rationalize price difference. should I name McGill?</li>
<li>Reasons why he deserves an award:
-- class rigor (9aps, 12 college credits)
-- leadership activity
-- talent/ability
-- what will his admittance mean to U mich (joined honors program, residential college,
started facebook page for rc admitted students, planning meetup, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<p>-summary and thank you</p>
<p>thoughts?</p>
<p>tia,</p>
<p>You mention “reasons” as to why he should get merit, but you don’t list his GPA and ACT or SAT breakdown. His test scores are the biggest factor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wonderful . . . but it’s not your college education. It’s his. Let him advocate for himself.</p>
<p>Michigan says they will notify recipients of merit scholarships by April 15. Did your son fill out the Scholarship Profile?</p>
<p>thanks for thoughtful replies:</p>
<p>mom2 -gpa/sat will go to talent/ability section
bobw - not sure if s filled out profile, I’ll ask
dodgers - interesting thought, I had read (i think in the nyt) this sort of interaction should be btw parent and fin aid since the parent is footing the bill.</p>
<p>You can give it a try, and I encourage you to do so. Find out who his admissions officer was, and start out by thanking him/her and ask what you son can do to increase chances of getting a merit award.</p>
<p>Bear in mind, however, that the chances are not good that he’ll get much, if anything more. It is no secret, UM has been very clear about this, that OOS students are an important income source for them. THat’s why the price differential between OOS and in.</p>
<p>mom2 -gpa/sat will go to talent/ability section</p>
<p>What I meant was that test scores should be the “lead” item since state schools care a lot about test scores when it comes to deciding merit. And include the SAT breakdown because the Math + CR score is most important. </p>
<p>Looking at the upper quartiles for the M+CR SAT for UMich, it would appear that the top 10% of Mich frosh have about a M+CR SAT of 1530+. The top 25% have about a M+CR of 1480+. </p>
<p>A schools ranking is affected by the ACT and SAT I test scores of its incoming freshman class. That’s why schools’ merit awards are usually tied to high test scores.</p>
<p>thanks mom2, makes sense. How did you come up with those statistics? the u mich common dataset has the 75th percentile at 700 and 760 for cr and math respectively and I’m not sure how you got to top 10%?</p>
<p>75th percentile at 700 and 760 for cr and math respectively and I’m not sure how you got to top 10%?</p>
<p>yes…the middle quartiles range for M+CR are 1260-1460. So, that would suggest that the top quartile would start 10-20 pts higher…1470/80. </p>
<p>FYI…about 1500 frosh are in the top quartile.</p>
<p>Those who get merit, usually have M+CR scores that are well within the top quartile…probably around the top 10% unless the student has some other hook…like maybe a female in engineering or a performing/artistic talent. About 610 students are the top 10% of the freshman class.</p>
<p>Michigan awards merit aid more broadly than most schools - 46% of freshmen with no need received merit awards. They unfortunately don’t give the breakdown of in-state and OOS, but for everything I’ve heard those are mostly going to in-state.</p>
<p>As for who should do the asking, I would say parents for need-based and student for merit. Student can state that their parents are trying to justify the cost difference…</p>
<p>^^^ yes, I think you and dodgersmom are right, we’ll have him do it.</p>
<p>You can certainly HELP him, of course</p>
<p>46% of freshmen with no need received merit awards.</p>
<p>where are you seeing that? I must be looking in the wrong spot. I’m seeing that 2,062 frosh received non-need merit aid. That would be about 1/3 of the frosh. </p>
<p>If I’m reading the UMich Common Data Set correctly, that number includes athletic awards, ROTC awards, music awards, art awards, theater awards, alumni awards, regional-designated awards, and academic awards. </p>
<p>I’m surprised that it seems that they’re counting athletic and ROTC awards. I didn’t know that those were typically counted. How many athletic awards and ROTC awards are there for freshmen?</p>
<p>I was quoting from collegedata, but their numbers are a bit out of date (2010-2011):</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=379[/url]”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=379</a></p>
<p>From the 2012-2013 CDS, you are correct it is more like 1/3 receiving merit aid. (Athletic awards are excluded from the total in line H2A(n) - they are listed on line H2A (p).)</p>
<p><a href=“Office of Budget and Planning”>Office of Budget and Planning;
<p>I don’t know if ROTC awards are counted–I would think they are outside scholarships. But I was told that about a third of UMich get merit money–those with no need and the average award is about $10K. What the breakdown is between OOS and instate, I don’t know, but it seems to me that merit money is distributed without as much regard for that status other than for specific scholarships that are listed as for in state kids only. Admissions at all colleges try to make a grab for the best candidates and UMich has an advantage over some private schools that do not give merit money. They are $10K cheaper than the competition and with another $10K in awards, they can buy some mighty fine no need candidates that are looking at schools like NW, the ivies, highly selective LACs, Georgetown and some that have very few merit awards like JHU, Duke and BC to name some names. </p>
<p>But UMich’s guarantee to meet need for in staters is a tough one for a school that size to meet.Getting full pay OOSers will go a long way in meeting that guarantee. So my take on it is that they are going after the best of the best as all schools do, but for OOSers that don’t make that cut, are going to be full pay for the most part. It’s no secret; they’ve come out and said they are looking at OOSers as a source of money.</p>
<p>For UMich, you can also try to apply to the local alumni club for scholarships ( may be too late). My OOS son got a $5500 one year scholarship this way. He also received a large named/endowed merit scholarship that was not need-based at all, so there is hope. I am not sure that the supplemental letter will really be considered given the large number of apps they process and the late date - i.e., I would assume the awarders have all the info they typically consider and wil just go with it. That said, such a letter probably can’t hurt either.</p>