And as far as why offer the scholarship when there is financial aid anyways, being a Richmond Scholar is more than a scholarship. There are many perks associated with it (guaranteed housing, one time stipend, free tickets to concerts, etc). It’s an incentive to get what the university committee determines to be their top applicants for some reason or another to come to the school.
Scholars is extremely competitive. My year, over 6k students applied by the scholars deadline, and that number is only increasing. The number that applied this year could be well over 10k. There are only approx 450 Semifinalist spots, around 100 finalist spots (with a specific number allotted for each designation) and 45 Scholars actually awarded (again, specific numbers allotted by designation- for example, they can only choose up to 6 artist scholars a year). Those numbers don’t change regardless of the number of applicants. Many excellent/top applicants arent chosen, there just simply aren’t enough spots.
How do you know financial aid didn’t come into play? They could just have fewer slots for FA kids. After all, its main purpose is to lure high-end full-pay students into applying and then offer them a $20k discount (plus get a few amazing kids as well).
Well if it didn’t screen for FA, then they blew it I didn’t expect her to get one of the scholarships, but with 450 semifinalists, she should absolutely have been in the first round. She has already been chosen for two more selective opportunities than the first round of Richmond Scholars. You don’t need to tag me in another reply about it. I am just an annoyed parent who made the poor choice on a 3000+ mile college trip to go out of his way to visit the school that couldn’t bother putting my over-qualified kid through to the next round of the scholarship. As I said, "That said, it wasn’t near the top of her list anyways. Good luck to all who got it! "
Daddio3 you should really read the article link which they posted on twitter. Its not just about your daughter’s SAT scores and GPA. She may be brilliant but lacks the other quality which is required for the scholarship program.
@Daddio3 you sound very bitter. If the school wasn’t at the top of your daughters list and she has other options that are more appealing why are you so annoyed?
Here is an excellent blog from admissions about what they are looking for when selecting Richmond Scholars. http://■■■■■■■/gy1r8x
@Dragonflygarden, your discernment on my state is pretty poor. The only reason I am annoyed is that we flew into Philadelphia, but modified our trip last minute to see UR in which I drove to Richmond until about 1am to add in the visit and immediately after drove another 4 hours back to Phili to visit Penn (which she liked far less than Richmond).
@gibimerchant she doesn’t lack them. Look, she has a national finalist award in an area related to her proposed major (which she wants to get a PhD in). She has her Girl Scout leadership and Gold Award and with an amazing letter of rec from her mentor the past 10 years. She had great letters of recommendation from teachers. She volunteers teaching (not TA, she runs them) ESL classes for adults 2-4 hours every week. 3 SAT 2s all over 700 top 5% in a top state school (30 NMSF kids), and 14 AP courses. She got Honors at BC and is a semi-finalist for a full ride at another school.
We can have our differences in opinions – that’s the beauty of these kinds of forums. And my opinion is they made a mistake not passing her to the first round.
I will add that these competitive scholars programs (at various schools) are so difficult to gauge. The ADCOMS are charged with some specific needs that they are looking for. Several of the Richmond Scholars category descriptions are intentionally vague. Many of these scholarships may go to international students that add diversity to the campus. I am sure they have other hooks as well. But if a student is from a country not represented by the current student body, that is a strong hook. At least that is what the responses to these threads from prior years imply. OR perhaps it is only the internationals that are sharing their news.
I have watched a similar scholars program at another high dollar private university for a few years that interestingly enough seems to extend invitations to students from their “feeder schools” in keeping their name high on the GC’s lists. One student went so far as to say that her high school gets at least one student in that particular scholars program every year. When they are only naming 20 scholars per year (in the case of this program) that does not sit well. So you never know what some of the unspoken and political priorities are.
@Daddio3, you have an amazing and accomplished daughter. You took extra effort to take a trip to see UR and your D likely enjoyed the visit. Oddly, UR states that they do not take demonstrated interest into account at all. I find this curious. Your D has some great opportunities ahead of her. Good luck to her in landing where she is meant to be!
@lots2do, thank you for the kind words. Your insight makes lots of sense. I agree with you on the international student comment especially – they don’t offer aid to international students, but the UR reputation includes focus on international studies and business, so they need to encourage those students to come. The scholarships are a great way to do it.
The funny thing (frustrating given the two day forced march to visit) is that she liked it OK, but she thought it was too preppy (though she would attend with a full ride ). She also didn’t like that the professor we met with sort of said her AP results were not useful and she should take all the classes again. Hey, at least we got a free application out of the visit!
My daughter had almost the exact same stats as @phoenixmomof2 - 3.89 UW GPA, same SATS, ranked 3rd in her class, lots of APs, etc - and didn’t get selected as a semifinalist this year. We’re from the Northeast, middle class, did ask for FA. She is well rounded as I’m sure most applicants were. She did the Spider essay but I admit it wasn’t spectacular. Kind of last minute, but UR came on our radar late in the game. It’s not too disappointing, really, but I’m curious what the pool of semifinalists looked like!
@MomSix I was selected as a semifinalist this year and if it helps, I have a 34 ACT (36 superscore), 2310 SAT, a 4.36 W which is rank 1/400 at a public magnet school that’s relatively competitive. Awards wise, I have a couple national level debate and math contest awards, a couple state level science fair awards, the presidential service award and I’m a national merit semifinalist. I wrote the Spider essay and I thought it was decent but I’m obviously biased. I’m not URM, first generation, or International and I applied for financial aid so I guess luck has something to do with it.
My daughter is semi-finalist with a resume very similar to @ataraxia97: National level awards, a few state level awards, 2330 SAT, 4.0 unweighted with a bunch of AP classes, class rank 1 in a competitive suburban high school.
Not sure if she submitted a spider essay. Hope this helps.
@ataraxia97, @RandRDad both are absolutely amazing students and more worthy than my kid (don’t tell her I said that ). Good luck from here on out.
I somewhat agree that not writing the Spider essay could hurt with the caveat that if the research you write about wanting to do is pretty amazing and you have already done some in HS, it could help you stand out as a RS candidate.
@PandaBearMom The UR supplemental essay is NOT optional. You have a choice of whether to write a “why richmond” essay or the spider essay. Choosing to write the “why richmond” essay does not show a lack of interest. The spider prompt was new last year; I think a lot of people still do the original “why Richmond” prompt (personally, I wouldn’t know how to answer the spider prompt).
@PandaBearMom My semifinalist notification email didn’t mention when interviews would begin. Does this mean that your son has been notified that he is a Finalist for Richmond Scholars?
Oh, Absolutely not! My son got an email message when he was invited to apply that said the interviews would be conducted the week of the 29th. My impression was that this meant - if you were notified and invited - not that it was any kind of done deal.
@PandaBearMom Thanks for answering my question. I am getting nervous waiting to hear! I am wondering if we will find out about whether we are Finalists next week since the deadline for Midyear reports is Monday.
I didn’t expect her to get one of the scholarships, but with 450 semifinalists, she should absolutely have been in the first round. She has already been chosen for two more selective opportunities than the first round of Richmond Scholars. You don’t need to tag me in another reply about it. I am just an annoyed parent who made the poor choice on a 3000+ mile college trip to go out of his way to visit the school that couldn’t bother putting my over-qualified kid through to the next round of the scholarship. As I said, "That said, it wasn’t near the top of her list anyways. Good luck to all who got it! "