I got a letter in the mail for the Provost Scholarship. I’m not gonna complain about getting it but I thought my stats would get me Maximus.
I have a 33 composite ACT and 3.94 GPA weighted. My school doesn’t rank so I don’t know what effect that has.
Maximus says you only require a 32 composite to be considered soooo.
Could I appeal the scholarship? Could I use other scholarship offers from similar schools as leverage saying Ohio State is my first choice? I’d love to go here but it would seem a waste considering other schools offered a lot more.
Has anybody appealed before and have it work out for them?
I don’t know much on this so anything would be appreciated thanksssss.
I don’t know what an appeal entails. First step is to call the Admissions Office and find out the appropriate office and who the appropriate person is to speak to about this. Or you can call your regional admissions representative and ask what he/she recommends you do/who to contact… Your guidance counselor or chair should know who that is. It seems that indeed a mistake was made. You definitely should get the Maximus. You should follow up on this asap and keep at it until you get a definitive response.
Did you happen to have an ACt score >32 when you sent in your application? If they received the 33 after the initial deadline they may not accept it. I’m wot sure if this is true and I would definitely reccomended calling just just a thought.
My daughter has 35 ACT and 4.15 GPA and also received Provost. Her school also does not rank. I called admissions about this and was told OSU does own ranking when school does not (use GPA with range provided by school). She was in top 8% and you must be in top 3%.! It makes no difference that she goes to a private academically challenging high school, they just use the ACT and class rank numbers. I found this to be discouraging and unfair. He did not mention I could appeal, he just said if you get a better offer somewhere else take it
@ohiomom90 what a cold response! My DS also attends a very competitive school and class rank is what harms him in the race for these scholarships. He does have better offers but it certainly reinforces his general impression that he would just be a number at a larger University.
I don’t think our situation was the same last year this time; however my D missed the Maximus by 20 SAT points but had all the other components. I called Admissions to inquire if there was any wiggle room and used the “other schools have offered more” approach. They were able to look at her file to see why she got the Provost and stated that you either hit the marks or you don’t. I found the Admissions staff to be very helpful and kind on the few occasions I reached out to them for guidance. I would call the Admissions office, give them your student number and ask them why you were offered the Provost and not the Maximus, since you qualify for it. They will tell you why- then decide what to do.
To me, it doesn’t seem like the class rank criteria is applied consistently. I think that is the problem. Someone stated earlier they received Maximus and they definitely were not in the top 3%. I am not sure if their school did official rankings. I do appreciate everyone’s feedback. I thought my son would get the provost since they weren’t focusing on class rank as much However, it appears that rank is a bigger factor now–just missed it. He far exceeds requirements for Trustees so we’ll be on the lookout for that. Thanks everyone.
I was the one that posted saying my son got the Maximus and definitely is not in the top 3% anyway you slice it although our school does not rank. Now he does go to a nationally ranked competitive public high school so maybe that helped his situation.
Thanks everyone for your responses
I’m gonna call the Admissions Office and just try out my luck I guess.
I think Ohio State should be a lot more consistent on their giving out of scholarships. I know people in my classes who have the same “ranking”/gpa as me and got it with a 32 ACT.
I really don’t know what criteria they’re looking for but I shouldn’t complain as Provost is still something.
@Pras2016 I was gonna wait to do it until after the deadline for the Morrill scholarships as I applied for that as well and I wanna see the results for that before I get the financial aid office annoyed at me lol. So it’s gonna be a while.
@Leicisbest that’s interesting if you could truly tell admissions that someone at your actual high school with your same GPA but a lower ACT was awarded Maximus. I wonder how they would reply to that.
In a different post, I wrote that my D’s high school doesn’t rank, but her class rank is “probably lower than top 3%”. To clarify, the top 3% is only 10-12 kids. D’s friends don’t talk about their GPAs, so this was her guess about which classmates she thinks have a higher GPA than she does. If OSU used a formula taking the “GPA with range” provided by her school’s profile, she would fall in the top 3%.
To be fair, I had to come back to say my DS was offered the Maximus yesterday. The class rank criteria must be a guideline rather than an absolute requirement. He is not top 3% but his ACT score and other stats must have pushed him over the top. OSU is back in the running! An appeal may work for you, OP.
My son has a 34 ACT and at the time of his application, his rank was 3.37%. He received the Provost scholarship. When I contacted them today, they said he didn’t get Maximus because he missed the 3.0% cut-off. After his first semester senior grades, he currently has a rank of 2.6% but they will not reconsider and said the decision was final.
@mountaingoats The OSU website indicates no reliance on GPA as a determining factor for awarding these merit based scholarsihps - only ACT/SAT and class rank.
OSU is notoriously stingy when it comes to scholarships.
Having said that, the best thing you can do is get a better offer and then go back and try to bargain with them. Like, if you get a bigger scholarship elsewhere, you can use that as leverage. And with a record like yours, you should be in the running at schools better than OSU.