Has anyone ever appealed to admissions to be reconsidered for a merit scholarship?
I can’t answer your appeal question. I would contact the office of admissions with that question. My understanding is the merit scholarships are calculated by gpa and test scores. It’s not arbitrary. If you did this in high school, then you will get this award. That’s how it was explained to us at an information session in Seattle last fall. It never hurts to ask as they may have options for you to pursue. Best of luck!
Did you receive any merit? May I ask what grades and scores your child had?
We called Chapman and asked that question of Admissions. They are very inflexible on that point. It is strictly by the numbers, even if they know you have better options at other schools. They suggested our daughter apply for
“five outside scholarships a day in the hopes she might get some.” (a direct quote).
We ended up choosing another college that was a bit more flexible.
Has anyone tried this year?
Merit aid is strictly based on a combo of grades and test scores.
http://www.chapman.edu/students/tuition-and-aid/financial-aid/net-cost-calculator/
Merit Aid is basically a discount on tuition. Schools use it to lure highly desirable students to their campuses. If they give out too much merit aid, they are headed for serious financial trouble. Many small colleges are in danger of closing partly because they have relied too much on tuition discounts to lure students. Big crunch is coming soon. Many small colleges will close. Chapman, with a really small endowment, is heavily tuition dependent. So it doesn’t surprise me at all that they are inflexible with merit aid.
Well it’s true that their endowment is smaller than other local privates like LMU or USD. But it’s a lot larger than than the endowments at some of the other SoCal privates that offered me as much as 24 grand a year in merit. I am still waiting to hear on RD admission, but this thread is discouraging.
It shouldn’t be discouraging. And I’ll tell you, all of the colleges have waiting lists and most won’t be open to hear you are getting more at a different college. It just depends on the school, the mix of students in the pool that year, and a fixed amount the college designated. So one college with a smaller endowment may want you more than another student in that same pool. And at many colleges, merit aid is either based on subjective criteria (USC for instance interviews select candidates and then chooses who will get what - so students with equal stats may get unequal awards, or walk away with nothing). At least Chapman is transparent about their process.
Merit aid is not an entitlement. It is a gift. There is no obligation on the part of any school to grant it.
ArtsandLetters, I’m not sure what’s wrong with USC’s interviewing for merit aid. That’s how people get jobs in real life. I mean, what’s on your application gets the interview, but your interviewing skills get the job. Happens all the time. Not sure why that’s not transparent. Schools pick students for all sorts of reasons. Sounds like an ok way to give merit aid to me.
Chapman is known to be generous with aid that meet their criteria, if a student doesn’t meet them, then appealing wouldn’t be a good use of time.
@Bigguy17 No one said there was anything wrong with the interviewing method. I posted that as a contrast to how Chapman uses a very strict formula, but made no value judgement beyond that… As blueskies2day said - either you qualify or you don’t. There is no “appeal” as far as I was told. Even if you are off a single point.
But students are always looking for the loophole. If you are interviewed, you have a chance for a holistic decision. But Chapman doesn’t interview. They use a formula.
Students can always appeal and see if they get different results.
OP, it never hurts to try if Chapman is the school you most want to attend. What do you have to lose? If they say no, at least you’ve given it a shot.