<p>B/K yields about 50%. I am not sure about other scholarships.</p>
<p>mathmomvt,</p>
<p>Yeah, but free is good. Really, really good. I’d bet that many of the kids who get partials are also getting into some great schools, and at the level above Maryland, most money is financial aid, there is very little merit money.</p>
<p>My son is an example. He got the full Banneker/Key. But it could have turned out that he’d have received the partial. There appear to be students who were at least as competitive as he was who did so.</p>
<p>He’s also been accepted to Johns Hopkins (his original first choice) and Harvard. </p>
<p>The fact that Maryland is free - totally free - and Harvard and Hopkins are far from free is a big factor in weighing the choices. Both Hopkins and Harvard gave my son gobs of financial aid. But Harvard’s COA is $56K and Hopkins’ is $60K. So, “gobs of financial aid” still leaves dear old Dad a bill, each year, in low five figures at either school.</p>
<p>Did I mention that Maryland is free? ;-)</p>
<p>Maryland has other advantages over each school. But each school has obvious advantages over Maryland. With the partial Banneker/Key, Maryland would have little or no cost advantage over the other two schools. With the full scholarship, Maryland has a towering cost advantage.</p>
<p>I don’t know where he’ll come down, what choice he’ll make. Even if the money were all equal, Maryland would have a fighting chance with him. But right now, with the full scholarship, I’d say the current ranking is 1) Maryland; 2) Harvard; 3) Hopkins. With a partial, it’d be 1) Hopkins; 2) Harvard; 3) Maryland.</p>
<p>So, I understand what you’re saying, but I’d be willing to bet that there are kids who got into top-tier schools with typical financial aid packages who were awarded the partial Banneker/Key who are looking at Maryland not having cost advantages over these much more prestigious schools.</p>
<p>Yup, I totally get it about the FREE thing – I am paying 5 figures for my oldest at an ivy after very generous financial aid, and my son is taking out $7500/year in loans for that, plus working during school and in the summer. Free <em>definitely</em> has its advantages. My son didn’t have any full ride offers but he did have full tuition to at least 2 schools (a third might have matched it if we’d pursued that) and the financial differences definitely came into play during the decision-making process. We told him he wouldn’t have to take loans and would be free to take unpaid internships if he chose one of the schools with significant merit aid. He chose the more expensive school and I don’t think he made a bad choice, but I don’t think his other choices would have been bad either, and yeah, FREE does have a lovely ring to it :D</p>
<p>I know a lot of kids do turn down “more prestigious” schools for a free ride (or even somewhat less generous merit aid), but I bet a number of kids do go the other way as well. Good luck to your S with his decision!</p>
<p>mathmomvt,</p>
<p>I also forgot - the partial Banneker/Key is proportionately a lot less enticing for out-of-state students. For in-state, it brings the cost of tuition, room and board down to a little more than $10K per year, but for out-of-state, it leaves quite a bit to be paid by the family. So, I imagine that a much higher proportion of out-of-state kids who are offered the full Banneker/Key take it compared to out-of-state kids who are offered the partial.</p>
<p>“He chose the more expensive school and I don’t think he made a bad choice, but I don’t think his other choices would have been bad either, and yeah, FREE does have a lovely ring to it.”</p>
<p>At this level of things, I’m not sure there are any genuinely bad choices. That’s the really nice part of all this.</p>
<p>“I know a lot of kids do turn down ‘more prestigious’ schools for a free ride (or even somewhat less generous merit aid), but I bet a number of kids do go the other way as well.”</p>
<p>That’s an interesting part of the equation for my son, especially because 1) Maryland’s engineering program is probably better than Harvard’s and 2) my son would prefer civil engineering, but Harvard doesn’t have civil, just mechanical (which would be my son’s second choice). Nonetheless, the appeal of a Harvard degree is very great.</p>
<p>“Good luck to your S with his decision!”</p>
<p>Thanks, and to you, too, as your next son moves through this process.</p>
<p>Yes, really the full is a great deal for anyone, but for out of state students, the partial is not all that helpful, although the amount that it leaves to be paid seems to be on par with what a lot of other schools’ top merit award leaves to be paid. </p>
<p>Have you done visits with your son yet? That was really what decided things for my oldest.</p>
<p>Thanks for your good wishes :)</p>
<p>^ We’ve been a number of places. We live near Maryland, and have been on campus any number of times. Also, my wife graduated from Maryland, and we actually lived in College Park for some years. My son goes to high school about two miles down the road from Maryland, has done research in their libraries and attended various academic events there. So, he has a decent feel for the place and loves it. It’s a beautiful campus.</p>
<p>We were to Princeton, but they rejected him, so I guess that was a wasted trip, LOL. He liked the campus but wasn’t crazy about the “atmosphere.” But they had civil, and they have a much stronger engineering program. Princeton would likely be my son’s first choice if he’d been accepted.</p>
<p>We don’t live far from Johns Hopkins. We’ve visited several times. He loves the campus (it’s truly beautiful) and loves the atmosphere. He always felt he’d fit in with the students there. They have a great engineering school and excellent classics (he wants to double major). But Hopkins wants a lot of money. </p>
<p>He applied and was accepted to Notre Dame. We’ve visited but he didn’t like it there. He was also accepted to UVA, but we don’t expect much of an offer there, and we really have limited time for more visits. So, the last place to visit will be Harvard. He won’t be able to make the Visitas weekend - logistically, it’s just not in the cards. But we’re going to try to go up on April 12 - 14.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>haha, so did I.</p>
<p>I think some times those special visit weekends give you an “unnatural” view of the school in any case. Sometimes just going on a “regular” day is a better representation.</p>
<p>Just to address the whole 1% vs 4% thing, I think B/K students make up 1% of either applicants or accepted students, whereas they’re about 4% of the people on campus. It would make sense that they make up a higher proportion of people who actually show up, since the full ride would obviously lead to a significantly higher yield rate than that of the rest of the school.</p>
<p>My son applied to Rutgers and Maryland as his safety schools. Rutgers gave him Presidential scholarship and then UMD invited him to B/K interview…he received full B/K award! He was also accepted to JHU, Haverford and Bucknell-they came with a price tag. Bucknell was the most expensive and Haverford was the least but no where near free. It was a really tough decision for my son but he decided to go to UMD. It’s out of state school, it’s free, they have a great engineering program, it’s free, we visited the school twice and he is finding his place there. Last time we were there, he spoke to students, professors, deans, etc. It’s not a brand name school but he is really happy not to have any loans, besides if his keeps up his GPA, he can always to better schools for his masters. For now, he feels light as a feather and exited to start UMD in the fall debt free!</p>
<p>berger2, congrats to your son! Can you give us an idea of his accomplishments to help us understand what it takes to be awarded these prestigious scholarships?</p>
<p>I received the full B/K with these stats:</p>
<p>Weighted GPA: 4.8/5.0
SAT Combined Score : 800 CR, 750 M, 800 W
Literature SAT Subject Test: 770
US History SAT Subject Test: 730 </p>
<p>significant extracurricular involvement with school theater dept. (Stage manager for 4 years, chief of lighting crew, etc.)
have spent past three summers at Arabic language immersion camps
some other stuff that I’m too lazy to type out
great recommendations, okay essays
OOS, not a URM</p>
<p>My daughter received full B/K with:
2380 SAT
SATII - bio, math, lit (all high 700’s)
4.78 WGPA
10 AP classes
12 season athlete (xc-swim/dive-spring track)
Musician - trumpet player, school + outside orchestras + school rock & roll show
In state student, not URM
Great essays & references (IMHO)
Schools that she has been accepted to: MIT, Boston U, CMU, U Penn, JHU, UVA, UMD (waitlisted at Columbia)</p>
<p>My in-state son received full B/K with:</p>
<p>2230 SAT (790 M, 700 CR, 740 W)
SAT II - Math 800, Chemistry 760, Latin 680
4.19 WGPA at science/tech magnet high school
AP Scholar with Distinction (Chem 5, AP Calc BC 5, Latin 5, Physics B 5, etc.)
National Merit Commended
National Latin Exam various awards (Silver Medal, etc.)
Senior year internship at University of Maryland College Park
Concurrent Calculus 3/Diff. Eq. course through Catholic University
Musician - vocalist (lyric baritone) and clarinetist (pep band, clarinet choir, band)
ECs - Certamen (leader), school satire paper (leader), LHS, etc.
Very good essay & should have been great references (didn’t get to see them)</p>
<p>Accepted at UC Berkeley, SUNY Binghamton, Case Western, Northeastern, UMass Amherst, UNC Chapel Hill, UT Austin, and Maryland - lots of merit money, but still left a good $20,000/year to pay for most of the schools.</p>
<p>Attending Maryland - the free ride made it an easy decision for us. My son already loved Maryland, I’m an alumnus who has promoted the school for a while, and his twin sister has also decided to attend (full pay). It’s a fabulous school, and graduating without debt was an overwhelming incentive for him to attend.</p>
<p>My out of state son received full B/K shcolarship</p>
<p>SAT: M800, R770, W760
GPA W:4.45 UW:3.9
Math 2: 770
US History: 790
6 AP classes (3 jr year, 3 sr year)
CALC 3 Honors
Captain of XC
President of Chess Club
Lifeguard for 3 summers
various community services, hospital volunteer work, tutoring, etc.
Merit scholarship award
National honors society</p>
<p>For those who are interested, my son’s final choice is Harvard. He came to his decision after having visited Harvard in the middle of April. He has turned down the Banneker/Key and plans to be in Cambridge, MA in the fall.</p>
<p>It was a very difficult decision. Each school had pluses and minuses. Maryland is a great school and my son very nearly picked Maryland. But in the final analysis, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to study at Harvard. It will cost me more than Maryland would have cost me, but I’m happy for his decision; I think it was the right one for him.</p>
<p>Best wishes to everyone going to Maryland!</p>
<p>Congrats to you and your son on having the tough decision made! :)</p>