<p>So I have been accepted into CSE and Honors at Minnesota, and I have pretty good stats (32 ACT, 2130 SAT, 1st in my class of 430, 4.00 UW GPA, 4.13 W GPA, and plenty of APs) but I haven't gotten any info on the Benston Family Scholarship. I know this one is quite competitive, but I figured I would've been a pretty good candidate for it. I have a friend who is Latina, 35 ACT, and >4.0 WGPA, president of Key Club, and she got it. So does anyone know if perhaps my test scores weren't high enough? Or could it have to do with extracurriculars? Or could I still potentially receive this scholarship? (The U says they will send all notifications about scholarships by the end of March, so it could still be forthcoming I guess.) Does anyone know anything more about this one, or any other scholarships from Minnesota for that matter? I am OOS and received the Gold National Scholarship but that is it from Minnesota thus far.</p>
<p>teerav42…I wish I had a definite answer for you, but when it comes to scholarship offers there are a ton of variables. When did you apply, and when did you receive your admission offer? It seems like those students with very strong stats like yours that applied very early and got admissions notifications in early November got very generous scholarship offers. It’s possible that additional scholarship offers may come later on in the spring if students who were offered scholarships early on decline their admissions offer. I don’t know that for sure, but there’s bound to be some scholarship money that doesn’t get used. Does it get returned to the “money pool” for next year or will there be additional offers made to this year’s incoming class? You could call the admissions folks and ask that question. They might not be able to give you a definitive answer, but they’ve been very helpful when we’ve spoken with them. I would think with your stats you’d be very competitive for a Presidential scholarship as well. Regarding the Bentson specifically, we were pleasantly surprised when our D1 was offered one since we are not Jewish and the description says preference is given to those of Jewish faith. Again, I don’t know how many are offered each year or what happens to any money offered to students that don’t accept their admission. Congrats on your excellent academic record, and hopefully there will be some additional scholarship offers coming your way. You definitely deserve it. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>Thanks! I think Presidential is only for in state students, which I am not. And I did apply very early, middle of October. I definitely am hoping some more could be forthcoming.</p>
<p>^Don’t give up hope on the Presidential just yet. It is for OOS students as well. We live in Michigan and D1 was awarded one. Amounts vary, but all students are eligible. Hang in there. We think U of Minn is definitely worth it!!</p>
<p>S1 has heard NOTHING about in state scholarships. He is a 36 ACT etc, so we were/are expecting something. I called admissions last week and received two answers. 1) the students will find out by the end of March. 2) there are tons of kids with need this year and they need to be taken care of. This is fine except how do they know whether or not we have need and I thought the top handful of the university wide scholarships were “automatic” and based on academic criteria.</p>
<p>Presidential would be fantastic! I visited Minnesota last week and was certainly impressed. I want to major in Chemical Engineering, and they have the 3rd ranked program in the nation. If it wasn’t for the academic quality there wouldn’t have been any way I’d have considered it.</p>
<p>Kajon…I don’t think any of the scholarships are guaranteed other than the Gold Scholar for NMF’s. I think the criteria listed are for consideration only, although I would’ve thought most students that met the criteria would be awarded the scholarship. What was your S1’s GPA and class rank? With that fantastic ACT score I’m surprised he hasn’t been offered anything yet. I would suspect he’s in a good position for either the Maroon and Gold Leadership or the Minnesota Gold scholarship. Not sure if those are either/or or if he could potentially get both.</p>
<p>Kajon-
My daughter is also a top scholarship candidate, and we haven’t heard anything yet either. I’m just figuring they haven’t gotten around to her yet.
As for how they know whether or not you have need - they look at your FAFSA. If you haven’t filed one, you will not be considered to have need.</p>
<p>Our child found out about receiving a Bentson scholarship many weeks after acceptance notification.</p>
<p>I received my Bentson notification along with my other scholarship awards, via USPS. I’m OOS.</p>
<p>Does anyone actually know of a Bentson recipient who was actually Jewish? It says they give preference to those of the Jewish faith, but so far everyone I’ve heard got it is not Jewish.</p>
<p>I’m not Jewish - and did not mark Jewish - but I do have a Jewish last name.</p>
<p>I’m Jewish and I recieved it today.</p>