<p>"Yeah, right, Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by her rival in 1994 for the competition of USA team for Olympiad, thank god, we have not heard any rumors talking about canceling Olympiad. So many people are over eating to become obese, en, what we do about it, let’s stop food supply to whole human being……."</p>
<p>I honestly don't understand what this means.</p>
<p>"yes, Caltech should also cancel their upper class merit scholarship too since those scholarships are making their students vulnerable to break honor code too…LOL."</p>
<p>Perhaps I should have separated those lines; it seems you've misunderstood me. I was saying that Caltech has a very collaborative, non-competitive (for most students, but there are some minor exceptions) environment, not one suited for cutthroat competition over scholarships and such. I'm not saying there is competition for scholarships, just that the personalities of the students, etc. aren't suited for it. (I've personally never met someone here who gets really competitive about this stuff. It's actually quite nice and relaxing.) Yes, there are friendly competitions, students participate in ACM, Putnam, etc. with other schools, interhouse sports (some of the athletes care more about this one than others, it's more of a "tradition" amongst them), and others, but nothing resembling "unhealthy" competition. (concerns over who gets what scholarship might serve as an example)</p>
<p>As for dropouts and people who go on leave for a few terms, I'm not sure whether or not they've won a scholarship. There are students that have tested out of several core classes in the past who have wound up in this position; perhaps they didn't win a scholarship, but either way, given the small group of students who test out of core classes anyway, you might say these students are "more deserving" of a merit scholarship on this basis. (on basis of intelligence, but there high school record might say more to support giving them a scholarship)</p>
<p>"I see, honor and money are not an issue in your world, then we are in two totally different world…..and I know there are many people live in my world where we care about honor, at the same time, forced to be concerned about money too, since we are not born to be rich yet we work hard to make ours self not to qualify need based financial aid…..which left us only possible help is merit scholarship."</p>
<p>I'd say getting into Caltech would be an honor enough. Whether or not you get a scholarship, as far as honor goes, shouldn't make a difference. Bragging rights over other students simply because a committee thought you deserved some extra money is kind of silly, which is why I referred to it as a "silly scholarship." Ultimately, it's a pretty trivial thing. There's more important stuff to worry about.</p>
<p>As for the money aspect; unless I've misunderstood something, the funds from the merit scholarship are simply being moved to the need-based scholarship funds. This means more students and will have access to more money. If you didn't qualify for financial aid with the government and/or Caltech, depending on the situation, you can always talk to the financial aid department. The FAFSA form isn't perfect, so if something needs to be discussed, just call them. If everyone who didn't qualify for financial aid had to depend on winning a merit scholarship, then we would have very close to 100% of the enrolled student body receiving financial aid. (we don't) If none of this works, it's possible you have enough money to pay for this, and just don't realize it. I come from a middle class background and was shocked at what the FAFSA gave me. Paying for college isn't easy for everyone who isn't very wealthy. It involves sacrifices, so if worse comes to worse, try looking at your finances and see what you can do. (well, you'll have to do this anyway; everyone does, unless you're a millionaire) Student loans are always an option. Full rides to a good school are (clearly) hard to come by, so you shouldn't apply with the idea in mind that you'll win one. (plus, I'm not sure Axline covers everything, you'd probably be paying something in the end anyway)</p>
<p>"Passion and inspiration are never exclusive. When I say young kids got inspired by those Axline winners, it doesn’t mean those kids don’t have passion to start with. It could well be that the younger ones meet their admirer on math team, or some clubs, just like a young passionate athlete inspired by an Olympiad gold medalist. Btw, Axline is a ‘silly scholarship’? OMG, LOL…Caltech has been so stupidly doing such a silly thing for all these year, you must be happy now, since it finally stopped doing such a silly thing now."</p>
<p>I'm not saying inspiration is bad, and I see what you mean by inspiration and passion being "tied." Using a scholarship as a "benchmark" is pretty silly, that's what I'm referring to. If you want to go to Caltech, you should find math and science to be inspirations in themselves. Grigori Perelman serves as an extreme example of this. Pursuing an education and a career in science just because of money and prestige is extremely stupid, and perhaps that unfortunate soul will wake up one day and see how miserable they are. If it isn't fun for what it is, then there are other career options to explore. No sense in being depressed because of which job pays more. </p>
<p>"OK, I am enlightened again. The donor of Axline must have no interest in helping student at all. And only current donors of upperclass scholarship are having great interests in helping student, which definitely are not silly like Axline. Btw, help students in which aspect? Let’s see, based on your above mentioned logical, the only effect of merit scholarship that is worth mentioning is to make students more vulnerable to break the honor code. So those upperclass scholarships should be abandoned too…..I am wondering how can those donors keep doing such a silly thing, did you try to contact them to alert them the possible negative effects? (no offense please )."</p>
<p>I'm not sure if the Axline donor ever requested his money to be attached to financial aid. I don't know the story about it, but since the scholarship was removed, he's obviously ok with it. (or if he's dead, the original requests didn't mandate it be used for a merit scholarship) As for the rest of it, it seems your misunderstanding with what I said earlier prompted those comments.</p>
<p>It's just a simple merit scholarship. I don't see how this seriously affects the image of the institution with the reputation it's built for itself. If you're really that concerned about college finances, we can all understand that, but this is such a small matter, I can't really see how this makes it less academically oriented. There are plenty of deserving students for those scholarships, and given the similarities in how impressive the students are, picking out a few for a merit scholarship could be a bit exaggerated.</p>
<p>If you've been accepted to both MIT and Caltech EA, and deciding between them based on which one (used to) have a merit scholarship, then you should just go to MIT. There's a lot more to these schools than just money, and you're looking at it the wrong way if being awarded a merit scholarship is the primary concern. Some people love the house system, others hate it. Most everyone loves the honor code. Doing very rigorous work sometimes into the wee hours of the morning could be fun (or in most cases, tolerable) to some, and excruciating to other people. Maybe you prefer a small community over a big school. I don't know. If the financial aid awards, scholarships, etc. differ by $10,000 or something, I can see why you would choose a specific school. But if they're similar, there's much more to this than winning a scholarship. If you ultimately decide to go somewhere solely on the basis of a full ride, but hate the school, you're probably going to end up transferring. I'm not sure why your responses are so sarcastic; they come off a bit rude. I've been civil about this.</p>