This question is a bit weird but I hope someone has experience or advice on it. My D is a rising senior so we’re putting together a list of schools she’ll apply. Since she has excellent academics, we’re aiming for merit scholarships (won’t qualify for need based). However some schools that are great fit and she also likes would only make sense if she gets significant merit award. Her basic stats are:
ACT 36, SAT 1580, subject math II 800 chemistry 800 (all one sitting), waiting for SAT physics score and it will be good.
uw GPA 4.0 from competitive public HS with rigorous course load, 4 AP exams with scores of 5, waiting for scores on 5 exams this year (should all score 5 as well)
female going for engineering or CS, two time AIME qualifier, many city/regional/state math contest medals.
Otherwise EC would be average with some school club leadership roles and other activities, it’s balanced but certainly not outstanding.
I know her stats would land her full rides at many places but we’re aiming for large merit at more competitive schools. So when we visit schools, is it ok to discuss her stats with admissions and directly ask if they think she’d be competitive for their merit award? One school specifically is U of Michigan. D is going there next month for an engineering summer camp (already did campus visit last fall and she liked it) and I was hoping to ask their engineering admissions office this question. We live in IL so Michigan would only make sense if D can get a large merit.
So has anyone asked a college questions like this? Is this an appropriate question to ask? Or does anyone know if some merit awards are used mostly to attract URM rather than based on hard academic stats?
Thanks in advance for any insights you may provide.
Most of the big merit scholarships state what they are looking for. Obviously your child has the academic stats for all big merit scholarships but most of them are looking beyond that. They are looking for those intangibles like leadership, being a team player, etc. The things that show in her ECs.
I don’t think any school is going to discourage your child from applying for their scholarships and I wouldn’t either. There is a limited amount of time your child has for applying to these though so you will have to draw the line somewhere eventually but there are plenty of people on these boards with children that have applied to double digit number of large competitive scholarships with the requisite essays and interviews that go along with them.
I’ll just add there are schools out there that really like ACT 36/SAT 1600 that have scholarships - WashU, Vandy, and UChicago are the ones that I know. USC might be included in that. I’m not sure about Duke.
I’m going to tag @itsgettingreal17 because she has a lot of experience in this area.
I think it is appropriate to ask any question you may have. You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. I’d ask how many such scholarships exist, whether they are spread among the different colleges, how many for engineering, are there other scholarships for women engineers, etc.
What you can’t expect is a guarantee. I think you’ll get ‘she has an excellent chance’ as a response.
You certainly can ask… us don’t expect a definitive answer. Merit awards are awarded to top applicants. At this point…Michigan…or any other college isn’t going to KNOW what their applicant pool is going to look like.
As you know…your kiddo has strong stats. She can apply like everyone else…and wait and see. Michigan offers NO merit aid that is guaranteed based in stats.
Michigan is hard for anyone. They have plenty of kids with your kid’s stats or better, so who knows.
Just make sure she applies EA by Nov 1. The largest scholarships come out of that pool of students accepted in December. I would ask if scholarships are need based before I asked if she was qualified by virtue of grades etc. That might help you understand better if she can get a scholarship. There is also a profile online that can be filled out used for directed scholarships.
The problem with competitive merit at the top schools is that they use those awards to poach students that they need for regional and ethnic diversity and talent…these are also top students, but they’re extra desirable because of how they help the school with reporting numbers.
Your child should ask any questions about merit scholarships. Parents should not call schools with questions about merit scholarships. Any student who believes he or she is competitive for a merit scholarship should be capable of making that phone call on their own.
For highly competitive merit scholarships where students are chosen through holistic review, do not expect the answers to be any more specific than if you ask about admission chances at a super-selective school.
You can, but you probably shouldn’t. Your student should ask if they are curious. Perhaps a better way to do it is to say something along the lines of “what common characteristics do your merit scholarship winners seem to have?”
I’ve never held with the theory that only the child should ask questions, especially about money. Parents are usually the ones paying. I usually asked with a “I don’t understand how this works, can you explain it to me?”
I also found that often when my kids asked, the registrar, financial aid office, coach, etc. couldn’t get anything done, but one call from me got things moving. Not fair, not how the system is supposed to work, but when your child can’t register because of a hold a call from a parent seems to straighten it all out.
My question is what are you looking for the school to tell you? They will tell you that she is a viable candidate, which she is. They will tell you that she is a competitive candidate for ABC merit scholarship, which she is. What they will not do is say anything that implies, guarantee or commits that she will get the scholarship. It would be disingenuous and unethical for them to do this? The best you will hear is that it is a holistic process and that many students apply for the scholarship from all over the country.Personally, I think it is an awkward position to put both you and the school into.
I’m with @twoinanddone and further, I don’t think the admissions or financial counselors should find it odd that the person paying wants to hear the information first hand. I took a lot of flack from various persons about my involvement with the financial aid part of my D’s application to the school she attends. In fact, the director seemed pleased that I took the five hour drive to meet with her and talk about the package offered. And yes, when D has exhausted her ability to get something she should have IMO, I have no problem making a call.
You can ask the admission/FA office, however, it is not likely to get a solid answer from any school that do not guaranteed scholarship by score/GPA. UMich is one of them. She does have a good chance in getting one though. Just make sure she apply for EA, then she will be automatically considered for most major merit scholarships. Moreover, there are a few additional ones that require separated application. You should look up UMich’s website. There are not many full rides at UMich though.
Also, check their NPC. Now they meet the need for OOS students with family income under $90k.
OP here. Thank you to everyone that responded. I sent my D to the Umich camp a few days ago and did have a conversation with their scholarship office. I took the advice of many posters here and began with “can you give more specific info on your merit scholarships”. I drilled for details such as the number and type and selection criteria /process. All this info is not stated on their website and pertains only to funds awarded by the college itself (which requires no separate application) and not from specific programs such as Bell or Shipman or Stamps which may require additional apps and a different process.
Based on the info that they offer about 200 merit scholarships to each freshman class (about 100 recipients will enroll out of 1400 total a year), I can reasonably gauge how competitive my kid is with her stats, thus I did not ask my “blunt” question in the title of this post. They were indeed vague about selection criteria and emphasize it’s “holistic”, but when I asked if results in national level math competitions would be a boosting factor in their evaluation process they confirmed it. That’s enough for me. Of course I’m not dumb enough to expect a guarantee or something.
I also agree with a couple posters above that it should be appropriate for parents to ask about money questions because we pay the bill and finance is an important factor in this whole process.
If D likes her experience at this camp she’ll definitely apply to UMich EA. And I do plan to ask a few other schools she’s interested in for the specifics about their merit scholarships and gauge her chance.