Can You Fish For Merit Money

Parents Forum
1

<p>I do know that most Merit Scholarships are awarded to students based on their GPA's, SAT's, and EC's, and very often, only announced many months after being accepted to a school. My D received very generous Merit scholarships, to her 4th and 5th choice schools. We were really floored by the amount, but now she is quite unhappy, because being the practical person,she now feels that she ought to give that 4th choice school a lot more weight in her considerations.</p>

<p>B.t.w., she has already been accepted to 2nd and 3rd choice schools, but will not find out about merit $ until April. 1st choice school has no merit $$ (but of course), and acceptances are only out in April.</p>

<p>Is it okay to communicate the merit money info. to 2nd and 3rd choice schools right now, rather than wait and find out that she did or did not get any merit $$ from them. And what would be a good way to do this.</p>

<p>Or is this just bad form, and we should sit back and wait.</p>

2

<p>Choco, we researched the merit opportunities available at all of our kids' colleges, and after sniffing around who awards what (sometimes it is the adcoms, sometimes it goes to a separate committee or dept), my kids wrote letters asking to be considered for those awards and sending a resume as well. I think it worked as they all ended up with money. This one will be the first that will be full freight. In some cases, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle, especially if the kids do not have the highest test scores, and I feel it is important to let them know that the kid is here and very interested.</p>

3

<p>Thanks jamimom.
So did you just call the various Admissions Offices and ask who makes these decisions, or who should letters be addressed to? My D has excellent SAT's and GPA. One great EC and then some bleh ones.
I was really surprised when a friend of hers was invited into the first 'elimination' rounds of yet another merit Schol., with a 3.1 gpa and 1250 SAT's, and my D was not. And this is Round 1 of 3 rounds. I don't know how these things work. But I will get her to say "hello, here I am" to the rest.</p>

4

<p>I guess my real question is, should she actually write that she has received 2 other merit scholarships, but really wants to go to this school?</p>

5

<p>We did not have other offers to discuss as all of the stuff pretty much came in at the same time. But if you D really has a first choice school and would truly want to go there, I see no reason why she should not mention that she has received merit awards at other schools, and that she is particularly interested in her first choice schools SYX Award for which she thinks she is a candidate. You don't want to sound manipulative or "tricky", just informed and very interested, and willing to "go get'em."</p>

6

<p>We certainly don't want to play them against each other, or come off sounding whiny, but D very definitely loves Choice #2 school, way too much.</p>

7

<p>My approach would be for your D to let her #2 & #3 schools know directly. Have her call and speak to her area rep and just be frank. Say, "I am curious about whether or not I am under consideration for merit aid here, because I have received merit award notification at some other schools but would really prefer to go here." Nothing I can think of that's wrong with that....</p>

8

<p>It is certainly fine to let #2/3 know about her merit awards, but just don't be surprised if they don't offer as much, or perhaps any at all. It never hurts to ask;, you just have to understand #2/3 might say "that's wonderful, but sorry, we can't offer the same!"</p>

9

<p>Choco: The offers of merit scholarships, already, sound great. IMHO, the first thing you all should do is go back and revisit why schools were made first, second, etc. choice. Was it size? location? "feel"? programs? If these are the reasons, and the preferences have some real basis, then the offer of merit scholarships from nos. 4 and 5 are great for the ego, and confirm that the choice of schools to which to apply inlcuded a good strategy, but should not add a lot of weight to their ranking in preference - you should follow the suggestions to let nos. 1-3 know about these and see what results.</p>

<p>I would only tell them that you would prefer to go there if after looking at the rationale, that is still the case.</p>

<p>If the preferences include cost as a significant factor, and the other aspects of the schools are acceptable, then nos. 4 and 5 should rise on the list, at least until you hear from the others. Again, it is still to your advanatge to let nos. 1-3 know abut the scholarships. This makes your D look like a better candidate and puts them on notice that they are going to have to decide whether or not to compete.</p>

<p>At the same time, your bargaining power at nos. 1-3, especially no. 1, will depend fairly heavily on where your D falls, statistically, in their freshman accepted class. If she's high, and her stats will benefit the school's reputation, you may have a good chance at having the current scholarships matched or even topped. If she's in the middle, not so much.</p>

10

<p>Note that most schools will only "negotiate" on merit money if the competing schools are in the same league in terms of academic quality. This is what we were told when my son was in this situation a couple of years ago. If the number 1-3 schools are top tier schools but the schools offering the merit money are clear safety schools, it wouldn't hurt to try, but keep your expectations in check.</p>

11

<p>Well there is no denying that the lower you go down the ladder, the higher the chances of acceptances, the more the merit money, etc.
Now in my D's case, Schools # 1,2, and 3 are in the top 20 schools (nationally ranked uni.), and then 4 and 5 are perhaps between 20 and 35. </p>

<h1>1 school has not even admitted yet, nor do they offer merit aid.</h1>

<h1>2 has admitted her, merit may or may not follow.</h1>

<h1>3 has admitted her, " " " ".......</h1>

<h1>4 and #5 have admitted and offered money right away.</h1>

<p>And then again in April, there are a couple of random, what-the-heck schools, that offer no merit scholarships, but would be awesome to get into, but we are not even counting on for now, because that is the big LOTTO.</p>

<p>Dadofsam, the schools were selected on the basis of quality of programs, as well as breadth, (since D is unsure of major). However, we have yet to visit any of them, so the "feel" part is yet to be "felt".</p>

<p>She is very cost-conscious, like her parents,and even though we have encouraged her to apply everywhere that she is interested in, and we will figure out how to make it happen later, she said to me yesterday, "maybe I will go to School#4 for 2 years and then transfer.</p>

<p>Oh boy, these things are so complicated. Our (adult) friends say, are you nuts, not taking the merit $, 8 years from now it won't matter that she went to DEF instead of ABC.</p>

<p>She has a 1590, and 4.25, (3.8uw), and some nice, but small EC's and leadership.</p>

12

<p>I guess this is turning into the "Did your child choose a free ride over a more prestigious school" thread, which I loved. At some point I will bare my soul, and lay out the names of all the schools, and everyone will go, "Whaaaaaaat......you can't even compare those".</p>

13

<p>Choco, its really difficult to give advice when you do not mention what schools she is considering and giving us a feel for her priorities in making her decisions. Also, will she be in a position to be considered for need based aid?</p>

<p>I am a product of Ohio State and Cornell and most might think that a choice between these two would be a no brainer regardless of cost. However heart still skips a beat when I hear "Across the Field", I never felt academically short changed by attending OSU, and about 2/3's of my donations go to OSU. But that is me and not your D or any other student.</p>

<p>If no further details can be offered I would only advise her to not even consider attending a college she felt she would be unhappy attending. But also consider that were she to attend choice 4 or 5 and discover that she needed to transfer, she could easily do so. If she were to choose choice 1 and felt a need to transfer she would be less likely to receive the same level of merit aid as she has been offered now.</p>

14

<p>She has great stats, Choco, and will probably get some nice awards. My friends daughter who is the oldest of a brood applied to a group of schools. The end result was a full ride to Pitt, full tuition to Case, close to full ride at Penn State a smattering of nice merit amounts to a number of local PA schools, acceptance but no money from Emory, Wake Forest and CMU. Princeton and Cornell denied and waitlisted her. She felt she would have gone to Princeton if she had to borrow every dime, but when she mulled it over, she really did not feel like stretching the family budget too much for the other schools. She like Case's program in her major the best, so there she went. She has never had any regrets. But at the time it was a tough choice between Case and Penn State.</p>

15

<p>One more point, when all the acceptances and merit awards were in, he was reluctant to try an negotiate a better offer at his first choice which in fact offered a pittance. He accepted Rensselaer's generous offer and is very happy with his chioce so far and has never looked back. BTW, his first choice was Oberlin, quite a different school from RPI!</p>

16

<p>chocholic, I feel for you. We went through the same thing last year with my S, and ended up leaving behind all the merit. It was an agonizing few months but we did it because he got into a great school that he was surprised he got into and he loved it. We have no regrets. He will pay 1/3 of the out of pocket money when he can and that was very hard for him to decide as well. None of us have regrets but ask me when I am 100 and still working. It is such an individual decision and people who make either choice seem to have no regrets. Keep us informed.</p>

17

<p>Yep, choco -you're a year ahead of me and thank goodness for that. I'll be watching how you deal with it. Please, keep us informed. It will start to get even more complicated (to me) if your kid gets a great feel at one of the #4 or 5 merit schools, equal to or better than the feel she gets at the 1, 2,or 3 maybe (or no) merit schools. There's something to be said for being wanted. </p>

<p>I talked yesterday to a Dad whose S's number one is Wake and his number 4 or 5 is Arkansas (family school). Wake says -"hold on , we're thinking" while Arkansas is camped on his doorstep bidding against themselves without any requests for them to do so. They (Arkansas) are now up to full out of state tuition and fees plus a couple of grand a year with the new Walton B School specific Scholarship. The kid has visited them both-loves both. Another friend is deciding between Tulane with some pretty good merit and NYU without. Dearly loves aspects of both-with Tulane having a better specific program for what (today) she wants. I sure hope I get a lot smarter by this time next year.:eek:</p>

<p>Oh, and BTW-when I am in your shoes (assuming I am lucky enough to be there)-I'll have every pole I own baited and in the water.</p>

18

<p>choco - to add a corollary to dadofsam's post: your D's current rankings of the 5 schools do not involve visits, so presumably based on reputation/stats/location (as she imagines it). Visits can make such a difference, I hope you and she will not shortchange yourselves by omitting them.</p>

<p>Certainly no problem to wait and do visits when all info in. And I certainly agree with all who say go ahead and let #2 and #3 know what she has in hand and that she would really prefer them.</p>

<p>My point, I guess, is that, had she already made visits, the rankings #1-#5 may have shuffled around a bit, and may shuffle after she visits.</p>

19

<p>Okay, I will fess up. She has applied to a lot more schools than 5. But we are not even talking about some of them which are reaches for the very best students (I believe that some schools are not matches for anyone). So maybe everything will change come April, or maybe nothing will.</p>

<p>Or maybe, as you say jmmom, after some visits, even these 5 will change. She and I will be trudging through a few, just for a touchy-feely. Unfortunately we cannot go to their special-days for admitted students, as they are in April, and I am not comfortable about waiting that long. And her schools are so scattered, that we need to tackle this in small chunks. </p>

<p>No, we will not qualify for any need-based aid, but we do have another S and D to save for. </p>

<p>Another major roadblock, in sizing up and ranking these schools, has been a complete cluelessness as to what major/or even interest. So the selection has been a mish-mash really. Isn't it precious, my D with her stats, has no preferences for her major. My S, straight B-student, wants to be a dentist, lol. Curmudgeon, hang on for a wild ride.</p>

<p>The #4 school is CWRU with a full ride. The funny thing is I almost dropped when she showed me the letter, but now upon recovery,I want the same from #2, haha. I feel as if I will jinx things by discussing the rest of the schools.</p>

20

<p>Well, you saw the spread my friend's D got with similar stats. She got a full tuition award from Case too. But the other schools really varied. When all was said and done, she felt that her favorite 3 were Emory, Case and Penn State. Did not even revisit Emory because she felt that it was just not worth the cost differential. She just went to Penn State and Case, and like being in a city, a smaller school with at tighter intellectual community that Case offered, even though she was offered a slot in Schreyers Honors College at PSU. It cost a bit more to go to Case, but she felt it was worth it. And she loved it there.</p>