<p>We have plenty of discussion about FA vs Merit on cc. But so far I have seen the Merits are handed out when you apply to a school. Is there such thing of Merit Scholarship after the student is admitted? Lets say the student did not have the grade to get merit at the time of application, but did exceptionally well after the first year. Is there hope to get merit then?</p>
<p>I’m sure this is a very school-specific thing. It was possible where I went to college - every semester, it was possible to apply for scholarship consideration.</p>
<p>There are scholarships for enrolled students to apply in most colleges. Those scholarships, however, are usually a one time $2000 or so. They are no where close to the big merit scholarships that schools use to attract first year applicants.</p>
<p>^^oh I get it, its like marriage. Big diamond engagement ring, but chopped liver after the vow…^^^</p>
<p>It depends on UG school. D’s school has Merit scholarships for returning students. They have a chance if they have collge GPA=3.8 and you have to apply. D. missed deadline one year. They are increasing for junior and senior year because departmental Merit $$ reserved primarily for upperclassmen. D. got the most for her senior year.</p>
<p>Agree that it depends on the school and the Department within the school. Go to the websites and see what they say. Many tend to be somewhat more specific (eg. for a particular major) rather than overall merit scholarships. In general, you’re not going to find the big full ride, full tuition or even half tuition scholarships that go to fr admits.</p>
<p>^Well, D. has about 10 Merit scholarships (most renewables from when she was accepted, and some “one year” from Returning student application and Departmentals). They have covered her entire tuition every year and some/most of R&B. it is very worthwhile to be 4.0 student at college, not jsut for Merit $$, but for some other opportunities (nice job, internships…Grad. school…)</p>
<p>I’m sure it varies by school to a certain extent but we were advised by a professional in college admissions to not count on any new merit money once our child enrolled. So we restricted the search to merit money awarded at the time he was accepted and only merit money that was guaranteed for a certain number of years (providing he meets the standards of the award, of course.)</p>
<p>Colleges are ranked by all sorts of criteria by U.S. News and World Reports, as you know. One part of the methodology is “student selectivity.” That accounts for 15% of a college’s overall score. So if a college admits freshmen with high SAT or ACT scores, or those students who were at the top of their class in high school, that will raise a college’s U.S. News ranking. </p>
<p>So colleges have an incentive to admit the highest-performing (at least on paper) first-year class it can. Subsequent years (sophomores, etc.) do not enter into the college’s U.S. News and World Report ranking. That is why scholarships for later classes are limited. Colleges get more bank for their buck to spend the money to entice high-scoring freshman. Also, scholarship money for transfers is hard to find. They don’t enter into the rankings either.</p>
<p>Here’s more about how colleges are ranked: <a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings.html?PageNr=1[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings.html?PageNr=1</a></p>
<p>^ Yes. At least that’s the case at D’s college. For her major, the upperclassmen do have chances for a dozen of scholarship (totaling 80K last year, but only about $2500 average for each recipient). And most of the scholarship are sponsored by the employers in the area.</p>
<p>My son’s college won’t give him a penny more for his 3.99 GPA. We asked.</p>
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<p>Please note:</p>
<ol>
<li>I said “In general”.</li>
<li>You state that most of your Ds merit aid is from renewable fr merit aid, that is consistent with what I and other people have said on this thread about merit scholarships for continuing students (not renewed fr scholarships) usually being for smaller amounts.</li>
<li>I never stated nor intimated in any way that having good grades was not beneficial.</li>
</ol>
<p>Not directly what was asked, but related:</p>
<p>It is also difficult - near impossible - at <em>most</em> schools to get merit aid if you are transferring. Even schools known for great merit aid at the freshman admissions level often have no programs for transfer merit aid.</p>
<p>I know one school where the engineering college does not give out some of its merit scholarships until after the freshman year. </p>
<p>I guess they are looking for the survivors ;)</p>
<p>At the UCLA parent orientation the financial aid guy said that they only give “financial need” aid to freshmen but that there is a lot of merit aid for sophomores and above. He said something about since everybody comes in from all over with fabulous grades, etc… they want to put everybody on a level playing field and see how they do before they grant “merit” aid.</p>
<p>Wisconsin also has more merit aid for non-freshmen–mostly through departments that can give it to their top students based on actual college performance.</p>