<p>My son just be accepted by Duke (biomedical engineeri) as well as UVA honar program. He is one of the 2500 students who won the $2500 National Merit Scholarship award. He also accepted by Case without any merit based scholarship. I am wondering how Case decide the school based merit awards? I called the finantial office and they said they give 60% of awardee and my son is not as good as them. Is that true?</p>
<p>Case used to use test score cut-offs for merit scholarships. The old formula was this:
Trustee's: ACT of at least 35, SAT of at least 1500 (new probably is
2250) Current value: $26,800 @ yr.; renewable
President's: ACT 33; SAT old 1400 (new SAT is probably 2100)
Provost's: ACT 31; SAT 1300 (new SAT is probably 1950)</p>
<p>Students also had to be in the top 10% of their graduating class for the top two tiers and the top 15% for the Provost's. I believe there are deadlines for applying in order to be in the mix for these awards, but I do not recall the date. </p>
<p>As applicants are increasingly more competitive in state in Ohio because people cannot afford college, I would imagine that the criteria for the merit scholarships may have gone up as well.</p>
<p>house80 - I believe that Case also distributes the scholarship awards between majors. Since there are so many engineering majors your son might have lessened his chances of receiving one. I don't know if Case does this or not, but since your son also applied to Duke they might have believed that he only applied to Case as a safety school. The other engineering students who applied might also have had another hook (in addition to his good grades, etc.) like theater, music, or a sport. </p>
<p>Just because Case did not offer him a scholarship does NOT mean he is not a good person or a great student. If you read enough posts on this site you will find that even the best of the best sometimes don't even get accepted to ANY of the colleges they applied to.</p>
<p>My understanding is that most of the scholarships listed are not solely based on academic accomplishments. The financial situation, EC, community services, majors, etc. are also considered. As matter of fact, only about 20% of the non-need applicants receive scholarships.</p>
<p>Thanks for your post. I am really disappointment on Case. My son get more grands from Duke than from Case and he is waiting for Cornell's financial package too. I don't think the applicants pool of Case is stronger than that of Duke.</p>
<p>KenJ'sMom - there is no additional application needed to receive provost/president/trustee scholarships, all regular decision applicants are eligible so i'm confused on what you mean by deadline</p>
<p>Seattlechica: I know there isn't a separate app for the merit aid. For some reason, I thought you had to apply by Dec. 1st for the merit aid, but I think that I am wrong. Looks like as long as you apply by their standard deadlines, you are automatically in the mix.</p>
<p>The trick with case's financial aide department is that they are really really generous when it comes to the scholarship APPEALS.</p>
<p>if you and your son feel slighted by case's award or lack there of, then by all means appeal, and do it as fast as you can.</p>
<p>I know for a fact, that one of my friends originally got nothing, appealed, and then the following day received $16,000 a year/4 years.</p>