<p>There are some old threads about these programs, but id love to hear from current CCers - what do you think of these programs? My daughter was invited to apply for the Dana Associates program and she is writing her essays now. </p>
<p>Are there any Dana graduates who could share how the internships helped them post - Muhlenberg?</p>
<p>I’d like to know, too. :)</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that Teriwitt’s daughter, who graduated from Muhlenberg last year, was a Dana Scholar. Teriwitt doesn’t post often but she comes around to CC sometimes to answer questions about Muhlenberg and I found her very helpful when my D was making her decision last year. You could PM her. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>LeftofPisa - You’ve got that right.</p>
<p>But here I am. My daughter was not a Dana Scholar; when the application arrived, she was absolutely exhausted with the whole audition/application process that there was no way she could manage another essay. She was also in the middle of show choir competition season, which takes up an enormous amount of time and energy resources. So I let that one pass.</p>
<p>What we didn’t know is that an offer for the Muhlenberg Scholars came to her a few weeks later, without her even having applied for it. So she really lucked out. I think the monetary awards are the same. For the first couple of years, I think she really enjoyed the scholars program, but when she studied abroad for a semester and was then trying to fit in as many dance classes as possible (which weren’t a lot) while double majoring, she got behind on her requirements to graduate as a Muhlenberg Scholar; it would have required an enormous amount of work to catch up her senior year, and then her time was being taken up by being musical director of her a cappella group. Thankfully, the scholarship remained, meaning she continued to get the money all four years, but she didn’t graduate with the Muhlenberg Scholar distinguishing. </p>
<p>But she really enjoyed her Scholars advisor, and getting together with the group when they had social events, and she was available.</p>
<p>My D’s story is very similar. Chose to not apply for the Dana program (for similar reasons like Teriwtt reported) but ended up in another program. Dana and other programs bring a little more exposure to professors which in turn, does increase one’s opportunities. </p>
<p>We are extraordinarily grateful for the invitations my D has received from professors for work, projects and other programs. There are many factors behind that including the extra time with professors as a result of the unique program, distinguishing oneself in the classroom I suppose would make a difference, and the relative level of interest among students in a subject area could also help.</p>
<p>I guess I wonder whether kids with the Dana or Muhlenberg Scholarships find the overall academic strength of the student body to be weak. Are these kids just unusual standouts at Muhlenberg?</p>
<p>My daughter was able to find and become best friends with students who were her equal in academics and intelligence (both within and outside the scholar programs), and also found some students which she could not hold equal conversations with.</p>
<p>One of my most memorable moments when she was in school there, was about a year ago. She had a performance we attended, and one of the professors was there to record the performance. She had spoken in the past of how much she enjoyed having this professor, so I went up to him and introduced myself in order to tell him how much D2 had come to admire him and look forward to classes with him. </p>
<p>He told me that he absolutely loved having her in class. He said when he’d try to engage the class in discussion about certain topics, she always had something to say on some level that most other students in the class would wonder where it came from. So yes, she might have been at the top of the game when it came to certain classes, but it never kept (at least this) the professor from engaging and challenging her anyway. He was so impressed with her, told us she had an incredible gift when it came to that class, and was going to miss her. </p>
<p>It was almost like going to high school parent-teacher conferences again, except this was college. Most parents do not get the opportunity to get that kind of personal feedback directly from professors; it was very nice.</p>
<p>What a lovely experience! I have been following this thread because my son is thinking about applying to Muhlenberg. Can anyone tell me the differences between the different scholar programs? It seems like one requires an application, but the others do not.</p>
<p>I think two scholar programs require applications; you are invited to apply to them. The one my daughter was asked to join did not require an application. She was asked based on criteria submitted in her application materials alone.</p>
<p>Do they all have similar requirements and/ or benefits? It seems that doing the one without an app would be the most desirable, if that is the case. 
Do they require a minimum GPA to maintain the scholarship?</p>
<p>Shulamit- The various programs are explained here: [Muhlenberg</a> College Financial Aid - Muhlenberg Merit Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/finaid/applyingForAid/merit.html]Muhlenberg”>http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/aboutus/finaid/applyingForAid/merit.html)</p>
<p>My D has to maintain a 3.0 to keep her merit $$. She has found the work sufficiently challenging to keep her motivated but not oppressive if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I guess my dd got the Dana because it’s listed on the fin aid letter, but we never got a notification.</p>
<p>Ohhh, 4york! It was listed on your D’s fin aid letter? Interesting. My D saw Muhlenberg Scholar on her letter and didn’t realize she was under consideration. I guess this means she didn’t get Dana.</p>
<p>DD got the official Dana Letter yesterday. It’s a really nice program and it will be a shame to turn it down, but I think she will due to financial aid. They said in the letter to inform them ASAP if she doesn’t want to accept so the award can be offered to someone else. I guess they have a Dana Scholarship wait list. </p>
<p>I think we will think on it a couple of days and then decide.</p>
<p>We have not recieved either FA letter or a decision of the Dana. Any idea when they are sent?</p>
<p>I threw out the envelope already. But we are probably 1 mailing day from Muhlenberg. Probably mailed three days ago.</p>
<p>We also saw the Dana award on the online portal.</p>