<p>My mom keeps telling me that I have to get all my applications in by the 1st because colleges won't offer scholarships to students who apply after that date. A long time ago when Wake Forest was on my list, I saw that there was a December 1st deadline for a particular scholarship. However, I don't know where she's getting this information for universities like Duke, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, or Georgetown.
Is the December 1st scholarship deadline a nation-wide thing? Or, is it for certain schools? If so, which schools are on that list?</p>
<p>It is for certain schools, most public universities have priority deadlines for scholarships and honors programs on Nov 1st or Dec 1st. The most selective universities(such as those you stated above) have no priority deadline for scholarships, however if you plan on requesting an off-campus interview you may need to submit your application by a certain date(i.e Rice Uni requires you to submit your application by Dec 1st to be able to request an interview). Double-check on the admissions section of each school you’re applying to website’s to check and see if there are any deadlines for priority scholarships. </p>
<p>However don’t take this post as an excuse to slack off, the sooner you get your college applications out of the way the sooner you can work on academics/scholarships.</p>
<p>Johhs Hopkins and Duke offer VERY VERY limited merit scholarship money. Their vast majority of their financial aid awards are need based.</p>
<p>Georgetown and Harvard don’t offer merit scholarships at all. All of their financial aid is need based.</p>
<p>I sure hope you have some less competitve schools on your list. If you do…you should check deadlines for consideration for merit aid awards. Many schools have a December 1 or sometime in December deadline for applying if you want to be considered for their most generous merit awards. </p>
<p>And it’s not just public universities…there are private universities with the same criteria for their very generous merit awards.</p>
<p>There is no ‘list’. You have to read the pages of all the colleges you are applying to. Many students make spreadsheets for colleges and deadlines to keep track.</p>