Looking at the March 2021 Denison thread on CC they did that last year too. Maybe it’s their way of yield protection and figuring out who is really interested.
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You will get your merit aid/scholarship included in the decision letter (which has already been posted to your portal earlier than expected).
Yes, she did get some great merit. She submitted a music supplement though and it wasn’t mentioned anywhere. Just wondering if that is somewhere else or she just didn’t receive anything for that.
Ours was offered the Music Award of $10,000 in the waitlist email. We have found that the colleges that have accepted him thus far, the merit aid package is declared clearly in the acceptance email.
My S was accepted with a small merit scholarship ($10,000 Alumni Award). Pretty excited and surprised over here. Stats for those interested:
SAT 1420
GPA 3.6 UW / 4.5 W
6 AP classes (all 4’s so far) + many Honors level courses
Probably below average ECs
Probably above average essay (did “Why Denison?” essay too)
Did almost nothing to “show interest” (no visit or interview; maybe one virtual thing?)
We did not apply for FA (we are full pay), although if need-blind that shouldn’t have made a difference…
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Waitlisted with a huge financial aid package. We are a little sad. D22 really wants to go here. What are the chances?
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Does anyone have any idea how many they usually take off the waitlist?
I have never been able to find the full Common Data Set for Denison online, but the website “CollegeData” has what appears to be the same thing. According to that website, 2,140 students were offered waitlist spots, 313 accepted a waitlist position, and 107 were admitted from the waitlist.
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Same. But according to Mom270 a little further up the thread, this is a typical yield protection practice at Denison. For applicants that are highly competitive and likely to get accepted and enroll at a more prestigious college, they waitlist them with a scholarship offer. This helps to keep their acceptance rate low and their accepted & enrolled rate high.
So our interpretation of this is that it means he’s likely to get in at a lot of other schools. 
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My son’s merit listed academic and music - it wasn’t lumped together.
My son got the same exact offer. What is that?!?! Weird.
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Accepted!! OS with alumni scholarship 3.64 gpa no test scores and tons of EC’s!!! So surprised
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S22 accepted! With $10k merit. 3.7 gpa, 1420 SAT, lots of ECs and sports, etc.
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S22 accepted with 20k Alumni Scholarship. 4.0, 33 ACT, only so so ECs, but good essay and recommendations.
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I would have thought they would mention it…my son sent in a supplement for Creative Writing and the scholarship they gave him said it was for Creative Writing specifically. It wouldn’t hurt to reach out to the department.
I get it’s a yield thing but still very odd. Son is valedictorian, 1500+ SAT, 100.1 WGPA with rigorous course work. Lots of ECs, leadership. He got waitlisted with statement “based on your qualifications you are eligible for a $25K per year Alumni Award if you are admitted off the waitlist”??? Now to me that’s crazy.
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My son was waitlisted with a generous alumni award and music scholarship if admitted. We are a little sad - and confused! - over here too. He plans to accept the waitlist spot but wants to be thoughtful in his response. Any idea if it matters when students accept or is it all the same as long as it is by 4/1?
We didn’t see any space for a response, just a check box to accept the waitlist or not. Still a little shocked so we didn’t go much farther than that.
My son checked the box to accept the waitlist spot and a response form opened up. 200 words. It seems they are looking for you to be pretty specific in where Denison fits with your college attendance plans.
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