Does anyone know if Clemson “rounds” when determining top 10% of class for the purposes of scholarship eligibility? Or do you have to fall at or under 10.00%? My child meets the SAT minimum score for a scholarship. Do you think this is worth discussing with Admissions? Thank you.
I called Clemson admissions about my daughter because she keeps hearing of students who received more merit scholarship money then she did. We are OOS and she has a 34 ACT, 7 AP classes, 4.0 but her school does not rank because like so many other schools it’s not a true indication of a student’s success. She has always taken honors and AP courses but doesn’t rank in the top 10% because those without rigor in on-level classes rank higher. She not only didn’t get more money but also didn’t get into the honors program. She was accepted into the honors program at UGA and 60k from Auburn all for engineering. Clemson told me that you have to be in the top 10% in class rank- it’s a shame that they are missing out on awesome students. Many high schools are moving away from class rank anyway because it’s not an accurate measure. I hope this helps and good luck!
clsr83 I had the same question last year. My son was #50 in a class of 498, so literally either the last person in the top 10% or the first person to miss it, depending on rounding. He had a 34 ACT and his application was strong otherwise. He did receive the maximum OOS scholarship and was also admitted to Calhoun Honors College.
Our high school is quite rigorous and sends quite a lot of students to Clemson (even though we are OOS we aren’t that far away). I imagine the admissions office is familiar with the rigor of the school. And that may make a difference but I don’t know that for sure.
I am OOS, in the top 5%, and have a 4.7 GPA and I didn’t get anything. I sent an email to the scholarship department asking them to please review my application again for a possible scholarship because I really want to go to Clemson. I got a standard response back with a link to use the net calculator. They said admissions made the decisions and it would have been in my acceptance letter. It was not that answer I wanted at all.
My D received some merit aid but not the amount we hoped for. We are OOS. She is in the top 11% of a very very competitive class of kids at her highly competitive school. She has a 6.459/6.5 GPA (only 2 B’s in all AP classes) and a 33 ACT. She did get into the Honors college. Wondering if there is any chance of getting additional merit aid? Otherwise it is probably out of our price range. Frustrating because it is a top choice for her.
FWIW, our OOS school does not rank but, they do include a school profile that colleges can use to estimate rank if they choose. Both of our accepted Tigers (two years apart) were right at the 10% estimated cutoff. One submitted a 33 ACT score, the other sent his SAT of 1400. (CR+M)
The 33 ACT did not get Calhoun but the 1400 SAT did.
Both received 10K per year. The notification came with the acceptance letters. Both kids applied within a day or two of the application opening.
@ojbmom You may be able to negotiate more, but there are no additional scholarships administered through Calhoun unless part of the NSP which your daughter would’ve been invited to participate in earlier if she was eligible. Those students have high test scores , GPA and are usually ranked in the top 1 %.