Ok in light of the fact that last year on Friday February 3, Udel began to send out email invitations (they seem to really like to do things on Fridays…lol) to the 100 or so applicants chosen to participate in DS weekend I suspect the invites might start to go out this year tomorrow Friday February 2.
As such I thought I would start a thread so we could know if/when invites are out and who among our CC group got one. Good luck to all students hoping for this very long shot.
I am hoping…we shall see.
@burghdad, is Distinguished Scholars the same as the Scholars and Fellows programs? My son received an update to his portal today inviting him to apply to any of several programs.
@rutgers8081 In her portal (Which apparently hadn’t been updated since her 12/8 acceptance letter) my daughter got an invite to apply to “Scholars and Fellows” by 3/15. I didn’t notice this before yesterday - was it there before ?? I don’t know anything about this program but the link to apply didnt work! It works today and I don’t think she’d be interested in any of them except “grand challenges” and as someone interested in microbiology/genetics, she can’t apply (open only to College of Engineering)
But to answer your question, no. The Distinguished Scholars is a program with several different named scholarships that give all, or nearly all, tuition and some give book money and research/study-abroad funding. This 2014 fact sheet is the latest I could find…don’t know if it changed significantly since then http://www1.udel.edu/admissions/pdf/DSDescriptions2014.pdf
@burghdad Looks like we got the “Scholars and Fellows” inivte as well. Thanks for prompting us to look at the portal. These programs looks awesome and seem to give excellent experiences and opportunites with a small stipend or grant. It must be different than Distinguished Scholars becuase there doesn’t seem to be any scholarship associated other than what I mentioned.
Yes the Scholars & Fellows and World Scholars are separate from Distinguished Scholars, although they are all excellent opportunities for the kids to engage in unique programs at Udel that will set them apart. Distinguished Scholars or Discho Weekend, as it’s often called, is for the very small percentage of admitted students that are in line for full scholarship awards (I’ve heard maybe 100 kids are invited overall and from that maybe only 10 actually get these special awards). From past years it seems to even be given an invitation kids had stats of 35+/1550+ and lots of ECs, high GPA etc. I don’t think my daughter with a 34 ACT would be considered but I’ll follow along here in hopes that some of your kids get an invitation to the weekend. I believe the invite entails interviews and other actives and if I’m not mistaken all kids that get invited do get a bump in their merit (don’t quote me on this but if I recall that’s how it works). GOOD LUCK!
I’m not impressed with the choices in the Scholars and Fellows program - only the Grand Challenges would be remotely interesting to my DD and it’s only open to engineering students and not to science majors. Why not have at least one generic inter-disciplinary program that the student can customize?
Is anyone else tired of the constant push of these kids to start a business - cure world hunger - change the world - walk on water??
Just received the email notifying me that I’m a finalist for the 2018 Distinguished Scholars Competition! Applied right on the deadline 1/15 (lol), started and finished essays that same day, essays not amazing but well-written I guess. Accepted to UD Honors for Economics on 1/26. Received $15k merit scholarship not too long ago (biggest OOS scholarship available other than DS). 1550 SAT, not 4.0 but close enough, class rank 2/115, decent ECs including quizbowl (went to nationals, did well at local competitions, captain of team) and minimum wage job and journalism as well as other things, decent LORs I believe. Pretty excited to be nominated, as it’s pretty selective!
Congratulations @summerhazed that’s fantastic news!!! Were there separate essays for Distinguished Scholars or were you referring to the Honors College essays. Thanks!
@AmyBeth68 I was referring to the Honors College essays. I did Honors Question #3 and then the Perseverance essay. Neither was super amazing, but I guess they did the job. My Personal Statement definitely helped me out a lot!
@summerhazed Well done and good luck during the weekend!!! It’s nice to see someone get invited on here!!
Also, forgot to mention, upper middle class white male (nothing helping me there), OOS applicant, from northeastern Pennsylvania, crappy rural small public school.
@AmyBeth68 Thank you! It’d be nice to receive one of those scholarships, so I hope the scholar
weekend goes well!
Congrats @summerhazed !!!
If we didn’t receive the email tonight does that mean there is no chance of being invited??
@neuroscience27 thanks! and I have no idea whether or not today would be the last day of notification. I’d think that they would still invite more people, but we’ll see. If the email doesn’t come in the next week or two, then you should assume you won’t receive it.
@summerhazed, Can you reveal as much info as you can about what was in the email invitation? Dates, expectations, what exactly are the possible results from the competition (full ride, nothing, etc). Thanks and congrats!
@woods1234 This is copied exactly from my email:
Dear [name redacted],
The University of Delaware Office of Undergraduate Admissions would like to extend our congratulations; you have been selected as a finalist in the 2018 Distinguished Scholars Competition. You are one of approximately 100 students selected for their academic and co-curricular excellence from more than 27,000 national and international applicants for our most prestigious awards.
We invite you to compete for one of our top scholarships. The value of these scholarships range from the cost of tuition to awards that include tuition, room and board, fees, and a book stipend. Multiple awards will be given, and many awards are open to all majors.
The program begins at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, March 9, 2018 and ends at approximately 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, requiring an overnight stay. We will provide meals, your on-campus transportation during your visit and hotel accommodations for Friday night. It is important to note that if parents choose to attend the Friday breakfast they will need to make their own accommodations, should they require an overnight stay. Please confirm your participation by registering online no later than Monday, February 19, 2018.
The UD Selection Committee looks forward to personally extending our congratulations on your extraordinary achievements. Feel free to reply to this email with any questions, or give us a call at 302-831-8123.
Wow- less than 0.5% of the applicants are selected - dang impressive @summerhazed - truly extraordinary! You probably have a lot of choices on where to go - best of luck.
If only 100 are chosen as finalists, do you all get at least the lowest amount (tuition)? It only says “multiple awards will be given” so it really doesn’t sound like a lot - maybe because they’re pretty generous with offering $ at admissions.
@MESMES You’re completely right-it truly is an amazing honor. I was happy enough getting into the Honors Program with 15k/year merit, but being in the top <0.5% is hard to believe.
I called to ask whether or not everyone gets one of the scholarships, but they didn’t answer my question or give me any details. There are a few scholarships to compete for with different amounts, so I’d say most if not all of finalists will receive more than their initial scholarship amount. Which one, though, will depend on how good of an applicant you are.
Has anyone else received their invites? We are hoping we haven’t been eliminated.