Do people realize that chasing big merit means applying to less selective schools where the student is a near the top of the admit class (“overqualified” for the school relative to its admission selectivity)?
Sometimes, there are threads where a student or parent says that big merit is necessary, but wants a higher ranked (i.e. more selective) school. But those two wants oppose each other.
(Obviously, the schools applied to have to offer the big merit as well as being where the applicant is near the top of the admit class.)
But the issue is also confounded because some very selective schools are less expensive than less selective schools. I know this isn’t merit, but it is a way of reducing cost.
Sometimes this is true…and sometimes it does not matter. There is good guaranteed merit aid at a number of schools…and some of the departments in those schools are sufficiently strong, and sometimes stronger than a higher ranked school.
And for some majors (engineering…as long as it’s ABET accredited) the ranking of the college might nit be as important as the merit money available to the student.
Part of the problem is that these students are very strong and were superstars in their high school, and families do not alway realize that there is a whole world out there full of similar superstars. It’s a rude awakening and it can take time to understand.
My advice is to find schools that have guaranteed merit, as well as schools that will likely offer big merit ( lower ranked). Many will need time to process that their kids will be just as successful at these schools.
Then they can add schools with very competitive merit: Vanderbilt, UVA, Emory etc. UMD falls under this category, as BK is very, very competitive.
I could also ask, do people realize that the quality of education offered by a particular school has no relationship to the percentage of total applicants that are waitlisted/rejected?
Past a certain point, there is no “overqualified” for higher ed undergrad. Even the statistical top admits will be adequately challenged by a high quality department, program, or school.
DS24 was at an invitation-only fair yesterday attended by deans and assistant deans from four comparable colleges. The attendees mobbed the table of one of the deans, not because they offer a higher quality program, but because they reject/waitlist more applicants than the other three. The offerings of these four schools are nearly identical. They have the same people working there, doing the same things with a similar level of resources. I even saw some people in line for this school who would hate it from a fit perspective if they had ever been there, but they were putting more primacy on the fact that it’s more selective. It’s baffling to me.
I agree this is true in general, but there are a few highly selective schools that do still provide merit scholarships. For example, Duke and UChicago.
But it definitely still holds true that the student has to be exceptional relative to the typical admitted student.
To answer your question - no, most people don’t realize that - unless they are on a site like this regularly and are clicking on threads about merit to read about other’s experiences.
Most parents/students don’t have a sense of how their student really compares academically to their peers, nationwide. Thus, we see “chance me” threads with single-digit acceptance rate, reach heavy schools which the parent/student thinks are matches - oh yeah, and they’re looking to pay only $30k/year.
This is also where we see the separation of those who are really focused on getting “big merit” and those who are still caught up in prestige. It’s always interesting to see the reactions when the veteran cc members roll out the usual list of less-selective, merit-heavy schools.
The reality of college admissions can be hard to swallow when you have a high stats/high performing student in your family. All of a sudden, the dreams of HYPSM come up against the reality of insane competition and sky high prices. And then families look at other top 50 schools where their child has a better chance of being admitted and realize that those schools don’t offer much merit and have much lower thresholds when it comes to need-based aid. Of course, there are many schools where a student can get a great education but that can fly in the face of our prestige oriented society where something that is scarce is seen to have more value.
Yes, absolutely. In the United States, admission to the highest ranked schools is extremely difficult, and the cost of attendance is extremely high. Families of high stats kids expect that their child will be able to attend a good school that they have heard of, at a price that they can afford. When they come on here and CC regulars start suggesting schools they haven’t heard of (and even then, usually still costing tens of thousands of dollars) families are shocked.
This is not how it works almost anywhere else in the world. The top students in Canada have essentially assured admission to the top universities there, at very affordable prices. Ditto for the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the list goes on…
This thread is about merit aid. Posts that muddy the waters by discussing need based aid are subject to deletion without notice or comment as are responses to this post.
So what is merit aid, then? The title of this post is asking a redundant question.
To paraphrase, "Do parents realize that accepting a ‘merit aid’ offer of admission means that their student will have higher grades and test scores than the other matriculating students in their class?
Yes, parents do. We are not that dense. We’re just confused.
“Merit Aid” is a form of tuition discounting offered to students whose stats place them among the top performing applicants at a given school. It’s offered regardless of financial circumstances. I think of this type of “merit” differently than the competitive scholarships offered at some schools (including a handful of elites) where there are steps beyond simply applying and the chances of getting the scholarship are slim. Merit is a tool to attract students who might not otherwise consider attending.
It took me a big to realize the deal. At first it’s a hard nut to swallow when your kids worked their butts off in high school but can’t attend a whole bunch of schools they had a good chance to be accepted at because they need merit. Fortunately my kids got it and made different lists than some of their friends, although most were in the same boat. Two of my daughters received athlete/scholars county awards (1 female 1 male from each HS in their division). They read off the college they would be attending gpa, test scores, and athletic achievements. Huge range, especially since our county is very diverse economically.
And typically merit aid does not have a need based component so anyone with a high enough profile is eligible, regardless of family income/savings. This can be especially necessary for donut hole families that don’t qualify for need based aid but can’t afford the full cost of college.
