Does applying for a scholarship reduce your chances of admission?

<p>Thinking of applying to the Ingram and CV scholarships, but will doing so decrease chances of admission? Could you get rejected from both scholarships but still admitted to the university?</p>

<p>Applying for a merit scholarship will not hurt you. Vandy will provide their calculation of your financial need regardless. The people who most benefit therefore are those who cannot afford their EFCs. Merit scholarships are freely awarded to students whose parents might be full pay and to students whose parents are going to receive a lot of financial help. It is a need blind process. Your financial aid needs are not weighed in till Vanderbilt is taking students from the waitlist. At that time, Vandy evaluates how much it has put out overall in financial aid and it is possible that a student who will pay more tuition might be admitted off the waitlist over another equally good waitlisted student who needs a great deal of aid. Vandy of course looks at the waitlist from a multiple factor view. Perhaps one of their schools is short of a type of student who would access a certain program or department. Perhaps a lot of students in one arena accepted offers to another college. The waitlist is not all about who can pay is my point. All of this I believe can be found on the vanderbilt admission blog pages and on this board in old discussions. I encourage you to do your merit essays and to make the effort. You never know. And yes, many students who apply for merit attend Vandy full pay or with their normal financial assistance package despite not being chosen for merit dollars. There is very little diff between a merit scholar and any other Vandy admit in stats grades etc in all honesty. The non merit winners are just as interesting and have their own paths and fine potential. A merit winner at Vandy may be declined at another college’s merit race and vice versa. Most Vandy admits have great offers in their flagship colleges for starters at very good price points.</p>

<p>Applying has no effect on your chances at all. You can certainly not win either and still be admitted.</p>

<p>Definitely not. The admissions committee does not factor “applying to scholarships” into their decisions.</p>