Emory University Scholarship Chance Evaluation

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
1

I’ll try to keep my situational sob story short: my parents make a lot of money, but have absolutely no interest in helping me pay for college, which puts a major strain on my ambitions of attending a competitive university like Emory. This circumstance has made me really strive to make myself as competitive an applicant as possible in the hopes that I might receive some merit aid from Emory should I be accepted. I am planning on applying for the Emory University Scholarship Program. Below is my resume in a nutshell; please use it to give me a realistic idea of whether or not I have any shot of receiving this scholarship from Emory when I apply during my upcoming senior year of high school:

STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES/GPA
-GPA: 4.00 unweighted; 4.59 weighted (as of the end of my junior year)
-ACT Composite: 35 (English=36, Math=32, Reading=36, Science=36, Writing=9)
-SAT Subject Tests: 770 in literature; 720 in Physics (plan to retake Literature as well as try Spanish and Biology in the future)
-PSAT: 216 (I live in Kansas, and this score has never not been high enough to make National Merit Semifinalist status {knock on wood})
-AP’s: AP European History=3; took 5 my junior year and am waiting on my scores; taking 7 my senior year

EXTRACURRICULARS
-Cross Country: 9, 10, 11, 12?
-Swimming: 9
-Track: 9, 10, 11, 12 {varsity}
-Debate: 10, 11, 12 {varsity}
-Book Club: 11, 12
-Student Council: 11, 12
-Tiger Mentor (council a group of underclassmen on high school life for about 1 hour per week): 11, 12
-Science Outreach (go to grade schools and do science experiments to get kids interested in science): 11, 12

LEADERSHIP
-elected Junior Class Secretary
-elected Executive Student Body Secretary
-elected Secretary of my high school’s chapter of the National Honor Society
-regional leadership conference attendee
-Herff Jones leadership seminar attendee
-selected to attend week long Emporia State leadership camp this summer
-chosen to represent my high school by serving on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Board, a committee that meets every semester to discuss how the school district can best adapt to meet the needs of its students

COMMUNITY SERVICE
-volunteer weekly during the fall and winter as a youth group leader at my church (10, 11, 12?)
-involved in Gift of Life Rally (an organ donation education group; 11, 12)
-a myriad of other things through my involvement in student council

HONOR SOCIETIES/AWARDS
-principals honor role every semester
-National Honor Society
-National Spanish Honor Society
-National Science Honor Society
-National History Honor Society
-Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society)
-National Forensics League (Debate Honor Society)
-Ayn Rand Anthem Essay Contest Semifinalist
-NCTE Award for Superior Writing Performance
-1st Place Winner of the District Poetry Contest

  • Published Author of Poetry (in a national anthology of high schoolers’ work; less than 2% of entries were accepted for publication)
2

abcninja: It looks awesome, but so do many other applicants. The question is: What do you plan to do at Emory? Will writing be a strong part of your time at Emory. Will it be debate. The thing is, Emory would really like you because of your interests in debate and writing (and I think you’d like Emory), but they would hope that you would intend to continue with those interests on campus. You’d need to sell your interests and also how they would help you contribute to academic and intellectual life on campus. Just listing them/describing them doesn’t make that self-evident. Unfortunately many people have been denied(especially the scholarship, but even some admissions decisions) lately despite having a strong resume and super high scores. You have to show that you are just more than a list of accomplishments and that your endeavors mean much more than a ticket to a competitive college. Are you from a metropolitan area where you could potentially be interviewed? I have to wonder if your chance at a scholarship increases if you applied in an early decision round which you probably aren’t willing to do (especially since there is a financial risk to committing and one to committing and backing out, and then also you are likely more interested in somewhere else). It’s just that your scores, if you applied regular decision, generally put you in “yield protection” bracket. As in, Emory usually won’t yield these people when they apply regular decision (they think and usually are correct in that they will be admitted to somewhere that is near or higher ranked, and that the student will choose whatever option is more popular. They may not know who else you applied, they just expect that you’ll get in somewhere that we usually don’t win many students from in a cross-admit battle). This mainly means you must put your heart into Emory essays to show that you are serious about your interest and really want a chance at the scholarship. Also, do not retake SAT II tests…I can’t see how that helps, especially one in literature. Your accomplishments speak for themselves, retaking a 770 will show that you put more weight into a standardized test than more meaningful achievements. If you think the 770 is bad, just don’t send it, but do not waste your time…please.

3

bernie12-

Thanks for the reply; very helpful (especially the whole “yield protection bracket” thing; I had no idea)!

4

You’ll most likely get an interview if you apply for Emory Scholars, but you’ll need to kill the interview (by showing exactly why you want to go to Emory and what you would contribute), especially if you are applying RD for the reasons mentioned in bernie12’s above post. And Emory Scholars decisions can be very subjective and a bit random after getting an interview.

If Emory Scholars doesn’t work out, chances are that a less selective private school or your state school will almost certainly give you a full tuition scholarship (if not, a full ride) and you can do very well at that school. For whatever reason though, just don’t take out loans for near the full cost of attendance to get an undergrad degree…

Also, I agree retaking the 770 is a waste of time and money, but with score selection on the SAT now available, there’s no risk of them knowing that you retook a 770.

5

Having been chosen as a Woodruff Scholar then deciding to go elsewhere, I would NOT apply early decision. It does NOT increase your chances. At scholars week, almost everyone was deciding between other schools in addition to Emory. Also, the interview process is supposed to be creative. They never ask you “Why Emory” or anything related to the school. All the questions are based on problem solving, teamwork, and creativity. Each person chosen as a finalist was very talented in one specific area. Everyone was extraordinarily accomplished.And, getting a slightly better test score won’t matter. They are looking for more than just someone who does well in school.

6

It usually only increases one’s chance for admission…but if a person is truly interested in going (not most I suppose) and is abnormally strong (like among the crowd that gets into some of the top Ivies, etc…but okay, even many of them did not get an interview), it makes sense and could certainly help slightly because even though it is indeed geared to yield some students who would otherwise go elsewhere, they don’t want to have that many cases like you (who turn it down) because that money cannot just easily be redistributed (I’m sure merit scholarships and need based are completely separate endowments…the best that can maybe happen is that small scholarships are awarded to others that did not apply). If a person actually had Emory near the top of their list, but really wanted money or the program, an ED2 is not harmful because it signals you will take the scholarship if it is offered. It has nothing to do with whether or not they explicitly ask things like “why Emory”. I naturally would expect that someone with an extremely strong performance in the interview who applied ED2 or something would likely have a greater chance at a full scholarship. The only weakness is that applying ED will not guarantee an interview considering the fact that well over 1/3 of the applicants applied to the program, so it is not the route to go if you are not actually interested in going to Emory (but are more so interested in securing some options with good aid).

7

I just wonder if the OP can get interviewed when there are 6000+ applicants (almost 7k actually) which is 1/3 of the app. pool. Also, they are certainly very motivated, but when Emory can potentially pull students like this through the scholars program (first Goldwater winner in a while): http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/news.php#news179 , it will be tough as nails. That person is much more than academically motive. You have to be extremely intellectually driven to decide that you will get to a top school and actually challenge yourself like this guy does so early on (grad and independent study math courses as a sophomore, this rivals better students at Harvard…except that Harvard is more prepared for such a student and thus offers undergraduate courses good enough to entertain the few who enter at such a high level and want to push further). Emory is very fortunate to have interviewed this person and then even luckier to yield them. They need to take advantage of the higher app. pool to try to pull in more people like that but across the disciplines. That is a fearless, clearly curious person (as @msmithcollege must be). Also, would be nice if they keep their promise and raise the scholarship endowment because maybe they can simply start to reshape incoming classes by simply making more offers to people who fit the bill. I was very pleased to find out that the program pulled in someone like that (reminds me of a couple of my friends who were also Woodruff Scholars and were ironically math or physics majors). Must be rare though. But it is reassuring that Emory isn’t going the route of some of our peers in just using the money to throw it at people with high stats (thus increasing SAT/ACT range to ridiculous numbers (likely for the rankings, too bad it counts for so little in USNWR…but at least they can still brag lol) for essentially no reason), but is making some attempt to focus on “substance” and intellectual ferocity of a person. The last thing Emory should do is try to become those schools with a near 1500 SAT average, but without the intellectual and academic climate to match (yes, I am throwing shade at a couple of schools in particular).