<p>Someone in my Econ class just found out he got a full ride to amherst. Lucky him!</p>
<p>Since Amherst doesn't give any merit scholarships, a need award of "full-ride" means a child whose parents have what generally would be considered very meager resources available to pay the COA. I congratulate him on being able to put together a viable application under those circumstances. I do wonder though how he got an FA award prior to the date he could have filed the FAFSA or the Profile showing '05 income.</p>
<p>That simply means that his family is low income, since Amherst is a need based school. </p>
<p>
[quote]
All financial aid at Amherst is awarded on the basis of demonstrated financial need. Financial need is determined from information that you and your parents supply to the College.
[/quote]
<p>I know his family though and they are not low income, i know they probably couldnt afford full freight, but I dont think they are that low of income that he needs a full scholarship</p>
<p>Amherst DOES give Merit scholarships, through Questbridge. Questbridge qualifies candidates as low-income; but the scholarships are awarded based on merit alone. By awarding the scholarship through Questbridge, Amherst is allowed to maintain the need-blind ruse.</p>
<p>Actually, they don't work hard to maintain the ruse any more. President Marx has put a heavy emphasis on recruiting and accepting low-income students for the purpose of increase economic diversity, and the perncetage of Pell Grant students at Amherst has increased by 25% over the past 5 years. You can't exactly be need-blind and offer emphasized application preference to low-income students at the same time.</p>
<p>tivesrx, I think your leg is being pulled. Even the (third party) program mini points to is for kids with substantial need. I will NOT debate need blind as that is not required here (and I agree with mini anyway LOL). Although there may have been some preliminary figures provided along with an early application, no firm FA commitments are made prior to the end of the tax year immediately preceding enrollment (at least none that I'm aware of, and if there are I'm sure they are conditioned upon the later figures).</p>
<p>We found this out through his parents, and he's not the kind of guy who would make something up like this. But who knows, maybe theres something we dont know about</p>
<p>I think mini is right that this is likely a Questbridge candidate. The Questbridge website says that finalists who are "matched" will hear around December 1.</p>
<p>The Questbridge colleges didn't even get their lists of potential matches from Questbridge until around Dec 1.</p>
<p>I think it's safe to say that nobody had a "full-ride at Amherst" at this time.</p>
<p>It wouldn't be the first time that parents of a college applicant have flat-out lied.</p>
<p>This sounds like it is the kid who might be stretching the truth, not the cocktail-party parents.</p>
<p>From the Questbridge site:</p>
<p>"QB Finalists who participated in the College Match program will be notified by Quest on Dec 1, 2005. If there is a match, the student will be asked to give a final commitment to the schools to attend that college. Applicants that match receive full, four-year scholarships. "</p>
<p>This is from an interview with Williams College the Admissions Dean in the Nov 30 edition of the school newspaper:</p>
<p>"Because the College values diversity, Williams is participating in the QuestBridge program for the second year in a row, along with 12 other schools including Amherst, Princeton, Stanford and Bowdoin. Through QuestBridge, gifted, low-income students are matched with all participating schools based on a rigorous 15-page application. Because the matching process is so complex, Williams will be notified in the next few days about the early decision applicants through the program."</p>
<p>The college has to review those applicants' finanicials before they can commit to a "full-ride", not to mention that the students actually have to be accepted first. I don't believe it is standard procedure at Williams or Amherst to admit students, let alone offer them a "full-ride" without even knowing their names.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It wouldn't be the first time that parents of a college applicant have flat-out lied.
[/quote]
This is very true. I think parents, either consciously or subconsciously, put a lot of their own self-worth in their children's success and will change facts to make their kids look better, even if they don't necessarily mean to and aren't "bad people."</p>
<p>Hold on people - I know this kid and indeed he HAS won a full-ride scholarship to Amherst College through Questbridge. Questbridge had 45 full ride matches this year. In fact, he is the 2nd student from his high school in a small town in northern Cal to win a full ride through Questbridge. The girl who won last year (my daughter's best friend) went to Williams. Questbridge indeed matches low-income, gifted kids to colleges who are part of their program. This young man is incredibly gifted and has devoted himself to his schoolwork and deserves this full ride as much or more than anybody. Believe me, there was no lying done about income or academics. Move on people.</p>
<p>Also, my financial aid office told me that Profile can be filled out in November. It's one of the reasons it's so appealing to us--you don't have to wait for January like the FAFSA. It is possible for preliminary packaging to start--although it doesn't sound like this must be the case here.</p>
<p>Was that girl Anna, she was in my Calc class last year.</p>
<p>Yah, the high school I go to is in a really rural and small town, but we send a lot of kids to some great schools</p>
<p>Questbridge is an AWESOME opportunity for high-achieving, low-income students. The partner schools are excellent. The application is grueling and the competition is stiff, but if you are matched, life is good.
All college counselors need to know about this opportunity. Please, if you know high-achieving students with family income less than $60K, tell them about Questbridge. <a href="http://www.questbridge.org%5B/url%5D">www.questbridge.org</a></p>
<p>whoa there people. i know that a lot of people lie about where they're going to college or they say that they got a full ride, but no one is pulling anyones leg. the guy that tives is talking about is my best friend. he's one of the most hard working people at my high school. he deserves this so much, and he's never EVER been a person to lie about anything. but honestly, don't take my word for it, i've only known him for 15 years. he was accepted through questbridge and just because an internet site says something, you know things can move faster than the exact date the internet gives. just give it a break. he got a full ride and he deserves it more than anyone else i know.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the young man with the Amherst scholarship! He sounds like a remarkable person and he seems to have very loyal friends, too. It's nice to hear that he has such a wonderful opportunity.</p>