Getting Accepted does NOT mean that a Merit Scholarship will be forthcoming....

In addition, California is pretty unique in that it makes its public universities affordable for EFC0 families (and many are commutable even for families with slightly higher EFCs). There are many states where EFC0 families would be expected to spend nearly their whole yearly paycheck on public universities.

@itsgettingreal17 I correct myself. DD was accepted at Baldwin Wallace U in Berea, Ohio. Known for music and musical theatre conservatory, but liberal arts college of 3500 students. They met over 90% need. After $5500 student loans, our 1st year tab is $5k. Not too bad, considering the others…
SMU offered daughter max financial aid but no merit scholarship and we are Calif so no Texas grant. Our net cost after aid is still $28k. Similar story with Ithaca, $23k to attend after aid. Sadly out of range as we have her twin to send to college.
And BTW our net tab for 2nd daughter at Sonoma State will be HIGHER than at UCSC. Go figure.

Hi, I just joined CC recently and am reading this thread from the beginning. Thanks to everyone who has shared stories. If you find a “like or agree” on a four-year-old post, you’ll know why! It is ironic to read some of these old posts in light of the “Varsity Blues” scandal.

My daughter has an un-weighted GPA of 4.0 and a 35 on ACT. She also scored high enough on PSAT to be in consideration for National Merit Scholarship. She has not taken PSAT yet. What are her chances of merit aid at mechanical engineering school? Where do you suggest she apply. We live in Wisconsin.

here ya go-
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

be SURE to double check the websites of the colleges listed in the above links- their merit scholarships may have changed.
ALSO make sure that you pay attention to any EARLY application deadlines for scholarship consideration.Many schools have them.
Too many qualified kids apply too late and then can’t receive merit $$.

U Southern Calif offers 1/2 tuition NM scholarships to NMF who are accepted there.They have the Vertibi school of engineering- a well known engineering school.

Also, please consider the instate public Us where your D may get great merit awards.

Here is my related question – My son has good credentials for a selective admission school (30% acceptance) NOT Ivy. His ACT is 35, he has a few subject tests above 750 and his GPA is about 4.1 (his freshman year was lower and the trend skyrocketed up), his EC are good depth and leadership in sports and deep interest shown in environmental issues with internships, etc.

We need advice on putting the puzzle together. If there is a good chance of real money from a second choice school like Wake, Richmond or W&L, he will likely forego his reach, Vanderbilt. We think (correct if wrong) he will need to go ED for any of his target schools to be certain (although nothing is certain). And I know it is a percentage game, but those help. For example, if there is a 75% chance that he will get significant money from W&L and an 85% chance he is accepted ED, he would choose that option and forego even applying to Vandy.

@middling Your estimation of his odds at admission is very inflated as is your estimation of his odds at a scholarship. Those scholarships are super competitive with worse odds than getting into the Ivies. He needs to put together the most compelling applications he can and hope for the best.

@middling

I would start with running the NPC at each school’s web site, and visiting each school’s incoming freshman scholarship page.

If you have multiple children, I highly recommendation plotting out a four year cost for each student.

Ex: We were encouraged to see the number the NPC spit out for Kid #2 for freshman year (with two kids in college). But for sophomore thru senior year (with one kid in college) the NPC spit out a number that was a clear dealbreaker for our budget.

Getting “real money” is what amount? Your son has an excellent resume, but he isn’t even a slam dunk for Vanderbilt, Wake and Richmond. Good chance at W&L if he goes there and makes a good case that he’s a great match and loves the school. How do I know? Had a few with just about the same stats. One with near perfect SATS actually. Those schools were not match schools for them. Much less for significant merit.

Things seem to have opened up a bit with some of the LACs and schools less known but still up there in rank in that I’m seeing $20k awards these days instead of <$5k back 10-15 years ago. But these private schools now are sporting $70k+ sticker prices. My last kid got a half cost award that still left near $35k to pay per year. A full tuition award he was also offered was a better deal in his case, and I think he was the last class to get some auto full merit awards that now need an application and assessment process

So, what is significant money to you, from W&L? I agree that it’s a good strong match school. Likely he’ll be accepted if he shows the interest. I’m a bit leery about merit money and ED; I haven’t seen good results with that. It’s only good business to save the merit money for those you want to entice to come to your school, not those who you already have in the bag. So I’m guessing you are thinking of trading the ED edge at say Vandy for big money from WL.

@middling You should research the Common Data Set info for these schools. I’m assuming you are full pay. Have you set a budget and run the NPCs?

From the W&L Common Data Set, 27 students were awarded an average MERIT scholarship of $46,000.
https://www.wlu.edu/document/2018-common-data-set

I’m not sure you can really calculate the odds for this sort of merit scholarship.

@middling I agree. You can’t use any odds. Maybe talk to your son’s guidance counselor or look at Naviance if you have it and that may help you see what kinds of kids get into those schools from your school. It won’t help you see merit but it will help you see acceptances. We knew that our S would get either waitlisted or accepted to Vandy. Ended up waitlisted. I’m pretty confident that he would have gotten in if he had gone ED according to our Naviance and what happened with the 2019 kids in his grade this year but we are full price and wanted to see all RD acceptances before choosing.

WL gives about 5-6% of their most desired students an average of mid $40k award. 27 freshman got merit money. The Johnson is the big prize that can cover full expenses and then some. Factoring that into the mix, in order to average out at about $45k, there has to smaller awards in there too since W&L COA is in the $60k range. 25% of the kids with ACT scores have a 34 and higher. Academics aren’t the only things W&L wants to “buy”. They need diversity in all kinds of ways, they have D3 sports they want to keep competitive, so test scores alone aren’t enough here.

I think it’s a worthwhile try for top applicants but I ain’t seeing no 70-80% chance of getting that award. I’m seeing more like single digits.

If you HAVE to get all but $X covered with merit, and X is way up there, you should be looking very hard at the schools that you KNOW will take you and see what kind of money they are giving. They are not likely to be the schools with big name recognition. A lot of small Catholic schools I’ve noticed in the bunch. A lot of local schools like the hometown kids and will waive tuition or a big chunk of it if they are good students and have some test scores to raise their averages. WL, Davidson, Richmond some good merit schools with well known names but getting sizeable scholarships from them makes them a reach if going there is dependent on that money.

cptofthehouse – We know Vandy is a reach, but based on Naviance and statistics at the schools, son should be certain to get in W&L, Richmond or Wake if he goes ED. His HS is very well respected and there is no grade inflation. He has a lot more such as 9 APs so far with As in each and 5s on the tests he has taken so far. And, we can pay because we have been saving since before he was born. The question is, we know we’d have to pay probably full freight at Vandy (his first choice), but if there is a REAL chance of scholarship money from the other schools he likes (and by real money I mean enough to bring the out of pocket tuition down to the $25K/hear range), he would do that and save his college fund for graduate school or later life (we have it structured so that it is not all 529 money and is more flexible to use for a house down payment…

itgettingreal17 – So you are scaring me. Per Naviance from son’s school, school published admission data, our school’s counselor and our private counselor, he should have no trouble getting into Wake, W&L or U of Rich if he goed ED (I know RD is a crap shoot even with perfect scores and perfect everything else at almost any school these days). His resume is well rounded as well on other fronts (see my reply above). Is there something that we need to look at that would caution us to use other schools as a target?

Also, what is “LAC?” Sorry – new to this awful game.

Liberal Arts College

@middling Here is the problem you face. If your son applies ED to get the admission bump at Richmond, W&L and Wake, there is less incentive for the school to offer a large merit award to entice your son to come – because you already committed to coming without any guarantee of any merit award.

Moreover, the odds (per the Common Data Set) of getting a merit award are pretty darn small. I looked at the CDS for these schools when my DD applied to them last fall and the number of merit awards for those freshmen not getting need based financial aid are 6% of freshmen at Wake ($20k average), 13% at W&L ($49k average) and 19% at Richmond ($34k average). However, by looking at information on past recipients of the larger merit awards it is clear that a large percentage are used to attract URM applicants, so if your son is not a URM then I would assume that the odds are even lower than indicated on the CDS.

@middling None of the schools you’ve listed will give your son an 85% chance of being accepted ED. I know tons of kids with amazing stats who should have been accepted ED who were flat out rejected this year. The odds of the acceptance combined with merit would be even less.

@middling, i did not think you were considering going ED with W&L, Wake or Richmond. You should not because it could jeopardize his getting merit money from those schools. Those monies are often used to try to get the birds in the bush, not the bird in the hand, which ED acceptees are. Though the chances of his getting large awards from those schools is small, because so few are given and they are usually directed at getting the truly rare birds. However, I’m seeing more small colleges, LACs giving more money these days. $20k is not so unusual anymore when back 15 years ago, anything over $5k was good. But then the prices have gone up into the $60-70k+ range so $20k still leaves a lot left to pay.

LAC stands for Liberal Arts College. Do look up the correct definition. I consider LACs to be the smaller schools focusing on traditional academics for undergraduates. Professors focus on teaching rather than research. Few if any grad students do they teach the kids Some do have small masters programs, some are adding business and Teaching and other professional type courses these days, but the focus is on the traditional academics. Usually small classes. W&L is a LAC. Wake is not. Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Haverford, Hamilton, Pomona, all well known LACs. The definition is not drawn in stone. I tend to go by the USNWR categorizations but other references may differ For example, Elon is often referred to as a LAC, but by USNWR def, it is not. It has fairly sizeable programs that are not classically education.