<p>I recently plugged my stats into parchment and apparently I have over a 70% chance of getting in to uchicago EA. Well, uchicago would be a top choice for me, but if I get in to other competitive schools then uchicago might not be my top-top choice. However, if I were to get a large merit scholarship, things might be a bit different. ($60k vs $40k is a big deal). </p>
<p>How large are merit scholarships, generally? I haven't been able to find info on any specific ones, so are they mostly just used to pull in high-stats kids who aren't getting significant FA? I assume that I would qualify for one based on my high chance of getting in (which I realize may in reality be higher or lower depending on LORs, Essays etc.) and my objective stats, so just how high do they go?</p>
<p>Wait, I just read that about 10% of accepted students get merit from 5k to 15k. Do you think getting from 10k to 15k is possible with high stats (4.0, 36, etc.) and decent ECS?</p>
<p>I think Chicago gives about ten full tuition and more of the $10k -$15k scholarships. 10k off a 60k bill does not make much of a dent. </p>
<p>The scholarships are VERY hard to get, but someone gets them.</p>
<p>It makes a dent if you aren’t getting any FA but aren’t making enough money for it to be negligible. And is full tuition actually available to all applicants? From what I read, it was only for people from Chicago public schools, people affiliated with the university, or this one charter school. Those do not apply to me.</p>
<p>A couple of thoughts:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do not assume that you have a 70% chance for getting into UChicago, much less winning a merit scholarship. The data used to run that predictor is highly flawed and outdated; the most recent year included is 2010-2011, a time when admissions were much less competitive than they are today (acceptance rate of 18.8% compared to 8.8% now). You have great grades and scores? Congratulations! Unfortunately for you, so does ~70% of the applicant pool. The worst thing you can do when applying to ultra-selective schools is have an exaggerated sense of the importance of those two metrics beyond a certain point (ex. 32 ACT) and become comfortable/assuming.</p></li>
<li><p>Case in point, I got a 10k/yr scholarship but definitely wasn’t in the top 10% in terms of stats, while my friend with the 36/4.0 was waitlisted. It seems the key is using your essays to convey how great of a fit you are for the school. I can’t say whether or not the merit scholarships are “mostly just used to pull in high-stats kids who aren’t getting significant FA” but can tell you that I got significant FA (sorely needed!) and the merit scholarship is what sealed the deal over Columbia, Brown, and Macalester (well that and my undying love for all things U of C).</p></li>
<li><p>From talking to people during Admitted Student Days, it seems like there are more merit scholarship winners (5-10k) than you would think, although admittedly I had a small sample to evaluate. I’ve heard rumors that there are a few non-specific full tuition scholarships but that they are incredibly rare and awarded to the kind of kid that gets likely letters from HYPSM based on academics alone.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of the size of each scholarship, they are given out in increments of 5k, 10k, and 15k, each with increasing rarity. I don’t know much beyond that.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>