<p>My friend, total genius, was accepted into all the schools he applied to and currently attends Harvard. He told me he applied to 20+ merit scholarships last year and only received 3 total!</p>
<p>I guess one question that pops into mind is... why wasn't he able to win more merit scholarships? </p>
<p>And lastly, those who have applied to scholarships during their senior year in high school, how many did you apply to and get?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m having the same problem.</p>
<p>So far, I have found for me that it is easier to get waitlisted at WUStL or gain admits with crazy merit money to Depauw, U Rochester, or Tulane than it is to win any local scholarship…</p>
<p>Btw, I’ve received rejections from about 3 already. The only national one I applied for, the Elks, I never even received a response back from!!!</p>
<p>I haven’t received any notice on the ones I have applied for (not very many), but the notification dates aren’t until later in the year. I’m applying to mostly local scholarships because I know I probably can’t compete on a national (or even state) level. I just turned in one today that was for African-American female seniors in my school only. So hopefully a reduced applicant pool will help me.</p>
<p>Consider this…
USA Funds - 19000 apps/660 awards = 3.4%
Elks - I read ~20000 apps/500 awards = 2.5%
Prudential Spirit of Community 5000 semifinalists (even more earlier on)/102 awards = 2%
AXA Achievement - 12000 Apps/52 Awards = .4 %
Coca-Cola - 70000 apps/250 awards = .3%
Sammy Body By Milk Scholar Athlete of the Year - 25 awards from probably 30000+ apps… you get the idea. The same goes for Lowes, Best Buy, etc. </p>
<p>I don’t qualify for local awards so I’m relying on these big national ones. I have perfect “stats” and very strong ECs, recommendations, etc. Yet so far I’m 2/7 on national awards and will be thrilled if I receive even 3 of the 20 or so that I applied for. Why? Look at those percentages. Your friend got in to Harvard, which is quite a feat. However, H has a ~7% acceptance rate. These big national scholarships are awarded to less than half of that percentage of applicants. </p>
<p>Each of these has a different set of criteria that they focus on. It’s extremely tough to fulfill the qualifications for a large number of these because of the large number of exceptional applications and the varying criteria that’s focused on. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, just that these odds are two (or ten) more times of a crapshoot than getting into Harvard.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very good point that it’s often harder (percentage-wise) to get these outside scholarships than it is getting accepted to Harvard.</p>