Hi, first off I want to say i’m not trying to complain or say anything isn’t fair, all the stuff in this example happened 2 years ago and isn’t even relevant to me anymore, I am honestly just curious/would like to start a discussion!
So when I was a senior in high school 2 years ago, my best friend and I applied to the same, expensive OOS university. Sticker price was 40K a year. He got around 30K in scholarships while I got 6K, meaning he could attend the university and I could not.
However, for all intents and purposes I was a much better student than him. My GPA was 3.7, his was 3.3. I took 12 AP courses, he took none. I was in top 15% , he was in top 30%. I had good ECs(Speech and debate, 200+ volunteer hours, won art competitions, worked part time job) while his only EC was his part time job. The only similar stat about us is that he had the same SAT score as me.He’s a white male, i’m white female. His dad is a literal millionare and owns 3 very successful business, so it’s not need based. My parents make around 100K a year. Yet he still got 30K in scholarships and I got 6K.
The only thing I can think of is that he chose a much less popular major than I did. He chose anthropology and I chose Biology.
From your experience, does the major you choose factor into how much scholarships you get? I’m mainly curious because i’m applying for transfer this fall and would like to know if this is an actual thing that happens and I could “play the game” a little, or if this was just a fluke?
Again, i’m not trying to complain! He has since dropped out of school and it’s been 2 years. I’m just curious if this is something that actually happens, or if any of you have any experience with this, just trying to start a discussion!
Was it need based grants or merit scholarships or a combination of the two? You likely don’t know and never will.
Merit scholarships are rare for transfer students at most schools.
If it is a departmental scholarship, that can make big difference. However, if one change major, one may need to return the scholarship depending on the policy. In addition, a scholarship may be based on criteria other than test score or GPA. For instance, there are scholarships for music talent, certain races or lineage, etc.
@TomSrOfBoston It was merit scholarships, he didn’t get any need based grants. we actually looked at our financial aid papers together.
Yeah, that’s why i’m going to be attending a smaller school. I have a 4.0 GPA and qualify for some tuition waivers at some schools.
it would be unusual for an anthro dept to be able to give that much money.
Is it possible that he’s not really white? Or that he possibly put down something else? Are you sure the merit all came from the univ? Did some possibly come from another source?
What school was this?
As a transfer student, you’ll likely get little or NOTHING.
@mom2collegekids Thanks for the info, but I actually have a 4.0, tons of ECs and rec letters, and have already applied for a college near me and got a near full ride scholarship, so i’m not worried for myself. I’m just trying to start a discussion.
Im fairly certain he’s really white, I’ve met both his parents numerous times and they’re blonde blue eyes. He may have put down something else but if he did it would be a lie. Yeah, all the merit came from the school, I saw his financial aid paper myself. This was Western Washington University.
Merit scholarship criteria are often deliberately opaque.
It is certainly possible that colleges may want to balance their merit scholarship offers across the various majors or divisions, but whether they do that is often non-public information. Of course, some scholarships explicitly specify that the student must be in a specific major or list of majors, and would lose the scholarship if s/he changes out of the allowed major(s).
A $30k scholarship sounds like a ‘named’ scholarship not a department one. The Washington Scholarship or the Alum Scholarship.
You’ll never get a good answer on why he got it and you didn’t.
Western Washington University doesn’t seem to offer $30k/year grants. What were the names of the awards?
Are his parents married? That can affect awards.
I thought you were trying to transfer into that school (WWU). That’s what my comment was directed at regarding little to no merit.
Is it possible that your friend applied earlier than you did?
@mom2collegekids Oh oops, sorry, no i’m not interested in that school anymore. This all happened 2 years ago when I was a senior in college. I’m now in my second semester of sophomore year.
No, I actually applied the very first day applications opened(Aug) and he applied in January.
@austinmshauri I’m not entirely sure. This was 2 years ago so I don’t know the names of them and they may have offered differen’t grants. He had a combination of 3 scholarships, at first in his original letter he got the same amount as me(6K) but later in the year around April he got a letter awarding him with another ~24K in scholarships. But he has dropped out about a year ago so i’m not sure if there’s a way of finding out what they were. His parents are unmarried but both of his parents make a substantial amount of money, more than both of mine combined.
@mom2collegekids Senior in high school, I mean.
Did he live with BOTH of his parents…or only one?
Really…I think you need to just move on. There is no way to know why he got what he got…and you can’t wind the clock back.
At this point…focus on yourself.
And remember this…don’t count other people’s money.
@thumper1 I think everyone is misinterpreting, I was only using that as an example and I don’t care at all about the scholarships. He’s dropped out of college and I have a 4.0 and a full ride to a local college near me. it’s been 2 years. I was just curious if this is common and if there’s a way to get more money by requesting a less common major.
For ex i’m going to grad school so my undergrad major isn’t as important as long as I have the prereqs, would I be able to get more in scholarships if I was, for ex, a zoology major instead of biology?
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Please do not lose the forest for the trees. The question is the title of the thread. The OP may have confused the issue by giving too much background, but I believe s/he is just asking the general question: How much does your major factor into scholarships?
@skieurope Yes, exactly! Just to clarify my question: I am applying for transfer. I was curious if I apply for a less popular major will I get more scholarships, since that appears to be what happened to my friend. I’m going to grad school and to eventually get my doctorates degree, so my undergrad isn’t as important as long as I have the prereqs.
So for a basic question: Will I get more money if I apply for a zoology degree vs biology? Or conservation biology vs biology? Just seems like biology is very saturated.
Also, side note: Please no comments saying that I will likely get no aid as a transfer. I have a 4.0, many great ECs, and already have several outside scholarships. I also have a near full tuition scholarship to my safety school.
There is no guarantee that you will get more money for a particular major…unless the school specifically has scholarships earmarked for THAT specific major.
For example…scholarship recipients at University of Alabama get an extra $2500 per year if they are engineering majors.
The SUNY colleges have scholarships for STEM majors.
But generally speaking…your major won’t give you added money in most cases…unless you get a departmental scholarships…but this is usually awarded to continuing students who have already demonstrated good skills in that major.
And adding…I seriously doubt that a zoology major would garner MORE merit aid than a biology major.
@thumper1 Ah okay. I have heard of departmental scholarships but didn’t realize they were primarily for continuing students. I was just curious about zoology vs. biology because it seems like a lot more students apply for biology than for zoology, so there would be less competition.