I feel like Miami denied me an admissions scholarship I qualfied for...

<p>In the net price calculator, it said that there requirements for the Dean's Scholarship are as follows:</p>

<p>Dean's Scholarship
GPA: A-
SAT/ACT: 1350 / 31
Class Rank: 10%</p>

<p>At the time of application, my GPA was 3.67. My ACT met the requirement at 31, though my SAT was a bit short at 1300. My class rank is top 15% and not top 10%, but such a number is relative to how good the school you attended is, and I happened to be at one of the best public schools in the Tampa area. It doesn't make sense to be potentially penalized for going to a high school that happened to have an abundance of bright kids. </p>

<p>Basically what I wanna know is, is there anything I can do to try to get the 16k per year? Is there an appeal process or something? Sorry if I sound silly, I'm new to this stuff.</p>

<p>I really wanna go to UMiami and I think 16k per year would swing my decision toward doing that. Thanks for any help you guys have for me.</p>

<p>

Sorry, but your performance is relative to those in your school because not every school’s rigorousness is the same. I also attended one of the highest achieving public high schools (if not THE highest achieving school) in Hillsborough county and with a 3.98UW / 5.68W GPA was ranked only 40th of 500 because of the competitiveness of my high school. As a result, my class rank didn’t qualify me for the honors program at UM (which is fine, I wouldn’t have accepted regardless).</p>

<p>Two things:</p>

<p>1 - Your issue is with the concept of schools ranking, not that you were treated unfairly. You don’t meet the posted requirements in GPA or in class rank, two of three factors. </p>

<p>2 - This scholarship doesn’t really exist anymore; their scholarship listings are outdated and so is the net price calculator. If you look through this admission cycle’s postings, you’ll see that there have been awards of the Presidential Scholarship ranging from $10k (and maybe even lower) up to $29k. It’s all named one scholarship, and the amounts vary. It seems like they are wholistic and not attached to specific criteria. And if they are, those criteria aren’t publicly available.</p>

<p>The net price calculator doesn’t accurately portray the requirements for each scholarship. Miami uses a holistic approach to their admissions and scholarship decisions. Yes, class rank does play a big role in determining your scholarship, but it’s looked at in terms of the school. Plus, Miami seems to have completely reworked their scholarship system this year. You can try appealing the decision, but it probably won’t work.</p>

<p>Thank you both for your answers, it’s appreciated. Marinebio444, honestly I don’t see what I have to lose in appealing, I just can’t afford 40k a year so if it doesn’t work I’ll probably not attend. Do you know how I can go about appealing the decision?</p>

<p>you can ask for more aid but that is about all you can do :(. I would try to look for outside scholarships or loans</p>

<p>I agree about asking - can’t hurt at this point. If it’s true, mention that you would definitely attend with the 16k scholarship.</p>

<p>Also, do keep in mind that just because you qualify for something doesn’t mean you will be admitted. I think UM’s minimum SAT score for being admitted is like 800/1600, but if you have an 800 you will almost certainly not be admitted.</p>