<p>People say they get "Scholarships" or "full rides" from Harvard, and try to make it souond merit based. It's SO annoying! The worst things is, they end up wooing others with their supposed "intelligence"...others who don't know that Harvard fin aid is purely NEED BASED. UGH</p>
<p>Just thought I'd let that out.</p>
<p>There are a lot of people from my school who end up not going to their first-choices (because they were rejected), but they try to impress other people with their matriculation to a less prestigious school by saying “I got a full-ride”. They never actually earned “full-rides”. It’s weird.</p>
<p>Do you really HATE this? Is it totally the worst thing that could ever happen to you?</p>
<p>Because people are always going to play up and exaggerate their credentials. I remember my ex-boyfriend tried to imply that he was going to HBS, even though he was doing Harvard Extension … it’s irritating, but the people who are “wooed” by such falsified claims tend not to matter very much anyway.</p>
<p>Not “hate”, i just thought it would be something that other people here were annoyed at as well. It’s a trifle, though :P</p>
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<p>You were dating some old guy while you were in high school? Isn’t that illegal (for him, at least)? o.o</p>
<p>The brother of a really close friend of mine went to MIT on a full scholarship; albeit one not offered to him by MIT- just an organization. So, yes, it is entirely possible for someone to go to Harvard on a scholarship</p>
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<p>Rather questionable indeed, but not illegal. I’d almost forgotten how weird that relationship was. /cough</p>
<p>@Lobzz: That’s true, though I think it was the “merit-based scholarship/full ride FROM Harvard” bit that was the kicker.</p>
<p>oh i hate this too, but who cares really?</p>
<p>ive seen in a couple news articles where they say people get a full ride to an ivy. </p>
<p>and i can imagine a couple reasons why people would say full ride. i get asked a lot about how expensive college is and that can get annoying.</p>
<p>When people ask me if I got a scholarship, I say yes only cause it can be both annoying and slightly embarrassing to tell them its “Need Based Aid”… It always leads to “oh, how much are you getting… Wow, that means you dont make any money, right?”…</p>
<p>Plus, explaining the theory of need based aid is annoying in terms of small talk, so saying you got a scholarship just works better…AND, they are called scholarships anyways… “Yale Scholarship” and “Harvard Scholarship” are the terms for their need based aid awards</p>
<p>I always tell everyone that I’m attending college on “full financial aid”, but people not familiar with the concept of such generous FA (is that even possible?) always turn it into “full ride”, so I can imagine that after a few more rounds the words “financial aid” turns into “full ride” and that easily turns into “scholarship”, which ends up sounding very much like merit scholarship.</p>
<p>This is what usually happens to me:</p>
<p>Person: Are you getting a scholarship?
Me: Yes
Person: Oh wow, you must be smart to be getting a scholarship to Harvard.
Me: Well, Harvard gives out most of its money as financial aid, so it isn’t really based on merit.</p>
<p>That usually works fine for me. I try not to explain the nuances of paying for college to people in everyday conversations.</p>
<p>People I talk to usually assume that Harvard students are all super rich, so I tell them quite frankly that I’m getting full financial aid and try to make it clear that it’s not merit-based. A good way to drive this point home is to say “It’s cheaper for me to go to Harvard that to the state university.”</p>
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<p>True. By virtue of you being accepted, you were given the money you need to attend. It’s perfectly fine to refer to it as a scholarship, in my opinion. And yes, the universities themselves refer to these awards as institution-based scholarships.</p>