Ingram Semifinalist

If you are a semifinalist for the Ingram scholarship, are you guaranteed admission for regular decision if you do not advance as a finalist especially if you have low stats? The Ingram scholar website does not say that they consider your academic records unlike the other Vanderbilt scholarships.

Why would your status as semifinalist grant you guaranteed admissions? I don’t see any logic to that.

Some universities (not saying Vanderbilt does this) have significant scholarship foundations related to the university and attendance there which still require that you apply and are accepted by the university, separately from the determination of the foundation/scholarship determination on your application for scholarship.

I’ve looked at the three main scholarships Vanderbilt lists on its merit scholarship page and noticed that none of the scholarship forms to be submitted by the student require that the student mention what grades they have earned.

This is not required because, as is stated in the first paragraph of the merit scholarship website regarding the overall standing of the recipients of its awards, “These students represent the top 1–2 percent of all freshman applicants to Vanderbilt.” The university clearly will be in receipt of all transcripts and profiles, so that information would not be needed simply for application to any of its scholarship offerings.

To maintain the Ingram Scholarship one must meet at least the 3.0 GPA required to remain in good standing.

Perhaps you are speaking of “low stats” in a relative manner, and just wonder if you won’t meet the very highest stats of applicants to Vanderbilt, as opposed to being worried you have, say, a 2.75 GPA and are still applying to the university.

“Ingram Scholars are selected on the basis of commitment to community service, strength of personal character, and leadership potential. In evaluating candidates, the selection committee reviews scholarship application essays and two letters of recommendation. Ingram Scholar Finalists are also required to interview on campus with the selection committee.”

“Chancellor 's Scholars are selected on the basis of commitment to diversity, leadership, strength of character, and academic achievement.”

“Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholars are selected on the basis of academic achievement, intellectual promise, and leadership and contribution outside the classroom.”

The merit scholarship pages state that both the Chancellor’s Scholarship and the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship consider academics when they are evaluating the applicants. It makes sense that those students would represent the top 1-2% of all freshman applicants since those students received their scholarships partly due to their academic achievement. However, the page for the Ingram scholarship does not say that they consider academic achievement when evaluating applicants since it is primarily geared to community service/leadership.

Furthermore, there are considerably fewer Ingram scholars than Chancellor or Vanderbilt scholars.

I am speaking of “low stats” as relative to other applicants. I attend a well-known top 5 high school in the nation so low stats from my school are understandable when applying to elite schools/programs.

I would imagine that your question could only be answered by the Admissions Office. At some point, the Admissions Office must bless the Ingram recipients (“Yes, this person has the credentials to be admitted.”) Presumably, this happens before the finalist stage because you wouldn’t want to award the scholarship to someone with a D average in high school. No idea whether it happens before semifinalists are named.

Semifinalists are probably those whose applications were accepted for review after submission. Finalists have yet to be invited to be interviewed, and then must wait to be determined recipient.

"At some point, the Admissions Office must bless the Ingram recipients (‘Yes, this person has the credentials to be admitted.’) Nice.

“These students represent the top 1–2 percent of all freshman applicants to Vanderbilt.”

Lmao unless they’re talking about EC achievement this is the blatantly false

How do you know that you are a semi finalist? do they send you a notification?

I was wondering the same thing. Have notifications gone out to semi-finalists?

@Suffer: Do tell.

Ingram Scholars must have the same academic record of any other student applying to the school. They just have that “extra” in terms of service. It is not just a scholarship, but a way of life. Scholars must do 20 hours of community service a month. They meet weekly in small groups and have a monthly meeting with all of the scholars. For my daughter, it has “defined” her college experience in the best possible way. Not all semi-finalists are given the scholarship so if you are lucky enough to be selected for the interview process, treat the process respectfully and do your homework. There are plenty of previous threads on the process as well as a video. Best of luck!

On another thread in the Vandy section, someone reports calling the admission office and finding out notifications will go out the week of Feb. 5

Awesome! Thanks for all your help!