McDermott Scholars versus Dean's Honors Scholars

Parents Forum
1

<p>My child has been offered a place in the McDermott Scholars Program at UTDallas and also has been accepted in the Dean's Honors Scholars Program at UTAustin tho has not yet been offered a scholarship at UTAustin. McDermott asks for a quick response to the offer unlike other programs where the usual deadline is May 1st. This means that responses from places like Rice, Ivys and other top/middle tier colleges will not be received in time to be considered along side McDermott.
If anyone can shed light on the McDermott Scholars Program as opposed to the Dean's Honors and other options such as Rice, Ivys, etc. we shall be grateful. My child plans to be a Pre-Med student aspiring to go into an MD Program.</p>

2

<p>He should NOT accept the McDermottt Scholars offer. Dean’s Scholars usually comes with a sizable scholarship, and with the credentials he has to get Dean’s Scholars he may get into some Ivy’s.</p>

3

<p>I know a kid who is a McDermott Scholar and reportedly is very happy. He just represented UTD on Jeopardy, in fact. But I sure don’t like the idea of being railroaded into making that decision so quickly. What is the deadline? Can you ask for an extension?</p>

4

<p>my son was a semi fianllist for mcdermott, we were very impressed with the program and with the opportunities it offered. The people who run the program were fantastic. for the past year i have been pm’ing with a person who has children in the program…perhaps if you post on the utd forum you could get some insight there</p>

5

<p>Isn’t it unethical to require a response before May 1st? I know nothing about either program, but that early deadline makes me suspicious.</p>

6

<p>Scholars programs work a bit differently than standard offers of admission, I think. Our school counselor indicated that it’s because they usually offer so much more than just admission and possibly a merit scholarship. Another example - I checked the UNC Morehead-Cain Scholars site and found that finalist weekend just finished, finalists should be notified soon and then must decide by April 14 - also earlier than a May 1 acceptance deadline. I bet some poking around would find that other scholars programs do the same. (I think perhaps timing of finalist weekends and acceptance deadline correlate somewhat.)</p>

<p>

I agree.</p>

<p>Congratulations on the McDermott Scholars offer.</p>

7

<p>Thank you all for all the insightful information. Gives us more information to mull over. Will also post in the UTD forum also. Once again thanks.</p>

8

<p>I remembered this thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/808339-prestige-really-matter.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/808339-prestige-really-matter.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This is the thread that reminded me:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/874152-best-colleges-go-pre-med-texas.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/874152-best-colleges-go-pre-med-texas.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>mcdermott was sort of modeled after the morehead so there are similarities.
the early deadline isnt alarming. they just want students who want to come to utd for sure, not as a last option.
Jeopardy kid does seem happy at UTD lol. he’s also a premed. how cool is that?</p>

10

<p>From the McDermott site :

It seems that one reason is so they can extend rejected offers to others. My daughter’s scholarship program begged her to decide early, but I’m not so sure NACAC allows a hard deadline. </p>

<p>BTW, Take it. Take it. Take it. The opps are amazing. But as always, that’s just my opinion. ;)</p>