<p>As I know, the amount of scholarship for McDermott Scholars is slightly higher than thye highest AES. Is the McDermott scholarship is worthwhile spending extra effort in application compared to AES which doesn't require any extra step ?</p>
<p>Take a look at the profile of existing McDermott Scholars to determine if your child has a reasonable chance of earning it. The application does require significant extra work and the interview process requires preparation and an investment of time.</p>
<p>I don’t want to spend too much time and effort unless McDermott scholarship is much better than AES. She is well qualified either of them at least to me.</p>
<p>The application is pretty long, but it is worth it. Money wise, it is significantly more than AES. But the more valuable part of the program is access to alums, faculty, cultural experiences, etc. Take a look at the alumni list and see what all the alums are doing now.</p>
<p>AES National Merit Scholarship has the tuition and fees + $4,000 per semester cash stipend to defray the costs of books, supplies, and other expenses +$2,000 one-time NMSC Scholarship for an international study abroad program after completion of two academic years in residence.</p>
<p>The McDermott has the tuition and fees + a monthly stipend of at least $1200 + an annual book stipend of $1000 + student-designed international educational experience, up to $12,000 + student-proposed professional development and post program assistance, up to $3,000 plus two trips to home/year plus tickets to Dalls Sympony and Orchestra and annual museum membership.</p>
<p>It seems like McDermott much better than the highest AES award. But the AES award is automatic, while McDermott requires additional application.</p>
<p>Is anybody know what application marterials are required ? (Rec letters, essays, … ?)</p>
<p>I compared the monetary value of AES Scholarship and Mcdermott Awards and here is the summary:
AES-Academic Achievement Scholarship : $ 24,000
AES-Academic Distinction Scholarship: $ 55,224
AES-Academic Honors Scholarship: $71,224
AES-National Merit Finalist Scholarship: $81,224
AES-National Achievement Scholarship: $55224
Eugene Mcdermott Scholarship: $140,000 (Texas students) $200,000 (out-of-state). </p>
<p>@yetanotherid - Thanks for the financial summary of the different scholarships. To repeat an earlier comment, the McDermott is far more than just monetary support. It provides mentoring, leadership development and access to accomplished peers, alums and faculty. Plus 10 hours of community service is expected each week. </p>
<p>@PeaceOfMind - Can you please share your son’s Mcdermott Finalist weekend interview experience. TIA</p>
<p>Can any other past Mcdermott interview participants ( Thanks Bigreddawgie for your previous posts) share their experience ? For such a prestigious program there are very few posts about this program.</p>
<p>I will share some generalities only because I don’t wish to divulge anything which the McDermott program might wish to keep secret. In general, you’ll find incredibly friendly, authentic, and capable current McDermott scholars, alum, administrators and faculty during Finalist weekend. Compared to similar interview events at better known colleges, the McDermott Finalist weekend was clearly the best organized and most productive. I was most impressed by the care and thoroughness the staff, faculty, alums and current students took to prepare for the weekend and make the Finalists feel respected and welcomed. A faculty remembered detailed specifics of my son’s resume. An alum pursuing graduate school quoted verbatim from my son’s essay. </p>
<p>The Finalists will enjoy a variety of social settings during the weekend to get to know the McDermott program and culture through its people. Of course, the McDermott people will also get to know the Finalists. My suggestion is to be as authentic as possible and learn as much as you can from the experience. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Also, during Finalist weekend there will be many opportunities for parents of Finalists to get to know parents of current McDermott Scholars and alumni. Last year, we met the mother of three McDermott Scholars at Finalist weekend and thoroughly enjoyed her down-to-earth, modest style. So parents have much to look forward to. Make the most of the opportunities to meet parents of current Scholars and learn how they made their decisions regarding McDermott. Good Luck.</p>
<p>My D and I are invited to the Finalist Weekend and we’re excited but also stressed. What do we wear and are Finalists friendly or very competitive with each other?</p>
<p>How many of finalist were awarded with this prestigious scholarship ? What colleges did McDermott scholars give up ?</p>
<p>@Dad2013, I did not hear anyone saying that they gave up Ivy League for McDermott Scholar. Last year, one student got into both Mcdermott and UTPACT and he gave up Mcdermott. This year both UTPACT and Mcdermott coordinate, so that no students get selected in both programs.</p>
<p>According to McDermott scholar office, the program doesn’t work with UT-PACT (3 yr UG including active summer clinical classes at UTSW). So, we needed to choose either of the programs. As AES scholar, the summer tuition and stipend will be provided for UT-PACT students. (AES covers 8 semesters for the 3 year program.)</p>
<p>@MedAspirant People turn down Ivy Leagues and other top schools for McDermott every year, myself included. Off the top of my head, in the past 2 years, scholars have chosen McDermott over Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, UChicago, Duke, MIT, Penn, etc. Pretty sure this has been the case since the inception of the program. </p>
<p>My son turned down Johns Hopkins, Duke, Rice, Columbia, Dartmouth, U Penn and Cornell for the McDermott. Turning down Ivy League colleges and other top colleges for McDermott is not so unusual.</p>
<p>My son reluctantly turned down the McDermott Scholars for MIT. He also got into Princeton, Penn, Caltech, Mudd, Vandy and WUSTL. In the end, he really wanted a STEM school and a larger cohort of students that he would be hanging around with. FYI, my son qualifies for a lot of need-based aid. On top of that, he gets a yearly NM scholarship, so his out of pocket expenses are very small compared to many people. I can well imagine top students turning down top schools because they would be full pay.</p>
<p>The finalist weekend was phenomenal. I highly recommend UTD and the McDermott Scholars Program. For the right student, it’s an extraordinary opportunity. I tell people about it all the time.</p>
Were your son given the benefit of waiting for notifications from these top schools before
making his decision on McDermott scholarship?
In my son’s case, he had already heard from Princeton, but I don’t think he’d heard from the other schools when he was notified. They sort of pressured him to make a decision (I believe he heard on the Monday right after the weekend), but he simply could not do that.
I think for families who are full pay, the decision to take the McDermott offer makes sense since it’s such a great program for free. In our case, we are a high need family and the top schools meet full need. Further, my son has a 6K a year NM scholarship, so MIT has turned out to be about 3K a year for us-an incredible, incredible deal.