Just wondering now that merit aid is in for early applicants that are OOS . If you feel comfortable, will you give stats and amount of award?
@elise303 I was disappointed with the merit award my OOS S received. He got the Dean’s Scholarship, $6,000 annually. He received Presidential from UVM and Marist.
GPA 3.95W
SAT 1330 (Old SAT)
5 AP courses
Great essay,
Interesting ECs.
I doubt he will attend UNH.
I agree. I thought our award was pretty stingy. OOS 3.85w (well regarded school) 1410 SAT (new) 32 ACT, 3 AP, sports captain 2 teams.
$6K Dean’s scholarship. By the guidelines posted he should have gotten $10K President’s.
It was a safety for us otherwise I’d inquire. UNH seems like a pretty raw deal for OOS.
I agree which is why I started this post.
UVM - $13,000
UNH - $4,000
Since the schools are not the same price to begin with - I believe they are the same cost or thereabouts even though the scholarship amounts were different. Still, I was thinking son would get more. We will likely not even visit UNH at this point and likely S will go to UVM (quite happily).
Stats:
GPA 3.65 (lower GPA because stuck with unweighted classes like music and language)
ACT 29
Very competitive high school
Student Conservation Association for 3 summers
I think the “list price” vs merit $ analysis is pretty meaningless. It seems public colleges set their OOS list price somewhat arbitrarily and adjust their merit to whatever works to get the number where they want it. It looks like UNH wants their OOS price higher this year (with the 11000 reported EA applicants maybe they’re right). But I would evaluate UNH vs UVM purely on your cost of attendance (and which one you like better) and forget about how much of it is labeled as “merit”.
Where in the portal can you find the merit award status?
The portal at your house where those envelopes arrive 
Sorry, not being snarky–we had to find out about merit through snail mail.
My D got into both UVM and UNH.
UVM - 18k
UNH - 10k
unweighted gpa: 94
weighted gpa: 5.8/6.0
ACT: 35
We are from MA.
@carolinesmom , is she thinking about either of these schools or will she be going some place else?
Sorry @elise303, didn’t see this till now. She was also accepted into Northeastern EA and it’s her top choice. She really wants to be in Boston.
Contacted UNH about merit - received zero, nada, zilch. Received decent merit from UVM, Delaware, awesome merit from Scranton and Quinnipiac.
GPA 3.9, ACT 30 (English 32, Math 30), New SAT 1400.
Loved the campus, loved the town, not a penny of merit most likely pushes it to the bottom of the bucket.
Oh well, guess that’s how the application process goes, win some, lose some. Those you lose are simply not the right place to be.
BTW, in contacting admissions, it is not so much GPA and stats, they base merit on class rank. So if you go to a competitive high school, you can be a great student and still not receive merit from UNH but go to a non-competitive high school and get great merit from UNH.
@VBhitter21 I have heard this over and over again! This REALLY works against my S too and many of his friends, as he attends a very small, private high school. My friends and I have this discussion over and over again. In our public, there is no doubt my S would have been in top 5-10 students out of many (given the kids in his class as we know most); would have excelled on the lax or baseball teams and would have been instructed in common core - which would have really helped him out with the new SAT. Instead, he is only in top 1/3 (very competitive and academically impressive kids in honors/Adv. programs) and second string lax (big fish in small hometown pond but very little fish in huge lax talent pulled from 2 states into this school) and no common core instruction - ever. So, a thoroughly prepared college student by far (and I say this with experience as a prof. at a university where I see students of various educational backgrounds) who can’t compete with the top 20% of public on paper to get into these big top 10 universities. It is very frustrating but the system of college acceptances is what it is. I suppose they need to cut applications somehow and cannot do holistic approach acceptance to schools/merit awards in all situations. It is unfortunate that they are missing out on many talented kids who would excel at the academics at their institutions just based on preparedness alone, not to mention discipline and many other factors provided by the smaller, competitive schools. Interestingly enough, my daughter’s guidance counselor said her school (again, small private) dropped the ranking system all together because it was working against too many students as they tried to gain acceptance into some of the “highly selective” schools. The only thing I can think of is that the universities use the ranking system to get more diversity while having some sort of structure. Otherwise, perhaps an overwhelming amount of merit/acceptances to many schools would go to private as opposed to public? Too much data to sift through to try to figure this out but I would love a summary by someone who has more knowledge as to the thought process of such administrations, etc. Best of luck in any event at whichever college/university you choose! I’m sure whichever it is will be very lucky to have you!!!
@xaviermom2017 Yes, small, private high school here as well, no common core teaching - in Honors since Freshman year and AP classes since Junior year when we are allowed to begin taking. I just have some classmates that are simply phenomenal, smart kids. One, been attending since like preschool together, has been a top competitor at the Intel Int’l Science fair since middle school - she’ll go to a top tier for sure and be tops there - just smart, smart kids as classmates. I feel like I did really well, but can’t get a penny at UNH which is not a top tiered university by any means. Don’t get it - they penalize for being in a competitive environment. Oh well. Best of luck to your S as well!
This does seem to be true about UNH and class rank and this policy will work against them especially when other schools like UVM and Delaware give more. I think they did a particularly bad job awarding merit aid this year and honestly I think they are going to regret it and change their policies in years to come. Still though, they may get the number of student they need because they are less expensive to begin with than a school like UVM. Just out of curiosity @VBhitter21, I assume you are out of state. Are you in New Jersey? Without saying anything more, I will say that these students in my experience, seem to be awarded less. I can’t say more without giving away my identity which I don’t want to do. Just an observation I thought I’d share.
@elise303 no, not from New Jersey.
@elise303 I agree that they will lose some great students with the merit policy. Not even speaking on behalf of my own S, but his friend only got $6,000 and he is without a doubt a perfect student if there is one - mature, doesn’t miss school, studies, 5 National Honors Societies, decent - not superb - but decent SATs, 4.25 GPA - all honors and AP classes with only one B ever in 4 years but because he is in such a small competitive school he is in the top 15% not 10. UNH was his top choice but now financially, I don’t think he is going to choose the school. He has offers that basically cover his tuition elsewhere. As far as I’m concerned, losing a student like that is just crazy.
I thought UNH was great when we visited. It appeared to be a campus where students were happy and I could have seen my S thriving there. Based on the stats on their website, I thought my S (3.95W, 1330 Old SAT, high level athlete) would receive the Presidential Scholarship ($10,000 OOS) This would have brought the cost down to about $30,000. I would have made my S take a good, long look at the school. When he got the Dean’s Scholarship ($6,000) I was surprised. I thought there was no chance he would get the Presidential at UVM. Well, UVM came through with $15,000, so the two school are about the same price. As much as I liked UNH, the dynamic and vibe at UVM is at a whole different level. I think most kids would prefer UVM over UNH, especially when they cost the same amount of money.
It will be interesting to see how the yield is for UNH this year with their less than stellar merit aid. I would imagine it will drop. I liked UNH at $30,000. At the same price as UVM? Not so much.
@VBhitter21, So much for my theory.