Merit aid at U of M

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>What is UMich looking for when they give out merit aid?</p>

<p>Would I be able to get some merit aid with these stats:</p>

<p>Junior this year at a Newsweek top 20 school, USNWR top 10 school.
GPA: 4.0 Unweighted (our school does not assign weight)
ACT: 33 (retaking with hopes of a 34)
SAT IIs: Taking them in Math II, Bio, and Literature
State of Residency (if it helps): Michigan (and UMichigan recruits students from our school pretty heavily)</p>

<p>Class difficulty:
9th and 10th: All honors courses, all considered "pre-IB". I took AP Calc AB in 10th grade, received a 5.</p>

<p>11th: Full IB course load. 3 sciences: IB Bio, Chem and Physics. IB SL Math, IB Lit, IB History, IB Spanish, and TOK. Dual enrolled for a statistics class at a local university first semester.</p>

<p>12th: Courses will stay the same.</p>

<p>Academic Awards:
Top Science Award
Summa Cum Laude</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>MUN club president, many awards in MUN</p>

<p>Spanish Honors Society (Officer)</p>

<p>NHS </p>

<p>Science Olympiad Officer (Experimental Design is so much fun!)</p>

<p>Youth Symphony (next year is my 5th year, I'm the principle horn player)</p>

<p>Volunteer Work</p>

<p>Student gov (secretary for three years)</p>

<p>100ish hours of volunteering at nursing home</p>

<p>Youth Leadership Project: Investigated problems related to poverty, hunger, and
homelessness on a local and international level for the course of the year. It was thought inspiring.</p>

<p>Will be attending TASP this summer (Telluride Association Summer Program for Juniors)</p>

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<p>Should at least qualify for the Regents Merit Scholarship ($1500).</p>

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<p>Without looking at the US News High School Rankings I’m guessing you go to IA (central I’m guessing) right?</p>

<p>Now, if my guess that you go to IA if correct, your chances for a scholarship won’t be hard at all. First of all, Umich know IA extremely well and they love their students. They consider them top of their class and better than most public schools (of course I’m bias).
I think you’ll be fine in getting a merit scholarship. As long as you maintain good grades your junior years and senior year, you’ll have a great chance.</p>

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<p>^ I sent you a PM.</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

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<p>all the ex-TASPers I know in my class got at least 10k merit scholarship, with scholarships ranging from 10k/year (instate) to full ride, so odds are good you’re going to get something</p>

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<p>TASP is a big plus. 2/3 TASPers I know who applied got full rides (one in-state, one out-of-state). The other I think was clearly not going to attend so they didn’t offer him anything.</p>

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<p>You are an example of Michigan being a true safety school. I assume you are also going to apply to other colleges as well?</p>

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<p>^ Yes, I will be applied to a few private LACs and to Brown PLME, but I think U of M will be my match/safety. I will be very excited to go to U of M if I make the honors program and if I get a bit of scholarship money, so I hate using the term “safety” when in reality U of M is one of my top choices.</p>

<p>What kinds of scholarships does U of M give out, and how many? I know that they give out the Shipman, but from what I’ve heard very, very few people actually get it. Are there additional merit awards that aren’t on the U of M website?</p>

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<p>Hey, I agree with you there smart.cookie. I did TASP and while at first I thought of Michigan as a “safety”, when I ended up visiting, I loved it so much, now I’m going.</p>

<p>Just make sure you invest just as much effort into your Michigan application as you did your TASP application as well as your reach schools. Even though you will likely get into the school itself in any case, the Shipman selection process is a lot more difficult. Also, it may help to retake your test scores (I don’t know what they are) if they aren’t absolutely top notch. At schools with a lot of applicants like Michigan, high scores make you stand out that much more for scholarship committees. </p>

<p>Also, if you want the best scholarships, you need to apply as early as possible. This is probably the most important advice. Apply in September. </p>

<p>Good luck, Tasper :)</p>

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<p>Bumping this :)</p>

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<p>Hey. Well I will chance you based on what I got… But keep in mind, I’m also from MI but got the African American female majoring in a rare major (Actuarial Mathematics) thing going for me. Ton of dual enrollment and APs, not too many ECs outside of track. But I got a 32 on my ACTs and did pretty bad on my subject tests and got…</p>

<p>$10,000/year U-M Alumni Diversity Scholarship (I don’t know if you are URM or anything)
$5,000/year LSA Merit Scholarship
$2,500/year Department of Mathematics Carroll Scholarship (don’t know your major)
$1,500/year Regents Schoarship from U-M</p>

<p>plus remember all of the community scholarships you are eligible to receive. Good luck and Go Blue!</p>

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<p>i got 20 k a year stats like yours. i went to a prestigious summer program too (not tasp though) and had pretty good ec’s, state level, national level awards etc. U shuld be able to get some money too.</p>

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<p>smart.cookie, there’s a telluride house scholarship at U of M. it’s covers full room and board for all 4 years. if you can tack on a $10k/year scholarship on top of that, then you practically have a full ride, since there’s also the guaranteed michigan promise and regents merit scholarships. i’m more than positive that you can get a $10k/year scholarship.</p>

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<p>^ Wow! Thanks! I am definitely applying to the Telluride House, and I think that if I get into the house then U of M will be my new home :)</p>

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<p>This will be my final bump :)</p>

<p>If the thread dies, I’ll let it. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the chances/comments/advice. This is really helpful in planning out my college apps for next year :)</p>