do I have a chance at merit aid with a 35.5 ACT, 5/5.33 unweighted, 8 AP classes total?
How do you get a 35.5 ACT? Aren’t most GPAs on a 4 point scale?
35 W, 35 M, 36 R, 36 S
no, a lot of GPAs are weighted
Those scores would give you a 36 ACT composite. That is what happens because they round up. What was your composite?
You wrote unweighted above. What is your unweighted GPA? What is your class rank?
With a 36 ACT composite, I am sure you will get merit aid. With that score are you applying to the Ivies? What are you going to study?
Saw it asked, but not answered: with respect to Gold scholarship (OOS applicants, top 10% of HS class), what if the HS does not rank its students?
Ugh the class rank thing isn’t fair. Especially if you go to a very competitive school vs a very non competitive school. It should just be based on GPA and ACT. I got a 3.98 Unweighted GPA (This is at the best high school in Washington state) and a 32 on my ACT but my rank is only top 25%. I really want to go here though and I can’t without a scholarship.
DD is admitted to CEHD. 3.88 unweighted GPA, 30 ACT - best composite. 31 superscored. She is in top 10% of HS class, IL State Scholar. Any chance of merit aid? Admitted back in mid October but we haven’t heard about any aid.
Not sure if this information will help anyone, but I thought I’d post. A few weeks ago (I don’t remember the actual date, bu the letter had the date December 11, 2015), I received a letter from UM saying that I had been selected for the Gold Scholar Award ($10,000 each year for four years) as well as the University of Minnesota Study Abroad Freshman Scholarship ($1,000 of a program fee for a study abroad program endorsed by UM). I’m from Wisconsin which has reciprocity with Minnesota, so I pay in-state tuition even though I’m technically OOS. I was admitted the first week of October, and one of my sisters is currently a senior in Carlson.
General Stats: 33 ACT (34 super score), 3.89 uw GPA, 7 AP Classes (most rigorous schedule at my school)
The study abroad scholarship came as kind of a shock because I had never heard of it before. Since we didn’t write essays, my best guess is that it came from my extra-curriculars and teacher recs. I participate in Asian Club and Model UN, and one of my recs was from my International Relations teacher (she also runs my school’s MUN club). I guess my class selection may have also affected it (lots of extra “worldly” courses such as IR and World Literature).
PS: My school does not rank, so if that was a super important factor I have no clue how I got the Gold Scholar Award. Honestly, even if we did rank I’m not sure if I would be in the top 10%, so do with that information as you will.
Hope this helps someone, good luck all!
Do anybody know, UMN sends out all the merit awards in a single letter? My son got his honors letter along with presidential award of $5000/year. Is there any chance to get some other awards as well before March 31st? He got 3.97 unweighteGPA, ACT 35, SAT 1520(New). 5 APs completed but taking 3 more on his senior year.
I’m in-state and got a letter about two weeks ago, with the $10,000 Gold Scholar award + $6000 Bentson Family scholarship (both renewable for four years) + $1700 Undergraduate Research scholarship (one-time). Really excited because the U is my top choice!
Did anyone get a scholarship who did not get an honors acceptance?
Most likely the two events are highly correlated, @cc1313.
I was admitted at the end of November and admitted to the Honors College in the beginning of December. I still haven’t received a scholarship notification? Does this mean I didn’t get anything? How long after your acceptance did you find out?
Not sure of the timing of merit aid, except to say that some scholarships were sent out already. BTW, this is actually an old thread. Best to start a new one with the same topic as this year many things about admissions this year have changed.
@cc1313 My S (who is OOS with 35 ACT and 4.0 UW GPA and NMSF) was admitted to CSE in late October, received Gold and National scholarships ($20k/year total, half of which is contingent on NMF) in mid November, but has not heard anything re: honors. I know honors is by college, so tough for CSE students, but I’m very curious about the lack (so far) of word re: honors.
Good question - Has anyone in CSE heard about honors yet?
@262mom - he’s at the high end of the ACT spectrum for CSE-Honors and you can’t get better than 4.0 uw. He should be a very strong contender, if not outright slam dunk. Good luck to him!
Thanks for the feedback, @JBStillFlying! Fingers crossed 
My son was accepted into CLA and I think the letter also accepted him into the honors college, or else we found out very soon after the acceptance. Now we are waiting to hear about any merit aid. We are in state (Wisconsin) tuition.
I would like to know if anyone in CSE has heard about honors yet, too. My S has slightly less stellar stats than @262mom’s S, so my S would be less of an obvious shoe-in for honors. My S was accepted to CSE in October and was offered either a Gold or National scholarships (can’t remember which one, whichever one is $10k/year total and contingent on NMF) in November. I have been told honors offers are usually all done by March and am seeing that some great students have already gotten them. So, I am wondering if S’s 34 ACT, 3.98 UW GPA and NMSF standing will be good enough to expect an offer or if we should give up hoping for an honors offer.
How did you find out about acceptance into the honors college? I applied with the early application thing and was accepted Oct 4, but never received anything for the application tracker.