<p>Let's use this thread to document the merit aid that comes in, both in this early notification wave as well as in the future. Be sure to share UofR merit exploits for others to learn from.</p>
<p>I believe that University of Rochester has garnered a reputation for a generous and transparent merit scholarship process. Allow this thread to serve as a guide for the many excited UofR applicants to come, so they are not deterred by ambiguity.</p>
<p>For a starting topic, who has received merit awards so far (and were you expecting to be awarded one)?</p>
<p>I got a $14,000 Bausch & Lomb Scholarship! I was kind of expecting this scholarship, because I was my school’s Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Scholar, but I would have understood if I didn’t get it. Anyways, I am thrilled! BTW I received mine last Friday and only live about 2-3 hours away from the university.</p>
<p>My daughter got snail mail today stating 12k scholarship. We were expecting more. She is a national merit finalist and she may get more if she choose Rochester as her 1st choice.</p>
<p>She got accepted to MIT and she will get a decent scholarship financial aid from MIT. She is planning to MIT over Rochester.</p>
<p>D. received $44,000 Dean’s Scholarship over 4 years unfortunately we will not be taking advantage of that. she loved the school but it was her second choice.</p>
<p>After waiting endlessly for my mailman (I used to get mail at 2:00, now I get it between 5 and 7. I hate my new mailman), I was awarded the $15000 Wilder Trustee Scholarship.</p>
<p>Although Rochester is not my first choice, this money makes UofR, a school I seriously love, a big contender between UMD Honors (my parents are begging me!) and the full price school I’d prefer (but with no merit aid).</p>
<p>I plan to major in the social sciences, so Grad school is probably in my future. I can’t end up with unlimited debt, and now UofR is a perfect medium. I’ll let you all know what I decide! I’m so grateful for the award!</p>
<p>I received a $14,000 Dean’s Scholarship in the mail today. I feel honored and it keeps UR up on my list since I enjoyed my visit last week and think I’d fit in well, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to attend. It’s going to depend on finances and my parents prefer merit aid to need-based aid in case their income bounces back from the recession. Right now, $14,000 ranks third of four I’ve heard from for merit aid (with two to go yet). I’ll see what happens over the next couple of months, then see what my realistic choices are.</p>
<p>It’s amazing to think that we’ll all know where we’re going soon!</p>
<p>I received a $11,000 Deans Scholarship. Considering that UR had absolutely no incentive to give me any money, since I applied ED and did not apply for aid, I was surprised.</p>
<p>I received a $20,000 per year Rush Rhees scholarship in the mail today! Very exciting but I’m not sure if it’ll be enough for me to attend Rochester. My stats are pretty good so I was expecting some sort of merit scholarship but it was still a nice surprise.</p>
<p>$18,000 Prince Street scholarship for academic/arts excellence! :] extremely surprised considering i didn’t write about my flute/orchestra experience or my dancing in my essays, though i did apply for English major and write about wanting to be a writer, so that might be it? however i’m more inclined to think it came from completely bonding with my interviewer over my flute playing/dancing and spending most of my interview talking about that, since my essays weren’t very good at all in my opinion.</p>
<p>for future applicants’ reference, Prince Street and most other scholarships from UR that say “7500+” or “8000+” on the site generally range from there to 20K, depending on what the committee awards you i guess.</p>
<p>Received 13k for the Prince Street Scholarship! I don’t think I’ll use it though because I’m supposed to receive 17k for national merit and they only let you have one scholarship.</p>
<p>I received a $12,000 Deans scholarship just two days ago. I was extremely excited. Not because it will really help me (applying for need-based aid), but because it meant the school really wants me as a student. I am a white male with a 2180 SAT and no NMF, so I anticipated merit aid would be rather non-existent at all the top private schools I applied to. </p>
<p>I visited Rochester last weekend and was extremely impressed. As superficial as it sounds, the dining was incredible. The research opportunities abound and I spent an hour in a lecture sharing a professor with only one other visitor. Mrs. Chen was the professor, and it was a lecture relating to ethics in stem cell research. She was great and supplied some interesting scenarios and presented thought provoking dilemmas, despite her unexpectedly small audience of 4 people. </p>
<p>Rochester is my second choice at the moment, only because of how expensive it is. If the need based package comes back and it is more generous than anticipated, Rochester will likely become my number 1 choice. </p>
<p>Ah, if only finances were not a concern.
Granted, I have at least 3 college visits left before I make my decision, but Rochester is an impressive institution, and regardless of whether or not I attend, I will continue to hold it in high regards.</p>
<p>I received a $9,000 Deans Scholarship. Even though I didn’t apply for financial aid, this will definitely have an impact on my decision when the time comes!</p>