<p>so, many of you have had offers from many different schools based on merit.</p>
<p>typically, did they seek you out (through SAT scores or something similar) or did you seek them out.</p>
<p>can you share your experiences???</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>Most came with the letter of acceptance and these were SAT and GPA base. Others came after Scholarship Weekends which consisted mainly another essay, test, and /or interviews.</p>
<p>For those based on SAT/GPA it may be posted on the website. However many will adjust up or down a bit so do not take those numbers as cast in concrete.</p>
<p>and the scholarship weekends - were these events that your kid was invited to based on scores or were these also after being accepted into the school?</p>
<p>S2 narrowed down his college list based on the location/size/majors/campus life. Once the list was narrowed down, he further researched each specific school via their website to find out the requirements for merit aid (gpa, SAT/ACT scores). Because we don't qualify for need based aid, he needed to find schools where his academic statistics would qualify him for merit scholarships. He sent out his applications (applied EA to the schools on his list) and hoped for the best. When the acceptances came in with offers of scholarships, he had to re-evaluate again and narrow down the list to where he would get the most "bang" for his buck. Even with a merit scholarship to his first choice school, the bottom line figure was still too much. Luckily, his 2nd choice came in with the best "bottom line" cost. </p>
<p>So, I guess the best advice I can give you is to pick schools where your child's scores are a bit above the majority of the stats on the freshman profiles of incoming students. Research specific college websites for their merit scholarship criteria.</p>
<p>Ours was invited after being accepted, but I assume there was a SAT/GPA base that was considered for invitation to the weekend. The scholarship amount letter came about 2 weeks after the weekend.</p>
<p>Check the college websites. Some colleges automatically consider applicants for merit aid, some require additional applications Be sure to carefully read financial aid & scholarship instructions!</p>
<p>i am not all that familiar with finding all the info yet, so by finding out how my kid stacks up am i comparing to their median score? or would i be looking for places where my kid is a certain percentage above their "requirements?"</p>
<p>if you don't mind, could you show me an example??</p>
<p>: )</p>
<p>yes, i have noticed on some sites where it said something about the application being a scholarship application as well. that's handy!</p>
<p>too much info to sift through/digest.</p>
<p>You should read this thread -- <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html</a></p>
<p>One Example--Marist College
Merit</a> Scholarships: Marist College</p>
<p>Go onto the websites of the schools that your child is interested in. In the "search" box, type in "freshman profile". Click on the link and you will see the data for that school as a summary of the stats for incoming freshman.</p>
<p>As for merit scholarships, this info can usually be found in the Financial Aid section of the site. You can also type--"merit scholarships"--in the search box of the specific college site.</p>
<p>MW, go to the school's website & look for the Fast Facts or Profile of Freshman Class. The median SAT/ACT can often be found here. The best place to look, though, is the Common Data Set (search for it on the school's website). You can't find them for all schools, but you can for most. Find the section that has applicant info. You'll see a breakdown of scores for the accepted class. This is a GREAT way to see how your child stacks up against accepted students.</p>
<p>SUNY</a> Oswego - Financial Aid Office: Merit Scholarships
This link is another example of merit scholarships. All I had to do to find this out was to go onto the college website and in the SEARCH box, I typed in "Merit Scholarships".</p>
<p>I think I all ready mentioned in my previous post how to search for "Freshman Profile".</p>
<p>My son's scholarship offers mostly came with acceptance letters or a separate letter shortly afterwards with no extra paper work required. He was then invited by 2 colleges to submit an additional essay for additional scholarship money. Another college invited him to submit an essay which then could qualify him to attend a scholarship weekend which involved an interview/presention.</p>
<p>This was from a different forum but you might check out this site: Merit</a> Scholarships - Merit Awards - College and University Admissions - Merit Aid - Merit Aid - Search</p>
<p>Many hours of research, here on CC and on college websites. Here are a couple of good threads:</p>
<p>Also, some departments offer their own merit scholarships to attract top students (engineering is one) and these often have a separate application and deadline.</p>
<p>Our son's school recommended: FastWeb:</a> Scholarships, Financial Aid and Colleges</p>
<p>We didn't use it, so I can't personally recommend it.</p>
<p>I have two in college and a senior in high school now. Some schools automatically consider the student for merit aid at the time of application, and some schools require a separate application. The information can be found on the website usually - see the advice given previously. </p>
<p>In general, the harder the school to get into - the harder it is to get merit aid, imo. </p>
<p>At least in my experience, the scholarship weekends required a separate application as the merit aid that was offered was substantial. The schools want to have as much info as possible about the student. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>(I have been surprised about how much merit aid is available to good students - not just the best of the best.)</p>
<p>I just checked out the link on post #14. It looks very interesting and a great starting place, but it brings out the fact that for scholarships, search engines should always be backed up by a check on the college website. </p>
<p>For instance, I searched for UMichigan and it came up with lots of the university wide merit awards. However it didn't list any of the ones offered by the colleges (LS&A, Engineering, etc.) and it didn't list the biggest scholarship, the Shipman which is a joint scholarship with participating colleges.</p>
<p>To take it one step further, I know of at least one school (WUSTL) that has a scholarship (Danforth) which isn't even listed on it's website.</p>
<p>Some schools are known to give more merit $$. UMichigan is known to give none. There are probably few, not many. That prevented my D. from applying, she knew that she can get tons of Merit $$ at other places, and she did at all that she applied. The final Merit scholarship list came after she indicated her enrollment at her school. It was much more than we expected. Applications to merit scholarships that we found on internet were waste of time, somebody might be more lucky, but D. got nothing from this resource. Gurrently her full tuition and portion of R&B are covered with Merit $$. However, she needs to maintain certain GPA in college to continue being eligible.</p>
<p>In planning S's college list, we repeatedly spoke with the HS CC & asked him what schools were known to give good merit aid for kids with stats like S (anticipating he'd be a NMF or at least NMSF). He built his list with several of those schools on it & tried to choose schools that competed for similar students (USC & Santa Clara). It worked OK for us.</p>