<p>So, if I applied EA and haven't gotten any merit aid by now, is it pretty much safe to give up?</p>
<p>Sirreginald,
I don't think you should give up hope. I went to the Scholarship Day thing at Chapel Hill, and there were a lot of kids there who made no pretense about still waiting to hear from other schools, such as the Ivy League schools.
All of those who attended SD won a merit scholarship of some sort, starting at $2,500. So if those students who were waiting on other schools, go elsewhere, what happens to the award? I presumed they'd send that back into the pot, to be given out to other great students out there. I might be wrong.
I think that as spring comes around, and students have their offers of admissions elsewhere, and UNC learns who is coming and who is not, that some enticements may become available.
I'm not really sure, but I think there is room for some optimism on your part.
This is only the third year that Carolina has done this SD thing, and I get the feeling that they are still sort of trying to figure out if it is a good thing to do or not so. What happens to the $ when a SD student chooses to go to Harvard instead?---That is my point.</p>
<p>..they renovate some buildings with it. :)</p>
<p>If Carolina is like most schools, it offers more students merit aid than it can actually deliver, knowing that many will not come. SO, I wouldn't count on that pool of available funds being replenished by turndowns. Like everything else, these folks know how to use formulas, and they are quite proficient at predicting things!</p>
<p>A post a month or so ago was from a student who received merit aid offer in late March from last year's EA pool. My understanding was that they were going to have another SD thing in late March. Good luck.</p>
<p>I don't pretend to be too wise at things, but I suspect there are scholarship budgets, and construction budgets, and one does not easily blend over into the other one. I seriously doubt that if students pass up on scholarship $ that there is a mechanism to just take that excess $ and put it into construction. I don't personally know what happens to that $, but I doubt that the Scholarship office parts with it so easily. That's just my personal take on matters.</p>
<p>Well, I got some merit aid (2500/yr), but I don't plan on accepting it, so I assume that they could just as easily give it to someone else once I reject it.</p>
<p>(And I was not invited to Scholarship Day. Somehow I got the Class of 2011 Distinguished Scholars, or whatever, anyway. And the Honors Program. I'm really tired of North Carolina, though, and hope to go to Dartmouth)</p>
<p>^ sad..aww i wish i got money and an invite to honors..</p>
<p>maybe they'll send me one later...</p>