<p>DD is my first child to go to college, so I am hoping someone more seasoned can offer me advice.</p>
<p>I am a JMU alum, DD accepted to JMU Honors OOS. Price tag for out of state is a little pricey. We were hoping for some kind of merit aid, but I am not sure we will get it. She wants to major (at least today!!) in Kinesiology. Talked with department head and he says they do not offer scholarships to freshman. </p>
<p>DD has been offered Honors & scholarship from George Mason and scholarship from Penn State (we live in PA). I have heard that sometimes universities will sweeten their offer if they know your child really wants to go to their college. Does anyone have an experience in doing this? Any ideas are appreciated!</p>
<p>Thanks for your response! Good news! We actually heard from the department head today that he has two OOS scholarships and would like to offer my daughter one! It is a good thing we contacted him last week because my daughter’s name was fresh in his mind and on the university’s list as a possible recipient! Our lucky day!</p>
<p>My daughter received an email from the JMU Psych dept inviting her to apply for a Madison Achievement scholarship. It involves a 500-word essay. I was under the impression that these awards were just handed out automatically, based on the original application for admission to JMU. Anyone else get a letter like this?? Anyone know if they were mailed out to ALL who indicated a possible psych major?</p>
<p>My son received a phone call inviting him to take a scholarship exam for a Madison achievement. His major is Physics…wondering the same thing you are…</p>
<p>Interesting about the essay. The Department Chair did not mention that in his email to my daughter. Just said to let him know if she was interested in one of his two OOS scholarships, and to look for a letter from the Dean. Having to write another essay would truly stink at this point!</p>
<p>Some departments and programs at JMU have Madison Achievement and other scholarships to award. Each program can set their own criteria for offering these scholarships.</p>
<p>For example, I teach in Theatre and the student’s audition or portfolio review and essay, as well as academics are taken into account when offering scholarships. We do not require anything else additional. </p>
<p>Received more information and paperwork from the department head. My daughter is receiving a Madison Achievement Scholarship. It certainly paid for us to email him last week! When the Dean gave him a list of potential scholarship recipients, he recognized her name. She is one of only two OOS applicants that Kinesiology Dept. is giving a scholarship to. </p>
<p>Being told by the scholarship dept. to contact the department directly was the best advice we could have received! Don’t be afraid to reach out!</p>
<p>Golffather - I clicked on your links - thanks for those. It is odd that JMU states that no additional application is necessary, and then we are notified that my D is invited to apply for the Madison Achievement scholarship from the Psych Dept. Sounds like an additional application to me! Annoying.</p>
<p>I think they mean that no additional application is required at that time. For the scholarships offered directly from the programs they may ask for something additional. This should probably be made more clear on the website. </p>
<p>Wow, Swimmom that is great news! Where do you think your D will attend? Are you going to JMU’s Choices program on Monday? My D was also accepted at JMU and Penn State ( we talked about this on another thread) but we have not heard about a merit award from JMU. I just emailed the director of the department hoping for an award but not sure if it’s likely. She did get a scholarship from Penn State. We are visiting both colleges next week to help decide.</p>
<p>carly - D really prefers to go to JMU. The Madison Achievement Scholarship is just a little less than the Penn State scholarship, but the $$s are a little closer now even though we are in state for PSU. We are going to CHOICES on Monday and plan on meeting the department chair and getting more information on the Honors program. Hoping to have a final decision by Monday night that we all can live with!</p>
<p>Swimmom, sounds like you have a good plan and great options. Both schools are OOS for us so tuition will be high no matter what. The director just emailed me back and said there are no scholarships available from their department since it is a relatively new major there. I’m looking forward to attending the Choices program. At this point my D is leaning towards Penn State but we will see what happens next week. Best of luck to you and your D.</p>