What are the ranges of merit scholarships that BU offers? What are the corresponding grades, scores, ACT’s for these awards?
The two major ones are the Presidential (Half tuition) and Trustee (full tuition) scholarships. Neither have specific grades or test scores associated with them, but both go to students in the top 2-3 percent of the applicant class.
For the Presidential, applications are reviewed holistically and the scholarships are given to top students.
There is an additional essay to submit for the Trustee scholarship with your application. Only about 20 of these are given out per year, so the odds are extremely low.
Also, all NMF are awarded the Presidential if they list BU as their first choice school.
and I believe you had to have applied by Dec. 1 to be considered for the Presidential.
S just got Trustee Scholarship in mail today.
Congrats! I am a TS from way back when!! I hope he takes advantage of all it has to offer. I was lucky enough to be assigned to the TS house, Boyd Hall, my freshman year. At first I thought it would be a weird place to live, but I feel so lucky I got to live there Fun people and big rooms!
@garnet87 if you don’t mind me asking, where do you live? Wanting to see if I still have a chance of getting it. And when was it dated?
For the OP… outside of the named merit scholarships at BU (detailed above), merit aid–or preferential packaging, really, varies applicant by applicant. There’s no magic GPA or score that will “guarantee” you merit aid at BU: they offer the most money to the people they want on campus.
I can give you anecdotal information. I got a full tuition grant + a bit more from BU (the bit more included Stafford loans & work/study, but I didn’t have to pay back any of the tuition, essentially)–I had a 4.0 GPA UW but only a 1220 SAT (old scale)… but beyond that I had a strong, holistic application. I was coming from a desirable/under-represented region (South), had a number of unique honors and accomplishments on my application (I lived in Germany my junior year on a government scholarship), I wrote two very strong essays (back when you also wrote an essay for COM; this was pre-Common App), and importantly: my whole application was strongly and specifically tailored to my being a journalism major (though I think my indicating I would also minor in German, a department that was pretty desperate for students when I was there, helped). Since BU does preferential packaging, I have to assume the admissions officers reviewing apps for COM (College of Communication) earmarked my app with a high score, which was passed onto fin-aid, who then offered me a package to attract me to attend (it worked).
I know others who got closer to a full ride–BU gapped me about 14K a year (ie: room & board); my friends were gapped less than 5K a year–almost a full ride. They had similar profiles–strong GPAs, but only decent SATs… BUT they were very low income (close to poverty line) and wrote strong essays. BU cares more about grades than test scores, and from what I can tell, they are more likely to offer a lot of money to a student who is the cross section of talented AND financially needy–but not always. I know a girl who got basically a full ride this year who fits the same profile: strong grades, not perfect test scores, interesting app, lower income. You don’t have to be perfect but you DO have to be interesting… and BU typically doesn’t give a ton of free money to higher income students (b/c BU really likes money; they want full pay).
@proudterrier it sounds like you are not talking about merit aid. It sounds like you are talking about need-based aid, and the package was a mix of grants, loans and work-study.
@gnuz20 We live in CT and letter was dated 3/14/16.
@LBowie nope… at BU, they call several types of merit-based aid “grants,” and they differentiate in your aid package what is financial need based, and what is merit based. Mine was full tuition and I happened to be someone with a decently high degree of need. However, I knew numerous students receiving half tuition scholarships–also called grants–who were high income kids from places like Falls Church, VA, who were given that based on stats. BU, pretty famously, is not actually very good with financial aid and typically does not meet need (I love my alma mater, but they stiff a lot of people). There was a really illuminating article in the New York Times in 2009 that covered how they give out aid–they preferentially package based on who they want on campus.
Did these students from high income areas have financial need and did the award come through the financial aid office or did they not even submit a FAFSA and just got the scholarship? I guess that is probably not easy to figure out, but just because they come from high cost of living areas doesn’t mean they don’t have need. They could have siblings in college, etc. I think of merit awards as completely independent of need. I am not sure what the original poster’s definition is.
Here is the link to the article you mentioned. Thanks for the tip.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/education/edlife/finaid-pappano-t.html?_r=0
My daughter was admitted to BU several years ago (class of 2015). She did not attend. She was offered a $10,000 merit scholarship and no need based aid. She had a 3.9 UW GPA and a 4.5 weighted GPA with a 2200 SAT and 33 ACT. Merit aid was an important part of her decision making process and turned down the offer for more merit aid at a different school.
My son graduated BU Law last year and loved the school and the area. I wish you all luck.
@LBowie you don’t actually have to apply by Dec. 1 to be considered for Presidential - I got it and I sent my app around Christmas
Oh that’s good to know and CONGRATULATIONS!
@proudterrier That’s not entirely true. I got a half-tuition scholarship and my parents can afford full tuition. And I don’t have incredibly high stats or anything.
@NYUDreamer1 I’m confused? I don’t think anything I said negates your point–and congrats on that half tuition scholarship! Your award reflects what I was saying about how BU preferentially packages based on a variety of factors. Their merit aid isn’t based exclusively on stats, and their financial aid is not based exclusively on need, unlike at some other schools: it’s a nebulous process that you can’t predict based on hardline numbers (OP wanted to know exact stats they needed for merit; BU doesn’t work that way, which is the point of my answers).
@proudterrier I’m sorry I misunderstood you! But I agree with you, I don’t enjoy the fact that BU’s merit scholarships don’t take need into account. Again, sorry
@NYUDreamer1 No worries! That’s commenting on the Internet for you 
I do suspect that sometimes BU does take financial need into account, but only when they are trying to lure a high performing, poorer student to school… but in the majority of cases, they don’t. When I read in an article from 2009 (really worth reading!) where they gapped an admitted student who lived on the poverty line by about $25,000, I was pretty shocked. But congrats on your award!