Merit scholarships based on GPA/ACT scores?

<p>How is UMich when it comes to stats-based merit scholarships? It's one of the top schools on my list, but my family income is 100k+ so I'm definitely not getting financial aid, and we can't pay anywhere near full freight. My GPA is a 4.0 unweighted (school hasn't factored in weighted classes yet so I don't know my weighted GPA), I'm set to be valedictorian of my class, I have an ACT score of 35. Is that enough to get any significant money from the school?</p>

<p>I will be interested in the responses you receive. My son is in a similar situation. I strongly believe he will be accepted, but the amount of merit scholarships will determine if he attends.</p>

<p>My son is OOS, so I realize that hurts his chances. Are you?</p>

<p>Fortunately, my son realizes he can be successful wherever he goes if he puts in the work. We have family members and friends who are very successful in their fields even though they came from humble undergrad universities.</p>

<p>most of the merit money goes in-state, however some oos candidates do receive merit $. I do think you’ll have better luck in terms of merit with a private school. In the parent’s forum, there’s a thread about schools that are known to offer good merit $, you might want to check that out.</p>

<p>My S received merit from a private school with a similar academic reputation as UM but he didn’t receive any merit from UM. At accepted students day, someone from admissions spoke and said something to this effect: “I’m tired of hearing from parents of students that didn’t receive merit. Go home and write your check or move on”.</p>

<p>In my day (UM class of '14), it was fairly common for graduates of my high school to get $10,000/year from the Michigan Tradition Scholarship because ours was one of the partner schools identified by the university. I’m not sure if yours is one of the partner schools, and I don’t think Michigan provides any way to find out, but yes, good merit scholarships do happen. </p>

<p>Here’s a list of scholarships (both merit and need-based) published by the Office of Financial Aid: </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/TypesofAid/ScholarshipsandGrants/OFAScholarshipListing.aspx”>http://www.finaid.umich.edu/Home/TypesofAid/ScholarshipsandGrants/OFAScholarshipListing.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m not the OP, but thanks for the helpful link. It was an interesting read. We’ll see how things play out.</p>

<p>Merit scholarships are a crap shoot, particulary in terms of stats, when the admit pool is already statistically close, and from some schools, it takes stats like the OPs just to get in. But if a student has some unusual accomplishments or comes from an underrepresented area, or a school that is strong in Umich’s view, the odds increase a little. So you just really won’t know until you know, and need to plan accordingly by having financial safeties at the ready when it comes time to accept.</p>

<p>Are you applying to LSA or CoE? You are around the ball park for merit scholarship at ~$20k for OOS but it is still very competitive. My D is from in state and she received a rather good scholarship last year with the same GPA and ACT as you. So you have a chance but no guarantee.</p>

<p>OOS Merit is extremely competitive and not worth a lot of money. Your stats are in what I would consider the higher end of applicants, so I’d certainly pursue it. However, it’s not a given and it’s not enough to make much of a dent in the OOS tuition. Private schools gave us much more money, but UM, despite the expense, has been a huge blessing for my son. Good luck no matter what you decide! </p>

When are students notified that they will receive a UMich merit scholarship? From other threads it looks like some high school seniors have found out by mid-February. Is that an accurate assumption? We are in-state.

For the large scholarships, I think students should be notified by the end of February. Last year, they sent out the invitation to the Amaizing Blue Preview, a special program for scholarship winners, in early March.

I’m in the CoE, class of 2018, as an out of state student from Ohio with family income 100k+. Valedictorian (1/300 students), 4.0, 36 ACT, National Merit Scholar, the never-ending list of extracurriculars and leadership positions, you know the deal. No merit aid. A girl from around my area with similar, though slightly lower, stats who went to the public high school in the richer (the “rich” rich, not just the “mid- to upper middle class” rich) part of town was offered 40k from Michigan, though admittedly I can’t remember if that was one time only or renewed per year. Merit aid is a crapshoot, particularly for OOS students…honestly, I’m almost pretty sure it’s completely random. But I was able to get some money from outside scholarships. That’s probably your best bet. Good luck!

If it is a scholarship from UMich, it should be renewable. The question is whether that $40k is per year or for 4 years combined. You know some schools report it one way or the other. $40k is a very big scholarship from UMich. The typical large ones are only $20k per year for OOS ($8k-$10k for in state). It is no secret that CoE wants to attract more girls to enroll.

^odds are very strong that’s one of the 10k annual scholarships for a total of 40. And just so you know, those aren’t specifically stat-based but are sometimes used as “need informed” scholarships to attempt to equalize access for talented students who possess a characteristic that might be underrepresented at the school. That can be anything, from geographical diversity, special skill, or socioeconomic diversity. Or just plain talent in a given area. Stats alone do not really drive merit at mich, IMHO.

D just received a letter informing her she has received $1500 Regents Scholarship (non renewable). Does that mean that’s all she’ll receive, or might more awards be forthcoming? She’s been accepted to LSA.

Regents are for the top 500 or so in state students. It is independent of other merit scholarships.

Hahaha, so how sure? 30 percent sure? 40 percent sure? It’s obviously not completely random as OOS kids lower on the stats spectrum essentially never receive merit money and all the merit scholarships have specific requirements on the kids they need to go to. I’ve personally talked with people in the FinAid office who handle these scholarships and they’re all hand selected. Different employees of that office handle different scholarships and pick the recipients every year.

You do need great stat to get a scholarship, however, having good stat alone is often not sufficient for some large scholarships. My D has much better stat then her friend but her friend got the Bells scholarship for instance. The freshmen merit aids are usually not need dependent. Nevertheless, most departmental scholarships need to demonstrate needs.