<p>My sister just got accepted to Brandeis today; however, the folder she received contained no information about merit scholarships. I’ve heard that Brandeis offers a lot of merit money, so we were a little surprised not to receive anything. Is information about merit aid only sent with the acceptance letter or is there a chance that she’ll be getting something else in the next few days?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for the response(s)!</p>
<p>I was wondering the samw thing…daughter get her blue folder with the acceptance letter, but nothing about $$$</p>
<p>I think an admissions officer from Brandeis posted on another thread that the merit scholarships are all handed out in the acceptance package, unfortunately.
I got a 2500 dollar a year “Trustee Scholarship” but that was all… the financial aid was pretty terrible and I definitely can’t afford to go to Brandeis.
I was really hoping for some more merit, but c’est la vie.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that, ChandlerBing. $2500 isn’t much, but it’s better than $0!</p>
<p>I got my acceptance today, and a little sheet was included in my folder, so I would assume that’s how they handle it. Sorry to hear that, I assumed Brandeis to have good financial aid since they gave me $42,000 combined need and merit based scholarships.</p>
<p>That’s impressive, what merit scholarships did you get?
I had no demonstrated need, according to them… ugh.</p>
<p>That’s too bad, ChandlerBing (love your name)! Brandeis has never given good aid to anybody I know who has gotten in. Personally, I received about $5,000 all in loans and work study! That definitely would not cut it if not for the merit scholarship I got - if I hadn’t gotten that, Brandeis would no longer be in the running for me either. I’m sure everybody who is turned away from Brandeis because of poor aid will find a place in another excellent school.</p>
<p>Alumni and Friends Scholarship - $34,390
Federal Loan - $5500
Work Study - $2500</p>
<p>So most was merit, thankfully.</p>
<p>D was a special application acceptance from back in February. No merit was included at the time. We were surprised. D’s profile is almost identical to her cousin that years ago received a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>We waited a week and H finally called admissions. They promised to answer in 24 hours. When the third day came w/o a response, he called again. He was told that yes if D was to receive merit it would have been included with the acceptance.</p>
<p>When we initially visited Brandies, H pressed a particular point, which was why does Brandies claim to offer merit scholarships when they require every student (even those not applying for FA) to submit FA documents in order to be considered for “merit only” scholarships?" H was assured that that FA info was not uses when establishing merit offers. This answer was met with laughter by the audience. H pressed this point again with admissions and continued to press a little further. But the interesting comment that was made was that the TOTAL amount Brandies is giving out this year for FA + MERIT has stayed the same but what is different are the ratios ie this year more money is being given out in FA and less is being given out in MERIT for the same TOTAL as last year.</p>
<p>Admissions may have misstated things but that is what my husband got out of the conversation.</p>
<p>smoda61 - my H also went ballistic went he realized we had to submit financial info just so D could be considered for merit aid - the only school she applied to with that requirement. she was accepted ED with no merit aid, which was a little surprising given her profile and the offers she had received from a couple of other schools. while Brandeis does award merit aid to ED applicants, I suspect it is very little relative to RD, where they need merit aid to yield the best students.</p>
<p>For all of you who didn’t get merit money and think you deserve it - call admissions in mid April. Ask them nicely to reconsider the money package. Keep calling until you are satisfied that they have reconsidered. I have a positive story in that regard with my daughter from a few years back.</p>
<p>It is a nice thought and we will consider it but when my husband called late February he asked if there was an appeal process and he was told “no”. We’ll keep it in mind though.</p>
<p>WorkingMom2005: Thanks for that advice, after I receive all my college decisions I will probably call Brandeis and try to appeal the aid I got. We’ll see if it works.</p>
<p>WorkingMom- It’s a nice thought, but I don’t think they’d honestly be of any help, especially since they didn’t give S anything in the first place.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it cannot hurt to try.</p>
<p>WorkingMom2005-</p>
<p>I sent you a PM…</p>
<p>Collegebound_09, I sent you a PM back with my phone #. I will be happy to share the details.</p>
<p>I’m also the parent of a Brandeis U potential student that was accepted, but no merit. His stats & EC’s were pretty good. Any potential advice on appeal would be appreciated!!</p>
<p>-John</p>
<p>BillysDad,
This is an old thread, from last year. I believe that Brandeis is giving out less merit aid this year because they were hit hard with the Madoff scandal as well as the general loss of endowment because of the economic downturn.</p>
<p>my son got the package last weekend. we didn’t apply FA. He got $3500 summer internship money (The Lerman-Neubauer Fellowship Program). They usually offer up to 20 kids each year.</p>
<p>My D was accepted with the Feb 15th group of invited students. We received the FA letter with the acceptance. Although we do not qualify for any need base FA she did receive the Dean’s Scholarship $15,000. It has put Brandeis high on her list now.</p>