Merit Scholarships

<p>Hi everyone. I have a few questions regarding Purdue and their merit scholarships. Hopefully someone here can fill me in.</p>

<p>First off, here's my current, abbreviated stats:</p>

<p>High school junior, applying for engineering Fall 2012
In-state
GPA: 4.0 UW
Re-calculated Purdue GPA: 4.0 UW*
Classes: Will have 5 AP's (all that our school offers), plus an additional 3 dual-credit classes. All other classes I took that offered honors, I took**
SAT: 1860 (690 M, 610 CR, 560 W)***
Ex-C's: Not very many, but I have a great seasonal (summer) job that I think pretty much makes up for it. I can list EC's and explain if necessary.</p>

<p><em>Purdue's re-calculated GPA takes into account A- grades. Our school doesn't do anything but a simple A, B, C, etc. I believe the A is all that will show up on the transcript. I know I had some classes where I would have received an A- if our school made that classification. Did I just sort of luck out here in comparison to schools that do use the A- system?
</em>The AP classes are also dual-credit for a total of 8 college credit classes. The dual-credit is through a local (Indiana), public university.
*
*This was my first time taking the full SAT and I didn't do any preparation whatsoever. I found this site and have begun to prepare using tips on here, as well as the SAT blue book I just bought. I'm retaking it in June. I fully expect 1900+ and wouldn't be that surprised with 2000+ either this next go around. Also, does Purdue take each section's highest score (even if you did worse on a section the 2nd time around) aka superscore? I'm also taking the ACT in June, but I'm only planning on sending those scores if they're actually good. I think I may be able to do better on the ACT, which is why I decided to take it also.</p>

<p>Ok, now that that's out of the way... In what score range are those who are receiving the presidential and trustee's merit scholarships? In other words, where does my SAT and/or ACT need to be to actually have a shot at receiving one of these?</p>

<p>And since I'm on a question-asking roll, from what I've read on here, my chances of admission to engineering are pretty good, correct?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading. I appreciate any and all help.</p>

<p>We have the same stats (except my SAT math score is higher, and my GPA is slightly lower).
I did not qualify for a scholarship and seeing as your stats are close to the same, at this time, I don’t think you would either. (But yet again, you are in-state and may get some of the in-state scholarships.)</p>

<p>You should get into Purdue engineering. (I got in, so with similar score you should too, but I know of people who applied after the November 15 deadline with our stats and didn’t get in. So if you apply before November 15, you should be fine.)</p>

<p>From what I’ve seen their merit scholarships are heavily based on ACT/SAT scores. And those who received one and posted here had at least a 34 ACT or 2200(?) SAT. Also I had similar stats except higher SAT and didn’t get one so ya…</p>

<p>When I talked to a counselor from Purdue, they said they already have notified the people who the awards. You might want to call them just to make sure though.</p>

<p>elmons, </p>

<p>I’m not applying until the Fall of 2012 semester. The general information I’m looking for is what ACT/SAT scores those receiving merit scholarships have, so I know what I need to aim for when I retake ACT/SAT in June.</p>

<p>Honestly, i think the merit scholarships are a lot less dependent on your SAT/ACT scores. Purdue used to give out their merit scholarships solely based on SAT/ACT scores and GPA. However, this year they changed to “holistic” review, and this approach really benefited me. I received two 1940s on the SAT. First 1940 was a 770 math score, and horrible english scores. Second 1940 was a 640 verbal, 620 writing, and 680 math. However, my gpa was really high, like really near 4.0 unweighted (took as many classes as I possibly could in high school and got A’s in almost all. also took all my school’s hardest courses). I had a ton of EC’s, leadership positions in a lot of them, and 300+ hours of volunteer work. I think they really liked my essay about my leadership positions and my leadership style. I’m an Indiana resident so that might have factored in, and I got the $8000 presidential scholarship and got into UHP which only admits 140 students per year out of the freshman applicants.</p>

<p>So, basically, I don’t think the SAT score is that important if you work hard and the rest of your app is stellar. However, don’t get me wrong. SAT scores are important, but I just don’t think they were as important as they used to be.</p>

<p>Well heres the thing: i have a 4.0 unweighted GPA, after this year i will have taken 8 ap exames, my superscored SAT is a 2100 (740 m, 680 cr, 680 w) and i didnt get anything. Neither did my friend. and yes, we did submit the apps before November 15. i have to cross purdue off the list of my colleges because of this.</p>

<p>Purdue does not superscore- FWIW</p>

<p>I also read somewhere that a 3.8+ is safe for a merit scholarship.
Is it safe to assume that a 3.75 is sufficient?</p>

<p>no – there is no formula, no score cut-offs. This year there were a number of posts on this website as well as the Facebook parent group page which would indicate contradictory information. Apparently there used to be set criteria, but now the money goes to the “top 15%” determined in a “holistic” manner. The stats also varied by college within the university. Good luck in your future application!</p>

<p>As stated above with the new ‘holistic’ approach there is no way to determine aid based on stats.</p>

<p>My son has a 3.92 (U) GPA (4.26 (W)) and on Purdue’s recomputed GPA based on core classes a 3.97.</p>

<p>He received a 31 on his ACT (just shy of the 32 to be accepted into the honor’s program) and his highest (non-superscored) SAT was 2050. He also received a 750 on the SAT Math II subject test.</p>

<p>He is currently president of his school’s Spanish club and has completed a 6 week study abroad program in Mexico, he is the vice president of the science club, he has participated in the drama club and school choir throughout high school and for the last 2 years has received gold medals at the regional vocal solo&ensemble competition and competed at the state level (receiving a state gold medal his junior year), he participates on his school’s speech/forensics team and placed high enough with his team mate on their duo performance in sectionals to compete at the state competition. He is also a member of his school’s National Honor Society.</p>

<p>For the past two years he has volunteered a significant amount during the summer with Habitat for Humanity and plans to continue that again this year (the construction site supervisor wrote him a letter of reference for school’s/scholarships that cared about references). He also has done some other short term volunteer projects such as cleaning up the town park.</p>

<p>However during their ‘holistic’ review Purdue did not grant him any merit based money. Another student at his school that is in most of his classes and almost all of the same extra-curriculars, but has a lower GPA and lower test scores was awarded a $4000 merit scholarship. (Both accepted to engineering, so not a matter of different schools looking for different stats).</p>

<p>But, it’s OK, we just paid our deposit last night and my son will be leaving our home state of Indiana to go where he has been accepted into the honor’s college and awarded a full tution merit scholarship. Thank you Purdue for contributing to Indiana’s brain drain!</p>