<p>Can Hamp students who do or have received merit aid share their stats? Thanks!</p>
<p>Our son had a Non Satis Scire merit scholarship, which amounted to $7,500 annually (that particular scholarship is worth more now). He had a 3.4 high school GPA and total SATs of about 1950. His extracurricular activities were almost entirely off-campus, except for his participation in the Model U.N.program. He also had extraordinary teacher recommendations because he was so vocal and participatory in classes.</p>
<p>Our daughter has a Dean’s Scholarship of $3,000 annually. She had a 3.2 high school GPA and total SATs of about 1800. She had tons of high school extracurricular activities (band leader, lead actress in plays, starting player in soccer and softball), in addition to an overseas exchange semester and youth group leadership in her local Temple. </p>
<p>We were a little surprised at the disparity in merit aid between our kids, but as I noted, it may very well be the difference in teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>One last point: we were a little too naive about how overall financial aid was calculated. The merit aid our kids received was added into the amount that our family could pay (total financial aid offer package), thereby reducing the amount of need-based aid to which we were entitled. Our son’s merit aid meant that we were essentially entitled to no need-based aid. If he had not received the merit aid, we would have been entitled to need-based aid of a similar amount.</p>
<p>ALF-- I remember your saying at least one of your kids was admitted ED. Do you remember when (Dec., Feb., April) they let you know about the merit award? I always thought ED’s were only eligible for need-based FA, and that Merit funds (except National, of course) were reserved for EA and RD candidates in an effort to “woo” them. It’s all new to me!</p>
<p>Our son was admitted ED and was offered the NSC scholarship at that time (mid- to late December). I too wondered if it was wise to apply ED, because it might mean that merit aid would not be extended.</p>
<p>Our daughter was admitted EA, and my recollection is that she was not extended any merit-based scholarship offers at that time (mid- to late February), and was only offered the Dean’s Scholarship later (I don’t remember when, but month or two later).</p>
<p>According to the Hampshire Web site (<a href=“Deadlines and Notifications | Hampshire College):%5B/url%5D”>Deadlines and Notifications | Hampshire College):</a></p>
<p>“Early Decision candidates who seek need-based financial aid will receive a preliminary financial aid award, provided that the CSS/PROFILE is submitted in a timely manner; merit-based scholarships are also awarded to Early Decison candidates.”</p>
<p>Correction: Our son had a 3.6 uncorrected GPA, our daughter had a 3.4 uncorrected GPA.</p>
<p>I applied RD. I got the Non Satis Scire scholarship, which is 10K a year. It’s also deferrable, which is good because I’m not starting till spring.</p>
<p>SAT I: 710CR/600M/740W (2050 total)
SAT II: 710 Literature; I sent them Bio too but that score is unspeakable 
GPA: 3.2ish unweighted</p>
<p>One of my teacher recs was excellent, one was pretty generic (just guessing-- I didn’t look at them). I had distinguished writing credentials (Scholastic, YoungArts, NCTE, Iowa Young Writers) and a bit of school activism. I also sent in a creative writing sample.</p>