Merit Scholarships?

<p>I'm an OOS admit from California. I don't qualify for financial aid. Michigan is by far my top choice, but if I get into schools like Cal and UCLA, or even the University of Washington and University of Wisconsin, it would be absurd to pay between $12,000-$20,000 per year MORE to go to Michigan than those other schools. I've heard varying things about Michigan and how generous they are/aren't with Merit Scholarships. Obviously I'm not expecting to be a Shipman Scholar, but what percentage of out-of-state admits receive a decent chunk of merit-based aid? Even if Michigan gave me $15K/year, I'd be paying them a lot more than what an in-state kid would. What are merit scholarships based on? Just the obvious (GPA, Scores), or does it tend to be more subjective stuff (ECs, Essays, Recs)? Anyone who knows anything about this, tell me what to expect (or not expect)!</p>

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<p>$15,000 is more than the Shipman…</p>

<p>Not with housing costs included it isn’t! Regardless, I’m not even hoping for 15, that seems a bit much, my only point is that it wouldn’t be illogical for Michigan to be generous with merit money for out of state students as they’d increase their OOS yield rate and still gross more money from the OOS kids than the in-staters.</p>

<p>If you were paying $15k less a year more than you would be matching in-state prices for UC’s. Michigan and merit scholarships aren’t really two things that are mentioned together very often.</p>

<p>The merit scholarships for OOS kids are few and far between. Last year my S was accepted Early Action into the honors college at Michigan. He received a 4 yr full tuition scholarship from one of our reputable in state public universities and a 4 yr huge merit scholarship from an OOS top notch private university. But the M came through with $0. (and my wife and I are both graduates of U of M). Needless to say he did not attend U of Mich.</p>

<p>Similar story to racquetdad, but three years ago. DD is OOS for Michigan and was accepted early although she did not send in the honors application. She was a NMS (semi-finalist at the time of app) with an A average and nearly perfect SATs, plus great ECs. Full tuition at Pitt and University of Maryland (flagship, which is fairly unusual). $0 at Michigan. </p>

<p>People do get money, but I have no idea what they are lookng for when they make their selections.</p>