<p>Is it possible and what it takes to get a merit scholarship to NYU or NYU-Poly? What kind of stats or achievements one should have to be even considered for these? And what are the possible amount of those?</p>
<p>I’m going into CAS this year and I applied to both Poly and CAS separately. I had a 4.0 unweighed and 31 on the ACT along with pretty good recs/essays/resume</p>
<p>I got approximately 30K in merit scholarship from NYU. Poly gave me about 7K in merit, 2K for being a woman, and around 9K in school grants. Poly’s total cost of attendance before any aid was lower, but I’m don’t think that will be the case this year.</p>
<p>I really don’t know what the top scholarship amounts given are at both schools. I know of one person who got quite a bit more money than I did (from NYU), but it was entirely grants.</p>
<p>If you have financial need, you did not get true merit aid. NYU awards very little true merit aid. Yes, your award it is presented to you as merit aid by NYU and is given a name that says so. And it was given to you because NYU wants you to attend based on your accomplishments. But it is still need-based. If your EFC was above the cost of attendance, you would not be eligible for it. The only true merit aid awards at NYU (that do not have any need component) are the Martin Luther King Scholarship, talent awards (art, music, theatre, film) and some very specific awards for women in science and science competition winners.</p>
<p>I think the OP was referring to true merit aid that is not need based.</p>
<p>My EFC was just under the cost of attendance and I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw the award :)</p>
<p>I’ve only ever heard nasty things about NYU’s aid and it nearly scared me off from even applying, but I’m really glad I didn’t let it stop me.</p>
<p>Believe it or not even having an EFC just under the cost of attendance, makes you eligible for money in the form of merit/ financial aid at NYU. However, if your EFC is above the cost of attendance, you are disqualified except from the few true merit awards I mentioned above.</p>
<p>Congrats to you!</p>
<p>I crossed NYU off my list when i heard about their terrible financial aid : P</p>
<p>i would actually encourage you to apply to NYU. I thought the same way you did but decided to apply anyway and see what would happen. I ended up getting close to a full ride b/c of a great merit scholarship and now here i am at NYU. I know people who didn’t get any merit scholarships but tremendous aid b/c of their financial situation - also close to full rides. If you are a competitive candidate NYU wants they will give you a lot of aid!</p>
<p>qwertyzxc…what were your stats?</p>
<p>@qwerty, in that case, could u post ur rough stats so i can get an idea of who gets huge merit aid?</p>
<p>It is not all about the stats b/c there are plenty of people here with borderline perfect stats. Its about your impact inside & outside the classroom. I had about a 3.5 UW w/ and SAT Scores in the 99th Percentile. Just apply and you might find yourself pleasantly surprised w/ what you get re: financial aid. Plus NYU just recently announced a $1 billion financial aid fundraising campaign.</p>
<p>qwertyzxc you got substantial merit aid with a 3.5 UW GPA? I am really hoping this tread continues</p>
<p>At the time I applied I had around a 90 or 91 / 100 Average. Our grading scale was out of a 100. So I guess that would translate to roughly 3.5/3.6. But this average was unweighted as our school did not weight any of our classes including APs. Many merit scholars here are people who have gotten into other great schools like Stanford, Columbia, Yale but chose to come to NYU b/c of the perks of their scholarships.</p>
<p>My son (class of CAS 2011) got merit aid totally $125,000 over the course of his 4 years at NYU. My EFC was 11-13K. His SAT was 2230. White male, never met his dad, mom (me) never went to college. He went to a magnet HS here in Philly. </p>
<p>I cried when I got the FA papers. He graduated with less than 30K in loans. I paid my part with savings.</p>
<p>and YES, he has worked full time since graduation. What exactly moved NYU to be so generous to him is a mystery, but it worked out for us.</p>
<p>As Sueinphilly has said, it is worth applying especially if you have some need. Without any need, it gets trickier as NYU will not be able to grant you merit aid other than the MLK scholarship and talent scholarships in the arts. MLK is pretty competitive, but you will never know unless you try.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone who answered. Now, what kind of stats and ECs one should have to be concidered for MLK scholarship? Could AP scholar with high SATs, moderately high (~3.7 uw/4+w) GPA, and some really time-consuming, but not over-impressive ECs (very involved in her high school and some local community clubs/activities, but nothing competetively impressive on state/national/international level) hope to get it? Also, how much is it?</p>