Merit Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

<p>I know that Vanderbilt has some big merit based scholarships for full tuition etc but do they offer any smaller merit packages? </p>

<p>Just wondering, not sure if my daughter is going to stand out enough to get one of the big packages but was wondering if there was anything in between full tuition and nothing. Thanks! She will not qualify for any need based monies.</p>

2

<p>Yes, there are some smaller scholarships. There is no application process; I suppose they are just handed out as Vanderbilt sees fit. I believe many of them are a combination of merit and need based; not sure how many are available for pure merit.</p>

3

<p><a href=“Additional Merit Scholarships | Scholarships | Vanderbilt University”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/scholarships/additional.php&lt;/a&gt;
Vanderbilt is very generous

  • National Merit finalists who do not receive an additional merit scholarship from Vanderbilt will receive a total of $5,000 per year in National Merit or Achievement scholarship from all sources (with Vanderbilt supplementing any smaller corporate or one-time National Merit Corporation awards).Students must designate Vanderbilt as their first choice school with the National Merit Corporation
  • Vanderbilt offers a limited number of merit-based scholarships in amounts varying from $8,000 per year up to full-tuition. The majority of these awards are based solely on academic achievement, but several have specific qualifications. Vanderbilt also awards scholarships designated for students residing in Houston, Texas, and selected counties in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
  • Vanderbilt had the third highest number of NM Scholars (260), behind only U of Chi (314) and Harvard (268). <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf&lt;/a&gt; at pp. 32-34.</p>
4

<p>Just wondering if she isn’t a National Merit if there is anything else out there for her that isn’t need based. Not sure if those kids are getting any merit money or not. </p>

5

<p>I think it is important to prepare for no merit at Vandy (and any private school), not for yourself but to help you model realistic positive outlooks as your student braces themselves. Reality testing is awfully important as career plans and grad school preparations are made in the coming four years. Our eldest was admitted to Vandy with zero merit money. He had perks (summer stipends, honors privileges) at three other colleges but only his flagship colleges were significantly less expensive than full pay private. We really were naive with the first son. Even his less selective private schools admitted him with things like Early Write letters of admission but no significant merit money except perks. March and April are times where your student has to congratulate/celebrate the good news of others and comfort disappointed classmates. Best to be parentally upbeat on your financial match college no matter what comes. Magical thinking is for the young, the inexperienced and the uncertain. As the decisions come in, there will be very little diff between those admitted, waitlisted and denied. There is also very little diff between merit winners and the profiles of admitted students who are full pay at Vandy. What may be different depending on your family circumstances, is what you can offer your son or daughter re support in their graduate school and professional training rounds. That is what you have to weigh out in April. Med school, Law school and MBA programs are examples of potentially very expensive pathways with little underwriting or reduced tuition. One of my sons is aiming for law school and our state flagship law school considers parental income until he turns 29 years of age. Many med schools consider grad school to be a “family responsibility”. This is a reality that our guidance counselors never talked about. </p>

6

<p>Thank you. We were planning on no merit money but because everyone keeps talking about how generous Vanderbilt was I thought I’d ask. </p>

7

<p>VU is “generous”, but with need-based money. There’s very little merit money available, and obviously there is tough competition for all of it. As others have said, you can’t count on the merit money, even for a highly qualified student. The NMS finalist money is the only one that a student can be assured of if he/she qualifies.</p>

8

<p>Ok, good to know. Thank you for your replies everyone!</p>

9

<p>Any idea when it will be released?</p>