<p>Just a quick post to hopefully clear things up…I found an old thread in the OSU discussions about parents/students’ disappointment with the merit aid provided by the university. I know they’re kind of stingy with scholarships in a lot of cases, but I’d like to get an idea of what kind of scores/academic ranking you actually need for these. For example, provost requires a 29 on the ACT and a top 10% HS rank…has anyone gotten these scholarships who was over-qualified in one area but didn’t meet the requirement in the other (maybe had a 27 on the act but was in the top 3% of his/her class and still got the provost). In my case I have a 33 on the ACT and rank 38/356, which is just over the 10% cutoff. Has anyone else been in this situation and still recieved/been denied merit scholarships? My family’s pretty low income, so I’ll still receive a good chunk of need-based aid, but every little bit helps. So thanks for any info</p>
<p>My daughter was top 10% of her class and had a 27 composite ACT and got nothing in Merit even though her numbers supposedly qualified her for the academic achievement scholarship. I don’t believe those scholarships are guaranteed if you meet the stats, much less offered if you’re not completely qualified.</p>
<p>Mm that’s what I was afraid of 
I went on a visit recently and the admissions counselors said that (supposedly) students in the freshman 2014/2015 class who applied before the Nov. 1st priority deadline all recieved the scholarships they qualified for. Did your daughter apply before the deadline? Not trying to pry, just want to get a sense of whether or not it’s worth it to apply before November 1st</p>
<p>She applied early action, and she met all of the FAFSA priority deadlines too. We still don’t know why she got nothing in merit from the school itself. This is my first child in college so I just assumed the scholarships weren’t given to everyone with the listed stats. </p>
<p>My daughter had high test scores and was a National Merit Finalist, but was not in the top 10%–she was from a very competitive in-state public high school, however–and she did receive merit scholarships. They told me that OSU was aware of the different high schools within the state, and was more lenient about the ranking of students in some of those schools–I think that the test scores are more important than the ranking.</p>
<p>My son had a 34 ACT. His high school officially doesn’t rank–very competitive school which only accepts 50% of applicants, and the average ACT of their graduates is 28. If the high school did rank, my son would not have been in the top 10% as he had an 89 gpa. He also missed 40+ days his sophomore and junior years due to a health issue that is thankfully now under control. Despite all that, even with a 34 ACT, since he wasn’t top 10% he was only given a small scholarship…$1200/year. He also wasn’t admitted to Honors either. He asked for additional consideration regarding Honors given the competitiveness of his high school and his health issues. They did respond indicating they would reconsider but later decided the original decisions were final. They seem to take a very hard line with the requirements. Oh, and his application was in by October with an acceptance in November, so timing didn’t seem to be the issue. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the info…obviously a little disappointing to hear, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed (and filling out some applications to other schools, as much as I would love to go to OSU)</p>
<p>The aid at OSU is abysmal for instate- D16 will probably get the ACT score but not the class rank anyway. It’s disappointing that they spend so much more time and money courting out of state students. </p>