Does anyone know if UMich offers merit scholarships before or after you send in your acceptance/deposit?
Before. We called the admissions office with another question, and they said that the scholarship committee starts reviewing the applications and deciding on merit scholarships around now.
So if you don’t get accepted EA, then you’re not as likely to get merit scholarships?
My D was admitted regular decision last year, notified of acceptance in the second half of January (can’t remember specific date). She received a merit scholarship - notified of that in first half of February. I believe there are some scholarships that do require EA, however. In general, the earlier you apply and get accepted the better.
We personally know 3 UMich students who got their merit scholarships way after the first round of large-merit scholarships (e.g. Stamps/Shipman/LSA/CoE Freshman Scholarships) have been decided in Jan/Feb.
All 3 had either perfect or nearly perfect test-scores, perfect unweighted GPA with highest rigor, and few activities that represented their passion/interest very well. All were in-state students who had full-ride offers from other Universities. All happened in the past 4 years (different cohorts).
Students#1 & 2: used their merit-based full-ride-and-stipend offers from other top-tier Univ to negotiate with UMich around Spring; both ended up being offered UMich’s largest merit-scholarship a few weeks before the May 1st acceptance deadline.
Student#3: did not get anything from UMich initially, but decided to choose UMich over the school that offered full-ride. The family chose to attend the earliest New Student Orientation in June, not only so that she could register for classes earlier, but also to ask for merit scholarships (in case some students decided not to take theirs) before the fund got depleted. She was directed to the proper channel by the Orientation coordinator, and at the end of her orientation session, she was offered one of CoE’s largest freshman scholarships forfeited by students who decided not to attend UMich.
So, all 3 successfully used their full-ride offers from other schools as their bargaining chips with UMich. And btw, all 3 were accepted to UMich via EA round.
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The major scholarships are automatically considered when one applies to EA. There are some scholarships available to students admitted by 2/1. After that, chance is much lower to get merit aid although it is not impossible. As pointed out above, there may be left over aids from declined students after may 1 that can be re-distributed. My friends’ daughter got a small one in mid Summer.
So, it’s worth waiting to tell them you’re enrolling? If you tell them you are enrolling and send in your deposit, it would be less likely that you’d get a merit scholarship?
If you’re still waiting to compare scholarship/financial packages from other schools, then it’s best to wait until you have all the details you need to make more informed decision. This was what Students# 1&2 from my previous post did. They waited until they had all the full-ride-n-stipend offers in writing from comparable universities before bringing them to UMich to negotiate for their scholarships. (I don’t know if UMich would match anything from low-tier or no-name schools; someone jokingly said that UMich would probably send the candidates away with “Best Wishes to you at SchoolX”.)
If you don’t have anything to use as your bargaining chip, but you’re sure that you want to attend UMich (if accepted), then playing the waiting game may not gain you much of anything.
Do you know what schools these students had full rides to? My daughter has a full ride from a lower tier school, but substantial offers from some well known private schools. If we want to ask about merit scholarships, is the best advice to get an appointment with a financial aid counselor and bring your various offers? Also, what is the time frame generally for the merit based scholarship award letters? Thanks for any advice.
By “low-tier” and “no-name” schools, I meant those either ranked very low nationally, or not ranked at all by USWN&R. So, if your daughter has a full ride from a “lower tier” (but not necessarily “low tier”) school that’s respectably ranked, I can only assume that she may still have the chance (but I don’t know for sure, having only very limited 3 data points). It won’t hurt to start this discussion with UMich. In fact, student#3 above might’ve been in similar situation as your D. Her full-ride was from another very respectable public U in Michigan, as well as some substantial offers from other schools. (Sorry, I’m uneasy to reveal too much about the school names, etc.)
In regards to the timing for award letters, I believe it’s between Jan-Mar for the first round of recipients. When Students #1&2 didn’t get anything by 2nd half of March, they decided to contact directly the departments they were interested in (they happened to know the faculties there, having taken classes there while still in HS), and brought along their full-ride offers, along with other substantial offers from different schools. By first half of April, they received their UMich scholarship award letters.
I’m not sure if Student#3 contacted Financial Aid counselor first or not before May 1st, or just directly spoke with the staff at her New Student Orientation in early June.
In any case, it’s best to keep in mind not to use the other offers as “threats” when discussing the possibilities with UMich. Be humble, and show respect & genuine interest in attending UMich.
Best wishes to your D! 
Question: If I am already admitted to the University, when will merit scholarships be announced to me if I happen to get one?
My understanding (from reading CC & talking to limited few) is that: recipients of major or large ones are typically notified between January - March. However, some smaller or minor ones could still be offered to students post March until scholarship fund is depleted.
Ok, thanks so much!
Thank you very much for your insight.
Good luck to you all!
Son got a message today about a scholarship competition. It was only a voicemail so I am curious if anyone knows what this is for. She said 16 students were chosen from LSA and she would love for him to come for the weekend. That seems like very few students, but it wasn’t clear if he was awarded a scholarship or an invitation to compete for one. Anyone? Hopefully we will find out tomorrow but I thought maybe someone had experience with this. Thanks!
This article is a tad old (2009), but perhaps similar to this… 16 LSA out of 50 University-wide?
http://www.cadillacnews.com/news_story/?issue=20090527&story_id=885527&year=2009
Students selected to interview for the Shipman Scholarship are typically notified around now. You can search CC for last year’s threads about the Shipman.
^ X_X
@musicmom2015 Please post when you find out what this is. Michigan seems to be one of the less transparent schools when it comes to merit aid, but at least they offer it!