Anyone receive notification about a merit scholarship? They usually come out around this time every year.
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Yes, I received it about a week ago.
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How does ND define “merit” for its merit scholarships? Test scores? Grades? Or is there a holistic component too?
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Applicants must be invited to apply. When my DS and DD went through the process a couple years ago, the merit scholarship application involved a 2 minute video plus several more essays. Then, a subset gets invited to an interview weekend. Definitely holistic.
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Thanks for the info. But what about the initial invitation to apply - is that strictly merit/scores/grades or is that holistic too?
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@PuppyM Invitation to apply for Notre Dame merit aid certainly is based on more than solely GPA/Test Scores:
“Merit-Based Assistance
The University of Notre Dame offers a limited number of merit scholarships to admitted first-year students. Recipients demonstrate exceptional accomplishment, leadership, commitment to service, and intellectual promise. Financial need is not a factor unless otherwise noted.”
Just below 3% of incoming First-Year students ultimatly will receive some form of merit aid, which is why Notre Dame invites all students to apply for need based financial aid:
“Admitted Students Should Apply for Need-based Financial Aid
We offer generous need-based assistance that you should apply for regardless of your merit aspirations. Around three percent of admitted students receive merit aid, but need-based financial aid is an option open to many more students.”
https://financialaid.nd.edu/prospective-students/funding/merit-based-assistance/
Also, merit based scholarships will replace to a large degree need based financial aid and visa versa, which is why net impact might be marginal for affected students:
“Please note: Students who receive both merit scholarship and need-based scholarship from the University are subject to reduction or elimination of need-based federal and institutional financial aid in accordance with federal regulations and institutional policy.”
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@hpcsa Thanks. The ND website lists quite a few merit scholarships. 24 to be exact. Have email notifications been sent out for all 24 scholarships?
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@PuppyM Notre Dame Merit and Need-Based Awards are in the name of the respective donors. The merit process requires an application to apply, not to the individual programs but to the university. This process is described below in some detail. If you haven’t heard from the Notre Dame Scholars’ Program by the early February, you should assume that you haven’t been selected. Notre Dame strongly recommends that all admitted students apply for financial aid.
"Selection Process
In partnership with numerous benefactors and foundations, the University of Notre Dame offers a variety of scholarship awards based on various criteria. Merit scholarship award recipients are selected from the pool of students who apply to Notre Dame according to its Restrictive Early Action and Regular Decision admissions deadlines.
Semifinalists for scholarship awards are invited to submit additional materials in late January following their application for admission. Following review of these materials, finalists are invited to a campus visit weekend that includes interviews, social activities, and academic experiences.
All applicants follow Notre Dame’s regular procedures for applying for admission and financial aid. The award selection process complements these procedures. We strongly recommend that all applicants to Notre Dame apply for financial aid.
Selection Timeline During Year of Application to Notre Dame
November 1 Restrictive Early Action Deadline
January 1 Regular Decision Deadline
January/Early February Invitations issued to semifinalists to apply for merit scholarship awards
February Invitations issued to finalists to interview during a campus visit weekend
March Notre Dame Scholars’ Visit
April Merit scholarship award decisions issued
May 1 Deadline to accept award and confirm attendance"
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@hpcsa Above, “anervoussenior” writes that he/she received the initial email notification for a merit scholarship around January 19. My question was whether the initial email notifications for ALL of the 24 scholarships have already been sent?
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@PuppyM Call the Notre Dame Scholars’ Program and ask them. As mentioned above, there are no notifications by individual scholarship program.
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@hpcsa From ND website: “The Notre Dame Scholars’ Program selects prospective first-year Notre Dame students to receive merit-based scholarship awards … [ND] currently offers more than 20 [24] such scholarships.”
Thus the email notifications come from ND itself inviting admittees to apply for specific scholarship programs. “anervoussenior” above received one on Jan 19. Is that it for ND’s initial email notifications? In other words, does the Notre Dame Scholars’ Program send them out all at once (Jan 19) or over time?
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@PuppyM This seems to be a somewhat theoretical conversation, as you/your student hasn’t been invited to apply for Notre Dame Merit Aid yet.
Nevertheless, this is the process: Students inivited to apply will be under consideration for all scholarships for which they fit the designated criteria. This does not include the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program or Stamps Scholars Program, as those are separate programs with separate applications. Notre Dame will identify scholarship criteria matches as they will review applicants’ supplemental materials.
Again, the first and required step in this process for REA accepted and applying RD students is to receive a scholarship application invite from Notre Dame. It will be best to delve into any additional individual specifics once scholarship invitations have been received by the student, as the invitation itself will clarify most of those questions. Best of luck!
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Even if you are invited to apply for a merit scholarship, the likelihood of actually getting one is very slim. First you must be invited. I believe last year about 200 were invited. Last year my son had put create a video submission and respond to some essay questions. He did not make the next cut, where they invite about 100 students for a couple of days on campus for interviews and other activities. From that 100 students, they choose those who receive the scholarships.
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Was your son offered admission anyway? Thanks
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@Fremont45 Notre Dame invites selectively from the admitted REA and to be admitted RD pools to apply for limited merit aid. This is what @WinLover referres to in his/her post.
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@hpcsa Thank you for the information. My child applied RD for admission, and was invited to apply for a merit scholarship. He submitted the materials Sunday. We were hoping that, even if he doesn’t get the scholarship, it was a good sign that he would likely get admitted. He is very excited as it is his first choice.
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@Fremont45 You are very welcome and congratulations to your son and and the whole family! Notre Dame being his first choice - to RD applicants this serves as an early notice of admission - perfect! He simply should see the invitation to apply for merit aid as an additional bonus, if he gets it great, if not he can already plan on being admitted to the ND Class of 2024! Notre Dame meets full financial need, if any, and additional merit aid would in this case simply replace some of it, which is why merit aid works best for full-pay families. Again congratulations!
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Even if you are not full pay, an ND merit scholarship has benefits. It replaces the loan portion and the work study portion of your financial aid package first (no loans!), then replaces FA grants. Also, if your income situation changes in later years - thus changing need-based financial aid amount - the student still has the merit scholarship as long as they maintain the minimum GPA required (if any).
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In any event, OP will pay as an absolute minimum their family contribution, as defined by the ND Office of Financial Aid.
In our case we have not experienced federal work-study to be displaced, which is a very good thing for our DD as it provides her with pocket money during the academic year and with additional on-campus work experience. What we did notice, comparing “before and after FANs” however was that previous federal subsidized loans had been fully replaced by unsubsidized loans, an unwelcome change. As we had expected, Notre Dame did not stack scholarships and therefore effectively displaced proportional parts of earlier university grant eligibility.
I would therefore suggest that the net FA impact will differ from family to family, based on individual circumstances. This is not to say that merit aid is not a good thing, given that just below 3% of admitted ND First-Year students will receive any, yet that it clearly would not be correct to assume that any awarded merit aid would come on top of the FA Aid the student is eligible for at Notre Dame, other than for full-pay families who will receive the full benefit of any merit aid scholarship, given there is nothing to displace.
My experience with ND merit scholarships is from a couple years ago.
Here is what it says on the ND website now: https://financialaid.nd.edu/toolbox/frequently-asked-questions/#17
The FAQ is kind of vague about Notre Dame merit scholarships:
“Those who receive both merit scholarship and need-based scholarship from the University are subject to reduction or elimination of need-based federal and institutional financial aid in accordance with federal regulations and institutional policy.”
But the FAQ about other merit scholarships is clearer:
“As a guide, if a student receives aid beyond that which is listed on the Financial Aid Notification, their financial assistance may be adjusted by reducing or eliminating the Notre Dame Subsidized Loan, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Direct Subsidized Loan.”
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