Merit Scholarships

<p>Ok, good. That's what i thought it should be cuz that's the way other schools work. Actually, it's even better cuz it takes out workstudy. And it wouldn't make sense to take out grants first cuz then the scholarship would be pointless.</p>

<p>it does reduce what you pay overall it's not likely to reduce what you pay per year. if your EFC is 10k it doesnt matter whether they get you to that figure by scholarships or aid or both. if a scholarship gets you below that, then you would gain by getting the scholarship (unlikely with that figure and more likely the higher your EFC). i think that's the way it works.</p>

<p>I stand corrected</p>

<p>About scholarships, I knew that I would get need based for sure, but I didnt know if I would qualify for a merit based aid. But about 2 weeks after I was admitted, I recieved a letter saying that I was a "Trustee Distinguished Scholarship" recipient, and I was sooo excited that I recieved this honor. I am guaranteed to get 10K a year for four years. Yay!</p>

<p>CR - Congrats! What are your stats (EC's, scores) if you don't mind me asking?</p>

<p>thanks wemel. here are general stats:</p>

<ul>
<li>SAT I (by section): M: 730 CR: 750 W:720 2200 combined</li>
<li>SAT IIs: Math II: 750, Biology(M): 700, Spanish:730</li>
<li>GPA: 4.0 unweighed at HCC, Hopkins (summer precollege) and with tutors at home...</li>
<li>Rank:N/A</li>
<li>Other stats (Awards, etc.): Went to China through the Experiment in International Living, Spent this past summer at Johns Hopkins University completing two college courses(A's in both of them), Nat'l Merit Semi-finalist, National Hispanic Scholar, many Tennis awards, played piano for over ten years(although I didnt attend competitions, I have really found it enjoyable, and I wrote my long essay about piano)
I had one good rec from a teacher who has known me for possible ten years.
My dad runs a small flea market on weekends, and I help him manage it (put that as work experience/intern) Thats about it.</li>
</ul>

<p>CRbomber650, your name is misleading.</p>

<p>I am a teacher who has had all but one of my students who applied to Rice get in. Furthermore, although they say they give only about 10 percent of their freshman admits academic non-need based merit scholarships all but one of my students has received at lest half tuition fro four years. I have been impressed with the schools scholarships.</p>

<p>wow thats quite impressive. where do you teach?</p>

<p>mikenthemaddog-that is because I scored 65 on my PSAT, and I never thought I could pull of a score over 700. But on test day I surely suprised myself. :)
Too bad I cant change screen names w/o creating a new account...</p>

<p>Princeton Review says 18% of Rice students are on merit aid, though the validity of this is debatable I guess if someone cares to argue that they made it up.</p>

<p>Most of the merit scholarships in former years were for less than half tuition, but need-based aid picks up the slack for some people. I'd believe PR over a new poster (no offense intended, but anecdotal evidence from a new poster is not statistically very reliable. If he/she is legit, he/she must teach at a very elite school!)</p>

<p>1) The 10 percent figure came strqight from admissions on a visit last year when I suggested they must give a lot on academic money based on my students.
2)They said we had a strong applicant pool from our school.
3) Not elite at all. A public school out west where a lot on middle class parents wanted their top students to apply to Rice because it was known to be cheaper than Ivy league school.
4) I teach AP so I do know most of the kids were very good and many if not most were National Merit. Several had perfect SAT scores. I had dinner last night with the mom of a former student who went to Rice. He earned two full degrees in Electrical Engineering and English in fours years there and had a 4.0.
5) A good number chose to forgo the academic money and ended up at places like Stanford and MIT.
6) I know a person this year who was contacted by Rice, had the application fee waived and was asked to apply interim so he could be considered scholarship money. This person has already been accepted by MIT and Cal Tech
7) If you look at Rice's yield rate and the drop in the number of National Merit kids that go they might have increased the academic money to improve recruiting and to offset the fact that their tuition is not as much of a bargain as it used to be.</p>

<p>
[quote]
7) If you look at Rice's yield rate and the drop in the number of National Merit kids that go they might have increased the academic money to improve recruiting and to offset the fact that their tuition is not as much of a bargain as it used to be.

[/quote]

<a href="http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Selectivity-National_Merit_Scholars.asp?SnID=2%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Selectivity-National_Merit_Scholars.asp?SnID=2&lt;/a>
Here's the link for the National Merit Stats; the big drop in 05-06 scores is that they are only reporting entering students for that year, but total students for the other years. Rates look pretty stable for the last 5years, but they were higher prior to that. </p>

<p>107 (entering students ONLY) 05-06
392 (total students) 04-05
370 (total students) 03-04
384 (total students) 02-03
356 (total students) 01-02
391 (total students) 00-01</p>

<p>I think they are increasing merit money to try to attract top students and offset the tuition increases. They also do have some full engineering scholarships - other scholarships are smaller. oldolddad -sounds like your top students have fared well! :)</p>

<p>What is kind of sad is that I think more kids should have gone to Rice. For many it is the Houston image and unfortunately for kids from other parts of the country it does not seem to have the prestige of other schools. Every student I have known that attended loved it. I also think the campus and location are great. Finally, I find the whole place to be more friendly and less pretentious than many other schools. By the way, many of the sholarships were not for engineering majors. All around a great place to attend IMHO.</p>

<p>its an awesome place.. and yes a better image would be nice. But the best part is the small size... and I think capping it at 2800 people is perfect!</p>

<p>My friend got a Full Ride to Rice. Although that was through the Questbridge Scholarship program, not really one of the merit scholarships.</p>

<p>hold on when are you notified of merit aid. With the acceptance email or with the actual acceptance package?</p>

<p>probably the actual acceptance package</p>

<p>I was notified about the merit scholarship around one week after I heard I was accepted (ED-Dec.15), and they required me to confirm or decline the offer by January 2.</p>