This is the first year Miami gave merit scholarships based solely on GPA. In prior years the scholarship grid was GPA plus test score. It appears that they had many more high GPA students apply than anticipated, so it is likely the had to offer less to each individual student as they, like all schools, have a limited pool of scholarship dollars.
Also, as mentioned by @ab4924, Miami increased their top merit range for both in and out of state students this year. This is likely an attempt to attract students to the new Honors College. Most public schools give limited or no merit to out of state students. Miami is extremely generous to out of state students. They do seem to give less financial aid than some schools, but for many families that is more than offset by the generous merit. Even at the bottom of the merit range for a top student, in-state students receive about a 75% tuition discount and out of state students receive about a 56% tuition discount.
Iām not sure how much more we can expect schools to discount and still stay in business, let alone provide a quality education.
Wish there were pics of the common areas. dorm rooms are dorm rooms, but the other spaces would be nice, and Iād like to see how the āhousesā within the Honors program halls work. Whereās the youtube videos when you need them?
Do we know that merit scholarships were awarded solely based on GPA and not test scores? I know that the scholarship bands are based on GPA only this year versus both in prior years, but do we know whether test scores play a role in determining the award level within those bands?
This is meant as a sincere question, I donāt know the answer and have seen only speculation.
I have a junior and sophomore at Miami. We are OOS.
My junior had similar HS stats to my S21, who has also been accepted to Miami. My JD received $8,500 in merit from Miami 3 years ago, while S21 received 21K this year. So Miami absolutely more than ādouble downāedā this year with merit. It basically makes it competitive to her in-state schools.
Chaps our khakis a bit in terms of how much we pay for our current Miami students, but such is life, lol. In the context of my other kids, we couldnāt be much happier with Miamiās merit awards this year.
I recently sat in on Miamiās āInside Admissionsā session for alumni and families. They said they held true to their word and did not use test scores in any part of their evaluations, whether through admissions or merit.
This leads to the question, why didnāt Miami just go āTest Blindā instead of āTest Optionalā but perhaps they will do so in subsequent years.
My daughter sent in a strong ACT score, so itās a bit frustrating but it is what it is, I suppose.
Sounds like you have a nice option at U Richmond. My D loved visiting pre-covid, but for us one year at Richmond will cost more than four years at Miamiā¦
Why wouldnāt they tell everyone that that arenāt considering scores?? Thereās no way Iām paying $36 to send my three act scores if they didnāt even consider it. Ridiculous
I agree with you completely, they advertised test optional but acted as test blind. They are an Ohio institution and certainly they knew Ohio dept of Ed subsidizes the ACT as a graduation requirement and every Ohio student had the option to take a test in Feb or March of 2020 prior to the shut down on March 13th (I believe the last test date for schools to administer the test was March 10th) so in-state kids applying test optional were by and large not applying that way because they didnāt have the chance to test. Thus there was no reason for Miami to act test blind and not use test scores in any part of their evaluations.
Yes my twin Dās have 4.46 and 4.44 WGPA on Miamiās scale, and 33/34 ACT scores as well as many APās, college courses, extracurriculars, and they received the minimum of the in-state 3.95+ range of $13k a year. One was selected as Prodesse and got $2K addl annually, and the other is in Honors no addl award as of yet (we donāt know if the Prodesse D could still get Honors, or the Honors D could get Prodesse?) but this is where we stand.
In regard to ārankingsā ignore them. The ranking people look at such as US News and world report are garbage. They are based upon criteria that doesnāt account for quality of student life, individual needs, specific academic curriculum, experiential opportunity and so forth. For example look at Bowling Green State Uā¦itās ranked in the 200ās but if you actually look at what the school has to offer particularly across a number of their programs you would discover that a higher ranked school doesnāt actually provide any great advantage. Rankings are more public perception than reality. You have to compare program to program, ROI and so forth. Too many students pick schools because of their rank instead of what they actually offer.
Oh that is interesting to be able to compare your twins - which stats got into Prodesse and which got into Honors College.
FWIW, while Honors College doesnāt include the initial upfront scholarship, it does actually carry monetary value in the discount it provides for study abroad, and non-monetary but arguably greater value the priority registration and undergraduate research prioritization (and the new dorms obviously) and if applicable (because all honors colleges are running together in my head right now and not sure on Miamiās specifically) the smaller honors only gen ed classes.
Yes, it has been Richmond until 10 min ago. My D just received 69k/y awards from Tulane (77k Cost Of Attendance), so Tulane is the top choice as of now. Good luck to everyone!
Now thatās frustrating. I wonder if they work in algorithms for high-achieving students and their likelihood of attending Miami when awarding merit? Of course by offering an acceptance, it does nothing to protect their yield, but makes one question why a handful of certain kids got the higher merit while others did not of similar stats (and I assume similar rigor, competitive ECās, essays, recs, etcā¦)
Congrats on the Tulane offer. Thatās outstanding.
As for sending in the ACT, I believe you updated the score on the SRAR although I might have that confused with the Florida schools which use the SSAR. We were told they would be used if submitted.
I wish the aid were more and I thought that with a 4.5 Wtd and 32 super score, weād get more - but itās obviously a few got $36K and most got $21K. That is in the range they stated - but like others I thought maybe some would get $23K, some $29K - depending on where you ranked.
All I know is I graduated HS with a 2.8 and was in the 41st percentile. Today I think you need a 4.0 to be in the 41st percentile. Grade inflation is INSANE.
Like others - I appreciate the $21K. My neighbor is a math major and they got additional from the dept (after being there a year). So you never know.
We all think we should go to school for cheap - and the truth is if you go to college for $35K a year it is cheap. Not everyone is as fortunate - but itās also a business and as consumers we have to make choices.
In the case of the person who just got Tulane for $8K a year - they got the best of both - cheap and a great school.
I also agree with the comment on Bowling Green. Iām sure all of us have worked for people with no degrees or degrees from schools not on anyoneās radar. I love the pedigree thing and like all Iām excited for my kid to go to the best of the best in perception - but honestly, your life is not going to be made by whether you go to Miami or Akron. And itās not worth moving into a trailer home just so your kid can go to a decently pedigreed school.
So stay supportive and be proud of your child no matter where they end up - and be grateful that no matter if itās Western Michigan or Michigan, theyāll still have the chance to end up with a top notch life. They make the life, not the college!!
I applied without ACT scores (25) but my Miami GPA was very high. Looking back on the information from previous years, I would not have gotten the 21k Redhawk scholarship. I think that they were true to their word but that just my experience.