<p>As the admittances start rolling in, I, as a parent, have a question about the timing of the students acceptance notification to OSU. My son has very good grades and test scores. OSU is his no. 1 choice for college. His idea is to accept as soon as he is notified of his admittance – to get at the front of the line for housing and football tickets. However, I am wondering if he should hold out until he sees the financial aid/ scholarship package in hopes of receiving some merit aid/ recruitment scholarship money. We won’t really qualify for much need-based aid, but I would really like to see him get some merit money for his achievements. But, what incentive would the school have to offer him money if they already know he has accepted?</p>
<p>I wouldn't wait. Your idea of getting in the queue early for housing is a good one. I don't think accepting early has any impact on football tickets since that process occurs in the summer. My impression from our experience with OSU is that financial aid is entirely apart from admissions. Whatever merit aid your son qualifies for will not be affected by whether he has accepted admission or not. Most of it is driven by the Maximus competition anyway or is awarded automatically (like the national merit awards). If it is his first choice, I suggest accepting ASAP. If he is offered an invitation to honors/scholars, be sure he accepts that offer as well. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Thanks, PennilessParent. Your name is hilarious, but scary. </p>
<p>My son will hopefully be invited to the Maximus competition. He has the test scores and grades, but is about top 3.5% class rank instead of top 3. I don't know how strict they are about that. He just missed the Nat'l Merit. (2 points from the cutoff, boo hoo) </p>
<p>He is interested in engineering, and several times on our visits they have mentioned scholarship money available for recruitment. I was just thinking that they wouldn't waste scholarship money recruiting someone who had already accepted, would they?</p>
<p>Thanks to OSU, I'm not as penniless as I was afraid I would be last year. But I still like the name. It keeps me humble. :)</p>
<p>OSU does their own class rank calculations in situations where schools don't compile class rank or in competitive schools where class rank isn't necessarily indicative of potential. My son had a class rank at 23%, but it was #7 out of a class of 30 in a competitive high school. Fortunately they considered grades, test scores and his NMF status and the class rank thing didn't disqualify him from Maximus. If you son's circumstances are at all unusual, I wouldn't worry too much about the class rank cutoff. OSU is interested in recruiting high potential students.</p>
<p>You could always email the folks at Honors & Scholars if you have questions. I found them surprisingly accessible and very helpful. Good luck.</p>
<p>I think you are looking at this from the wrong perspective. OSU knows that kids at this level are going to be accepted at many of the places they apply. They know that sending in a $100 refundable deposit doesn't mean anything. What they want is for these kids to attend (I think the fancy word is matriculate). So if they have dollars to dangle in front of engineering students, they will be using it as an enticement to get the kids to enroll. </p>
<p>Disclaimer: I don't know anything about engineering $$ or even if it exists.</p>
<p>PS: 2 points from the cutoff? :eek:</p>
<p>Based on what my D told me, I think OSU assigns a "buddy" to each applicants. My D absolutely enjoys communicating to her buddy at OSU. </p>
<p>For any of these concerns, your son should be able to talk to his buddy at OSU.</p>
<p>I guess that this does all make more sense, now. You're right, Mary TN, I was definitely looking at this the wrong way. </p>
<p>PennilessParent-- I'm glad you have a few pennies after all.</p>
<p>We'll see how this turns out, my son is very excited right now!</p>