<p>Chapel Hill will no longer allow a student to be nominated/apply for both the Morehead and the Robertson. My child does not attend a school that can nominate someone for a Morehead. If he submits the preliminary app for the Robertson, he can't be picked up/nominated by the admissions committee for the Morehead. Does anyone have advice? Sit back and hope the ad comm sends your app out to one of the two scholarships or go ahead and punt the Morehead and submit the preliminary for the Robertson? My thought is that, if his app is good enough, the Admissions Committee will nominate him for the one they feel he's most qualified for. (If he is in fact qualified.)</p>
<p>Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>I have limited experience because I didn't make it very far in the Morehead process, but I believe the Morehead is a bit more competitive than the Robertson. Morehead recipients are typically stars in the classroom, have plenty of ecs, and are very serious about at least one sport. I knew several incredible people that didn't get the Morehead- some of them ended up at HYP, and four of them got full tuition scholarships at Duke. It's very, very competitive. Then again, the Robertson is relatively new, and it's still gaining recognition. </p>
<p>If you're from NC, be sure to check out the Park Scholarship at NC State, the Reynolds Scholarship at Wake Forest, and the Belk Scholarship at Davidson; all of them are about as selective and excellent as the Morehead.</p>
<p>Webbie: I also answered this question on the UNC thread if you haven't seen it yet.</p>
<p>kemet: Actually, I think the Robertson is much more competitive. The nominations for that originate with admissions at both UNC-CH and at Duke. So, somehow, the applicant has to stand out among all those applications (around 19,000 at UNC-CH alone). The Morehead, while certainly competitive, is somewhat easier-- in the sense that if you attend any school in NC, you can be nominated (or self-nominate), and a specific list of out-of-state schools can nominate one person. So, from the get-go, the field is narrowed. Not so with the Robertson; initially, you're competing with every applicant to the school, just to have your application noticed and pulled aside, to then be looked over for merit, and <em>possibly</em> pulled aside for the Robertson committee to view. And, as with the Morehead, interviews and a finalist weekend are also required. For NC students, too, the Morehead program is required/dedicated to ensuring that fully one half of their scholars are from NC. This is not true for the Robertson. So, while both are highly competitive, I do think the Robertson, in many ways, is much more so. You should also be aware that any of these scholars are "typically stars in the classroom." That's pretty much a given for both highly selective programs.</p>
<p>I will also just add here that up until this past year, the Robertson typically awarded around 30 scholars total--15 at Duke and 15 at UNC-CH. I believe that was increased this year to around 18 or 19 at each school. The number of Morehead scholars has decreased from around 65+ in the past, down to somewhere in the 40's, but now back up again to around 50, I believe--and, of course, all at UNC-CH.</p>
<p>Child has SATS in low 1500s. 4.0 UW GPA; 5.something weighted. IB, athlete, great community service, good writer. Negatives for Morehead: OOS, can't be nominated. Robertson: many of winners have "international" sounding last names, though American citizens????</p>
<p>Should we assume that if a child is good enough to be in the running for one of the scholarships, the admissions committee will pick the app out for the most appropriate one. If they don't, then there's not much chance of getting one anyway???? Faith in the Admissions decision?? (Hence not knocking ourselves out of nomination for an Admissions Morehead nomination by submitting the preliminary Robertson app??)</p>
<p>Know anything about the Carolina Scholars requirements?</p>
<p>I do think the admissions committee does an excellent job. I cannot imagine how difficult and time-consuming that job must be. However, yes, I'd have faith in them!</p>
<p>We were told a couple of years ago at an information session, that it is around the top 500 applications that get pulled aside to be looked at for possible merit. So it really is the stellar academics that get an applicant noticed <em>initially.</em></p>
<p>However, both the Robertson and the Morehead, in addition to academics, really also value serious leadership qualities, demonstration of those qualities, and serious dedication to the community, whether that be on a local, regional, or even a global level. And I think the Morehead also values long-term contribution in sports. The Carolina Scholars, from my understanding, is based much more on academics alone. Someone published a link on the UNC board that listed the average SAT/GPA of Carolina Scholars. I'm not sure which thread that was on, but you should be able to find it if you do a search. As you are probably aware, the Carolina Scholars award for out-of-state students is now considered a full freight award, since all out-of-state students who receive merit are considered in-state for tuition purposes.</p>