<p>Anyone with experience with these scholarships, can you gauge my daughter’s chances?</p>
<p>GPA 3.875 UW; 4.41 W
SAT 740 CR; 680 M; 640 W</p>
<p>AP Euro History - A (4)
AP Calculus AB - B+ (5)
Spanish 103 (U WA Ext.) - A
Honors Bio - A
Honors Chem - A
Honors Eng (Soph) - A
Honors Pre-Calc - B+</p>
<p>Coming up in her Sr. year:
AP Stats
AP Gov/Pol
Spanish 201/202</p>
<p>ECs:
4 Years Varsity Swimming, 1 year Captain
1 Year Orchestra (she unfortunately had to give this up to fit in all her academic classes…what’s up with that?) But she still plays the violin.
Spanish Club</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Hispanic…BUT she does not have close ties to a Hispanic community as her father’s family (he’s Hispanic, I am not) lives far away. However, she does closely identify with being Hispanic. Which is what has motivated her to study Spanish.</p>
<p>That certainly looks like a strong profile to me.</p>
<p>However, I should offer a word of caution: These things are very, ah, odd in their decision of who gets it. Frankly, I have no idea what the criteria are since I did not apply, but I personally know many very bright students who didn’t get it and others who did get it, with little difference between them academically.</p>
<p>In fact, getting the Morrill Scholarship reminded me a lot of admissions to places like MIT or an Ivy. Many who apply are very qualified, but ultimately the decisions about who gets it and who doesn’t confuses a fair amount of people. It might be one of those cases where the essays tip the scale.</p>
<p>Moral of the story: Go for it. You’ve got a strong profile. Just don’t necessarily assume you’ve got it though just because you fit the academic profile.</p>
<p>my son got it ,but we were on pens and needles waiting for the decision.it’s a great deal and there are several supportive programs that go along with it.we recieved alot of other automatic merit scholarships before we recieved the morrill,but we waited until the end of march for our notification.we was lucky my son’s decision was the same as ours.we visited about six other schools also.the only thing we kept hearing was DIVERSITY,but our e.f.c. was very high so i was happy that merit and extras hopefully played a big role in my son recieving it.i can tell you one thing like the movie 21 i think you need to dazzle them!</p>
<p>It sounds like she has a really good chance. I think the essays really matter, though, so I’d work hard on that. I got it even though I’m not of a particular ethnicity, but I think I had good essays plus good foreign language experience. Note to other people: don’t skip it just because you’re not a minority or anything. I almost did, and now I’m so glad I went for it.</p>
<p>That’s good to know. My daughter is half Hispanic, but neither looks it not has been raised in that culture. How did you approach the idea that you would bring diversity to the campus, if you don’t mind me asking. If you do mind, just say so and no offense will be taken!</p>
<p>First off, I’ve taken two different foreign languages and am hoping to work overseas (my major is linguistics). My involvement essay was mostly about my involvement in Model United Nations and my plans to hopefully teach ESL in the future. For my “heritage” I focused on the fact that I don’t really have a “culture”, but have developed my own unique combination from living in different parts of the United States. (The whole ethnic diversity thing bugs me a bit, because we all have some kind of cultural background; it’s just some are more obvious than others.) So I pretty much focused on how I’ve lived in several different places and how that’s affected me. It’s really good if you can not look at what you don’t have, just be creative with whatever you do have that could set you apart.</p>
<p>Ditto whoever said it’s a little odd. I fit the definition of ethnic diversity, I had great stats and a great story and great recs and I thought my essay was one of my best. I really needed the scholarship too, and I think that was obvious. I grew up in a first-generation, low-income immigrant family and have a history of cultural and ethnicity-related EC’s. Honestly, I was so confident about getting it – it seemed like something built just for me. </p>
<p>And I didn’t get it. </p>
<p>But people I knew that didn’t seem to fit the profile at all got it – not bitter or anything, just saying from an outside POV, I was like, “how did so-and-so get it and I didn’t?” And it wasn’t just people who didn’t appear to have that background, it was people that I just knew were iffy on attending and had average numbers and…you know, this sounds so crappy, but people about whom I thought: What do they have going for them?</p>
<p>So whatever happens, just remember it has no bearing on your worth as a person or your belonging at the university. The admissions people are just a little quirky.</p>
<p>Well it’s not our only option and truthfully, I think she’s a little iffy. True, she’s Hispanic but she has not been raised steeped in Hispanic culture. We’re debating how to approach the whole issue of how she’ll bring diversity to the campus and I actually think she has a better chance of focusing on where we’re from rather than her ethnicity.</p>
<p>wow, I’m surprised you didn’t. I’ve found though that a lot of scholarships are that way–they aren’t handed out the way you expect and it doesn’t always seem quite fair. I’m sorry you didn’t get it, though.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. The recommendations are going to be the hardest part for my D. She’s convinced none of her teachers will remember her well enough to write recs. Plus she’ll feel shy about asking.</p>