Hi,
I am a rising Senior in high school, and am planning on applying to ND. I am planning on applying RD because ND is my second choice, however, my top choice would prevent me from applying early elsewhere too. I was just curious, are students who apply RD still eligible for the merit scholarships that ND gives out, such as Stamps (and the others)? If not, I may consider applying early to ND in order to be eligible for scholarships. TIA for any help.
Yes, I believe you would be eligible. The nominations for merit scholarships went out this past January. My son was an REA applicant and received one, however I am 99% certain that RD applicants also received their notifications at that time even though they had not yet gotten their official acceptance. Others here may be more knowledgeable about the process. Good luck.
RD applicants definitely get considered for ND merit schollies.
ND sends schollie nominations out to RD applicants and REA accepted students in late January, early February. Then there’s a visit and interview process that happens later in the spring. For kids who applied RD and get nominated for the merit schollie competition, the nomination equals an early notice of RD admission.
In making your plan, recognize that ND merit scholarships are REALLY hard to get. I think each entering class of 2,000 only has about 100 merit scholarship students enrolled. Just getting nominated is very competitive.
I would second Northwesty’s comment as the father of a ND 2019 graduate. Yes, ND gives merit aid but ND’s mindset seemed to be to offer generous financial aid rather than awarding merit aid to a lot of students. You will find fairly significant differences between colleges in how they approach merit aid. Kenyon, Washington U. in St Louis, Grinnell all offer merit aid to a significant percentage of the stronger incoming students when compared to other colleges ranked about the same.
@Irishfan123 - My DS is Class of '22. He was RD and qualified for merit aid at several other schools. ND did not award merit, but the need based aid has a higher threshold than many other schools. We have found the FA package to be very generous. My DS will graduate with some student loans, but it should manageable.