Official Brandeis Decisions: Blue Ribbon

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
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<p>I thought it might be helpful to have a thread for people to post decisions and stats in one place. I know my son (Scrapiron215) found that information very helpful when he was deciding where to apply.</p>

<p>** Decision: Son Accepted **</p>

<p>** GPA ** 96.5% UW - small Jewish school doesn’t weight but most rigorous schedule
** Rank: ** no official rank, but institutional graph of gpa’s will show he’s 1 or 2 out of 40
** SAT I: ** 1510/2260 (800 cr, 710 m, 750 w)
** SAT II:** 720, 770, 780
** Other: ** APs - Bio 4, Eng. Lit. 4, U.S. Hist 5. (Will take Calc AB, Physics C and English Lang. this spring)
** Ec’s ** heavy involvement in theater and in the Jewish community; also creative writing (poetry published); school publications; lead flute in a jazz ensemble; community service; pre-college courses at Brown; participation in summer biological research program at U Chicago with strong reference from the prof. </p>

<p>The whole family was hoping for merit aid, but it was not to be. Our family doesn’t qualify for fin aid, and all they offered was a small loan. Since son has been accepted at U Chicago EA (which he loves despite the lack of any money) and received a large merit grant from U Rochester in today’s mail, he has decided that Brandeis is probably out of the picture. </p>

<p>Go figure?! I wish someone could explain this process to me. The same essays and stats will get you a guaranteed $40,000 at UR (with the possibility of full tuition after a competitive interview process), but nothing from Brandeis. We were at least hoping for a dog bone from Brandeis! :confused: The two schools are not that far apart in USNWR rank, although the Boston location is obviously more desirable.</p>

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<p>Son also got in today. Very similar profile to your son. Also no Merit scholarship. Got in IDP at Bard and waiting for 1st choice (Brown).</p>

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<p>Our son has also applied to Brown. It's interesting how schools so often overlap.</p>

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<p>Same here!
I'm not so sure that Merit Scholarships have been awarded yet.</p>

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<p>I called. If you were going to get a merit scholarship it would have been in the packet.</p>

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<p>Hmmm.... that's interesting. I called also, but they said an admissions officer would call me back tomorrow. Thanks for the info.</p>

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<p>I received a scholarship with my acceptance to Brandeis today if that helps anybody.</p>

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<p>I also called and they told me the same thing...that merit scholarships would be in the packet and not sent separately. I also felt that was why they included a letter that offered us a $2,000 Stafford loan. We already understood that we did not qualify for other fin aid but were hoping for a small scholarship. Someone had said that a quarter of the class were given grants. Son's friend who was accepted off the waitlist last year in late April was given a $5,000 merit grant. </p>

<p>If anyone learns anything different about this process, please post here. Good luck to everyone else! And congrats to you Elmers45.</p>

<p>Oh, well. I'm just glad the U Rochester offer came the same day!</p>

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<p>I found the packet in the mail today.
(I don't think the html below will work, but regardless...)</p>

<p>Decision: In + Presidential Scholarship</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>[ *] SAT: 710M 800V 740W
[ *] SAT IIs: Math IIC-660, Bio-670, World History-800
[ *] GPA: 3.7/4.0
[ *] Rank: school doesn't rank
[ *] Other stats: thirteen ap courses (most difficult classes in school), fives on three exams (world, us, lang) and fours on two (bio and calc) ap scholar w/distinction</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>[ *] Essays: i dont even remember...it was either about my family's exodus from our home or about a shrine i visited
[ *] Teacher Recs: one was spectacular and the other was good
[ *] Counselor Rec: good, i believe
[ *] Hook (if any): started my own independent newspaper? founded a small business? (both guesses)</p>

<p>Location/Person:</p>

<p>[ *] State or Country: OK
[ *] School Type: Suburban public, very competitive
[ *] Ethnicity: Indian
[ *] Sex: Female</p>

<p>Other Factors: substantial volunteering, president of two clubs, publicist of two others, student representative and member of three other clubs, newspaper founder and editor, three-year debater with numerous awards, self-started henna business (small-time), indian dance group choreographer, national merit semi-finalist, top 10 on french exam, leadership award, theater, piano, voice, sitar, photography</p>

<p>General Comments: The merit aid is even more generous than i expected...now I'm debating between UChicago and Brandeis (for substantially less)</p>

<p>Cami215, I don't understand why your son didn't get merit aid! He certainly seems to have deserved it.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/applying/scholarships.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/applying/scholarships.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"Approximately 200 students in the current first-year class of 800 received scholarship awards ranging from $5,000 per year for four years up to full tuition per year for four years. This year Brandeis awarded undergraduate students more than $8.5 million in scholarship/grant assistance. "</p>

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<p>It appears that the Alumni and Friends Scholarship as well as the Trustee Scholarship are both regarded as financial aid. Neither have to be repaid. However, the Financial Aid Information Guide included in the packet states that "eligibility for these funds is based on financial need AND academic achievement."</p>

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<p>Decision: Accepted (with Trustee Premier Scholarship, whatever that means)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.85 (I believe)
Rank: 5 of 164
SAT I: 1360 (M+V)
ACT: 29 (22 on Science....I felt such sexiness should be mentioned. Yeah, that brought down the composite.)</p>

<p>Other: AP English Lang - 4; AP U.S. History - 4; Several more AP's this year. My school only offers 6 because we are a measley private school. Oh, did I mention I'm fantastic.</p>

<p>Essays: Probably a hoot. I'm quite funny.
Teacher/Counselor Recs: Read neither. Fair enough, I assume.
Hook: I'm well endowed.</p>

<p>State: Texas
School type: Mediocrely competitive, unnaturally Catholic private school.
Ethnicity: Half-Hispanic (Colombian), Half-White
Sex: Male, I hope.</p>

<p>EC's: I guess they were alrite, I'm in varsity soccer, write in the newspaper from time to time, pretty active in the community.....................of love (but seriously, just my neighborhood).</p>

<p>They gave me quite a bit of money. I'm not entirely sure why, but it's an appealing offer.</p>

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<p>unfortunately i was WAITLISTED...</p>

<p>i'm so upset. :( brandeis is an awesome school and i wish i'd gotten in.</p>

<p>Any idea what I should do to show them that i love their school and want to go there?</p>

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<p>I would have thought that blue ribbon applicants would be deferred, not waitlisted.</p>

<p>In any case, you can send them more supplemental essays. A "Why Brandeis" one would probably look favorably, if you haven't done it yet. I'm sure visiting the campus and with the dean would certainly help. Show them how fantastic/sexy you are.</p>

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<p>*Decision: ACCEPTED * w/ Alumni and Friends Scholarship </p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I: M 770, V 600, W 550
[</em>] SAT IIs: Math IIC: 790; Math IC: 750, Korean: 800, Chem: 720, Physics: 680
[<em>] ACT: Composite 26
[</em>] GPA: 4.5 UW, 3.8 W
[<em>] Rank: N/A
[</em>] Other stats: AP Calc BC 5, AP Chem 5, AP Physics 4, AP Computer A 4. TOEFL 287/300
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: good.. i think.. it was about my experience of coming to the US
[</em>] Teacher Recs: i've never read it but i assume they are good
[<em>] Counselor Rec: great
[</em>] Hook (if any): English is my second language?.. and i played violin for about 11years. don't remember if i sent in a cd or not.. i might have.
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: MA
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Perceived Strengths/Weaknesses: challenge myself / low SAT scores
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied:
[/ul]Other Factors: a lot of my EC's are related to music. then Math Team, some community services, Internship in biotechnology lab.
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: :)</p>

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<p>Use this Zuma format:
<strong><em>DELETE ALL SPACES IN THE BRACKETS FOR IT TO WORK</em></strong></p>

<p>[ size=+1][ color=blue][ b]Decision: [ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT I:
[ *] SAT IIs:
[ *] ACT
[ *] GPA:
[ *] Rank:
[ *] Other stats:
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Essays:
[ *] Teacher Recs:
[ *] Counselor Rec:
[ *] Hook (if any):
[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country:
[ *] School Type:
[ *] Ethnicity:
[ *] Gender:
[ *] Perceived Strengths/Weaknesses:
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied:
[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b]
[ b]General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc:[ /b]</p>

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<p>Cami, did you fill out the CSS Profile? Since you say you don't qualify for need based aid, you might have skipped this step. Brandeis requires it for consideration for merit scholarships:
[quote]
To be considered for any of these scholarships a student must submit the CSS/PROFILE, available on the Web at <a href="http://www.CollegeBoard.com%5B/url%5D.%5B/quote%5D%5Burl%5Dhttp://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/applying/scholarships.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.CollegeBoard.com.

[/quote]
http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/applying/scholarships.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Cami, I actually realized another likely reason why your son with his excellent stats got no merit offer. </p>

<p>Colleges use merit money selectively to attract students who bring something extra that a college wants. Based on the anecdotal evidence of five students who have posted that they received merit money, it appears that Brandeis wants to use its funds to increase diversity. Of the students who posted their ethnic backgrounds in this thread, one is an Asian immigrant, one is Indian, one is Hispanic/Columbian. The other student who indicated he received a merit award also appears to be Asian (based on a question asked in another thread). JMW, who posted on another thread, is another Asian student who received a full scholarship. </p>

<p>Brandeis doesn't need extra Jewish kids. Don't take this the wrong way - we are Jewish too. If my daughter goes to Brandeis and stops straightening her hair, she will suddenly become hard to spot in a crowd. Your son has the additional burden of coming from a Jewish school and being actively involved in the community -- basically exactly the sort of kid who doesn't need extra dollars to entice him to Brandeis. </p>

<p>When you read the comments and questions from kids of different ethnnic backgrounds on this board, you'll can get an idea of the barrier Brandeis faces:</p>

<p>JMW started a thread called "merit money/asians" to ask about the number of Asians on campus. Another thread called "diversity" was started a couple of weeks ago by a Haitian American, obviously uncertain whether Brandeis would be a good fit. </p>

<p>In short, there are a lot of kids who are a little bit afraid to come to Brandeis because they are afraid they won't fit in or be accepted. So Brandeis admissons knows they need to go the extra mile to attract and keep kids with diverse backgrounds, and a full scholarship is just the ticket. Its a priority because as long as the demographics at Brandeis stay predominantly Jewish, it will continue to be hard to attract applicants from different backgrounds. </p>

<p>So basically, it goes back to understanding the concept of enrollment management and how colleges leverage their financial aid. If you really want to go for the gold, you need to find the colleges that need whatever it is your kid has that is different from the norm - it can be gender or geographic location or some obscure talent or ability -- but to be "special" to the college you have to also be different.</p>

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<p>Very well put, Calmom!</p>

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<p>Calmom,</p>

<p>Yes, I realized they were using merit scholarships to diversify the class after I saw postings from the three students who received them. One of the students who received the Blue Ribbon App and a subsequent award had been contacted by the University out of the blue. (Sorry for that pun! :o) So this is part of a conscious marketing campaign to reach out to groups that haven't traditionally been present in large numbers on campus.</p>

<p>From speaking with a considerable number of Brandeis students who gained grants in prior years (there are many of these in our synagogue, JCC, etc.), I believe this is a relatively new policy, or at least it is being emphasized to a greater degree than they've ever done before. Since this represents at least a change in emphasis, we were not aware of it beforehand. Son would definitely have the best chance for merit money at a school where he is "unusual". A traditional Jewish student, for example, would be part of a very small demographic group in Montana or Wyoming. The problem is that those schools would not have kosher food for passover, a large and active Hillel, or services on Saturday, which is something that is important to us. </p>

<p>There are trade offs in life, and this is one of them. When we started the college process, we emphasized to our son that he'd have more options if he 'wiggled' a little in terms of his Jewish "requirements" for a school (Saturday services and such). He didn't want to "wiggle" and that preference has definitely shaped the schools that he's applied to. </p>

<p>We're fortunate to have adequate resources, wherever our son eventually chooses to attend, even if it means stretching a bit. But this is probably valuable information for other families who don't qualify for fin aid but would still like some extra help.</p>

<p>Having said all this, I think it's still wise to keep in mind that we only have a very small sample on this website of who gets what. It's definitely possible that a wider sampling of grants would show a somewhat modified pattern. And it's still possible that there was something in my son's app that didn't strike them right --you just never know. The pattern for Brandeis acceptances in past years was somewhat erratic, if you use stats as your only measure. I saw kids waitlisted, kids accepted, and kids getting large grants with the same stats as my son. It does underline the uncertain nature of this process. What works one year may not work the next.</p>

<p>In any case, congrats to all those accepted and scholarship recipients as well!</p>