<p>I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that Bucknell did. Can anyone attest to this or am I misguided?</p>
<p>"There are non-LAC schools that have several times more Fulbright than Smith, and among LACs, </p>
<p>Sorry, Xig, but you are wrong. As far as I am aware, there are no schools in the country, of ANY size, that has more undergraduate Fulbrights than Smith (undergraduates includes alumni, but not any in graduate school who applied through graduate school.) As far as I am aware, none. And, as far as I am aware, there are no schools in the country, of whatever size, that have as many research Fulbrights awarded to undergraduates as Smith. Same for women. </p>
<p>"there are schools that easily exceed Smith performance in Fulbright awards per capita, or ratio of successful applications." </p>
<p>For 2006-2007, would you name those, please? (I doubt that you'll find "easily exceed" in either category. I know for sure that you won't find them either among the Ivies, Chicago, Stanford, Duke, or AWS. (I mean you won't find "exceed", no less "easily exceed".) The only one I know of in some of those categories this year (but not last year), is Pomona, and only 3 of this year's crop were for research.)</p>
<p>You might have fun ranking them by average entering SAT scores. ;) You would think they shouldn't even be competitive.</p>
<p>Anyhow, and regardless, the point of this is that there can be more to "merit awards" than money.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that Bucknell did. Can anyone attest to this or am I misguided?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>bucknell has an expanding merit aid program (it was new in 2003). while its current magnitude exempts it from this list, those looking for aid should be aware that a majority of merit dollars are reserved for students with demonstrated financial need. </p>
<p>I think when Chicago was brought up the poster said they give "very few" merit scholarships. So 30 scholarships for 1200 entering freshman does constitute "few" in my book. What's that.. 2.5% of the incoming class getting merit aid. Brandais and others put them to shame. Brandeis gives over 18k per student in non-need based aid according to College Board. U Chicago's non-need based aid "not reported" .. in other words not enough to mention. Bucknell does give out "non need" based aid, again according to College Board, so I guess we should take them off the list. The list is not perfect it may be a few years old. Let's work to update it here. Maybe some of these schools have realized merit aid is not a bad thing and have changed thier policy.</p>
<p>I believe, (and I certainly hope!!) that Gettysburg, like Dickinson (Carlisle PA) has significant merit scholarships. Most of the schools on my son's list are on the OP's list, ie Dickinson, Gettysburg, Bucknell, Union, Hamilton, Colgate, Lafayette.....</p>
<p>Mini, I don't want to hijack this thread with a lengthy debate on the current Fulbright statistics. I will, however, respond in a PM or in a different thread, as soon as I understand the reason why you introduce a specific category for research. In the meantime, since you mentioned Pomona, a further review of the remaining schools in Claremont will provide you the answer for at least a couple of schools that have higher awardees per capita. For instance, this is from a pamphlet produced by Pomona/Pitzer: "15 Pitzer students received Fulbright Fellowships in 2006, making Pitzer the national leader in Fulbrights for colleges its size for the 4th consecutive year.
<a href="http://www.pitzer.edu/spotlight/2006_fulbrights/index.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.pitzer.edu/spotlight/2006_fulbrights/index.asp</a></p>
<p>In this regard, it does not help that Smith is one of the largest LACs. Pick the correct ingredients, and anyone can massage the statistics to confirm the desired outcome. </p>
<p>X</p>
<p>For U Chicago, are those 30 scholarships offered or accepted? Big difference I'd say.</p>
<p>Many colleges are giving out VERY few merit scholarships (and of course more are offered than accepted); in fact such a small number to be practically inconsequential. It just sort of stinks that they can stand up an info session and say yes they offer merit awards, but the reality, for even excellent students, is that you probably have a better chance at winning the lottery. </p>
<p>Schools that were on our circuit that I really looked hard at how many actual awards were being offered included Bucknell, Skidmore, Oberlin and Kenyon. For all of those it seemed to me that there were SO few that it easily took them out of the running for my kid anyway. </p>
<p>You just have to careful, not put all your eggs in one basket, and be aware of the odds. I guess that's all I'm trying to say.</p>
<p>On the subject of Marlboro, I honestly don't have many numbers, if any to give. What was posted from their official site is what I saw, and considering I got one of the 60th anniversary ones (I really wanted to go as well, but one school would cost me 4k/8k instead of 10k/13k (pre loan/post loan) that Marlboro would cost, and maintaining a B in a new environment like that is daunting for me.</p>
<p>However, I have to figure that there are a respectable amount of new scholarships, as I had about three things going well for me (steep upward trend (B-/B student to A-/A student), very good standardized tests, and essays I worked very hard on, and my record simply didn't match with the top-tier of applicants for an improving talent base there.</p>
<p>Still, I'd keep it on the list until numbers go out, but according to the same page, 16 in-progress scholarships were given, which is pretty nice considering a student base of around 380.</p>
<p>I think Weenie is correct. Merit is held out as a carrot to get applications up. It is no doubt a tactic used by "enrollment counselors" who gauge the likelihood of an applicants enrollment based on data provided to the Fed Gov. and the college. These folks use things like your indicated interest to reduce the amount of aid, merit or otherwise, you may have be offered. Their job is to insure the institution pays out the least while and garnering the most favorable applicant. All the while thier attempting to increase the prestige of the institution which means more applications and less merit the following year. These are the horse traders of the college enrollment business and more and more schools are hiring them. Some schools really do give out large amounts of merit despite endowments that pale when compared to wealthiest of colleges. These places are terrific, but with record numbers of kids due to apply within the next two years who knows what will happen.</p>
<p>Don't want to be picky, but Franklin and Marshall WAS on the No Merit Aid list. That's why I mentioned that it shouldn't be. I really wasn't trying to complicate things. :)</p>
<p>I don't know how productive or useful this thread is, since there seem to be a lot of corrections to the OP's original list. My DD was offered significant merit aid from Gettyburg and Union and the same goes for my DS at Lafayette.</p>
<p>University of Florida, at least compared to what they used to give.</p>
<p>Perhaps another thread should be started. It could be for schools that definitely do NOT give merit aid. I agree that there are too many errors in the OP. Also, for arts schools (like Juilliard) merit aid would only be based on your artistic performance...ditto anywhere else that bases aid on audition or portfolio. Sorry, but I believe these ARE merit aid awards. The Ivies, Tufts, Wellesley and others give NO merit aid...period, not even to their best musicians or athletes on the undergrad level.</p>
<p>Lafayette has some very generous merit scholarships in the $16,000 range that they award to the top tier of accepted students. Plus they give Nat'l Merit money unlike some of the other lacs.</p>
<p>Bucknell also awards merit money to some of their top tier matriculating students but not as much as Lafayette.</p>
<p>Sorry Garland - you're correct. I'll delete Franklin and Marshall when I redue the list. I hear good things about that school, merit aid wise.</p>
<p>Be patient folks. The list is a work in progress. It will be updated soon and all your input will be considered. Let's face it, many colleges don't exactly advertise the fact that they're stingy or don't give merit aid at all. I glad to hear so many places can be taken off the list.. but some must be added as well.</p>
<p>Hey Sybbie719- How many and how much does Duke give out?</p>
<p>See, I don't see it as being stingy. No merit aid means the money goes other places. Neither one of my kids' schools gave merit aid; they both plainly state that they're need only in their financial aid statements. There are very few schools in that category; if it's a dealbreaker, then I'd say just check their financial aid pages--most of the schools seem quite upfront about it.</p>
<p>I see the thread title includes the idea of "little" merit aid as well as "no" merit aid, and it might be interesting to set a definition for that. For example, if a college told me that its list price is $40K plus, I would not consider it "merit aid" if the award amount is only less $20K. I would, rather, call that "loss leader."</p>
<p>Alright folks here's the updated list. I'm removing Bucknell because not only do they give merit aid they are expanding the awards given. Way to wake up and smell the coffee Bucknell! I'm not removing Julliard because the merit aid I refer to pertains to academic merit. If you are looking at Julliard though... know that certain talents are rewarded with "performance based" awards ie., dance, piano, etc, etc., I am not removing Stanford because the only free money they give away is to athletes. I do not consider an athletic scholarship a merit scholarship for the purposes of this list. Only so many people can throw a football 70 yards or bench press 450 lbs. </p>
<p>NO MERIT AID</p>
<p>All the Ivies
Barnard
Bennington
Colgate
MIT
New England College
Saint Johns
Smith
Stanford
Vassar
Wesleyan
Williams
Art Center of Design
Bates
Bowdoin
Bryn Mawr
Colby
Connecticut
Julliard
Pine Manor
Reed
Sarah Lawrence
Springfield College
Trinity (CT)
Wheaton
Notre Dame
College of the Atlantic
Tufts</p>
<p>MERIT AID IN NOMINAL AMOUNTS ONLY</p>
<p>Chicago
Boston College
Lafayette
Marlboro
Dickinson (PA)
Gettysburg
Hamilton
Union</p>
<p>Anyone who wants to jump ugly with me about this list can tell me just how wrong I am, and/or the originators of this list were, by telling us all how many merit scholarships are offered by the school they're championing and for how much. And if your D or S was offered, say less than 5000 don't bother mentioning it because it doesn't make these place any more affordable for most families. Just know they threw you a bone. Hell, these places raise thier tution by that much every two years. I had a PM from one parent who found that many schools offering "merit aid" had so little available that the chances of getting it were to miniscule (carrot) to apply. If schools are intentionally vague about how many, how much, and under what circumstances the merit is awarded there's probably a reason for it.</p>