<p>My student got a letter today inviting him to apply for the Portable Research Grant expressing hopes that he will attend the Accepted Students Days in April, and that this is offered to the top 5% of applicants. He has not gotten the Big Fat Letter yet.</p>
<p>Does the PRG letter mean he has been accepted?</p>
<p>CD, something is amiss here. Your student has to be accepted if he’s getting that offer. My son got the fat letter on Saturday and the PRG letter today. I suggest you call Rochester tomorrow.</p>
<p>Our mailbox has been knocked out with the snow, but I’ve been picking up mail at the PO. I suspect that either the original acceptance letter was lost or this mailing got here faster than the second wave mailing.</p>
<p>S will call Rochester during lunch tomorrow, since he has his IB Euro oral defense after school and won’t be done til 5:30.</p>
<p>Encourage your student to apply for the PRG even if they’re not science kinda kids… </p>
<p>Along with the grant money, the PRG program provides monthly meetings/teas with faculty members who make presentations about their current research projects. (These profs are hoping the PRG students will come work for them and bring their grant $$$ with them.) It’s a great way for students to get introduced to the research programs available at UR. </p>
<p>The meetings/teas are not just with faculty in sciences and engineering, but also in econ, history, anthro and other social sciences as well as the humanities. </p>
<p>BTW, the PRG program is being expanded this year. 80 PRGs will be awarded instead of the 40 that were awarded during each of the past 2 years.</p>
<p>Approximately 100 PRG invitations were delivered to students who have not yet recieved a decision letter. Each of these students can expect to hear from us next week. The goal is to allow these students to begin thinking about potential research scenarios should they be admitted.</p>
<p>& if they’re not admitted? lol…</p>
<p>I got accepted the other day and recieved the PRG letter, but I didn’t think my stats were that good (though it said top 5%, I believe). Does the fact that I qualified for the PRG have any indication that I may be receiving a good amount of merit aid, or is it based off separate criteria?</p>
<p>MConklin, thanks for the follow-up! We’ll keep an eye out for the letter…</p>
<p>I believe that the letter said that the PRG letters were sent to less than 5% of the students. I don’t read that to mean the top 5%. There were specific criteria in the letter of what Rochester apparently saw in the applicant’s application. The letter invites the student to apply for the grant-it’s not an actual award of grant money.</p>
<p>My S also checked off a box on the application to designate interest in PRG.</p>
<p>I’m in the same shape as you Counting… got an invite for PRC and no decision letter. I’m basically taking the letter as an acceptance because why would someone get invited for something that only the top applicants get if you got denied? =]</p>
<p>^ I received a PRG letter today so I called the admissions office. A counselor told me it is similar to the likelies that the ivies send out, so I think we are in</p>
<p>I had already gotten in with a Wilder Trustee Scholarship and so the Rochester PRG is an added bonus.</p>
<p>I also got a “pre-approved travel discount.” I wish I knew how much this was, because I would need to travel international in order to get to Rochester for the Research Expo, which I’m pretty interested in, even though its the week before IB exams.</p>
<p>It happened to me as well. </p>
<p>Today I received a letter, which said I was offered PRG. However, no big fat acceptance letter arrived yet. I assume they just sent the other in some slower way (this one was delivered by private company, originally sent via Fed Ex). And as I live in Poland this answer seems to be quite probable.</p>
<p>son wants to wait until he sees any merit award before submitting for prg… without merit UR wont be doable,and as he was in 2nd wave we have no idea if he will get merit.</p>
<p>parent56,
My son was also in the “second wave” and he received a merit letter (snail mail) yesterday.
Won’t the mail take a bit longer to get to you in 'bama?</p>
<p>airegin: When I called I was told that the pre-approved travel discount covered haf of your expenses up to $250. Ex. You spend $300 they give you $150, you spend $500 they give you $250, you spend $600 they give you $250.</p>
<p>I was told the ones who got PRG letters before decision letters would receive one next week</p>
<p>thanks momof3sons… hopefully something will arrive next week then.</p>
<p>is the prg application binding though? ur is just so pricey…
and i want to apply, but i have no idea what i would do with the grant yet since i don’t know what there is to do with it… i havent been exposed to enough to have any clue, except that i wanna research something lol. …what to do…</p>
<p>The application for the grant is in no way binding. </p>
<p>You are not accepting a place at UR. (You have to formally accept and send in a deposit to do that.) </p>
<p>You are not even required to use your grant for the project you write your proposal about. The PRG program runners understand that student interests change and that you will be exposed to many different fields and opportunities once you start at UR.</p>
<p>Just explain as best you can what kind of project you would do if given the $$$. Who at UR would you like to work with? (You need to suggest a project mentor for the proposed project.) Use the faculty pages and read about who is doing what. There is some really innovative and exciting stuff going on in Rochester.</p>