<p>What do people know about the Presidential Scholarships at U of R?? How does the selection process work, who's in line, what's the time line???</p>
<p>Most of the presidential scholarships are given to all the Richmond Scholar finalists who don't make the final cut, and to some semifinalists who did not make the finalist round.</p>
<p>I thought that all accepted students were eligible for the Presidential Scholarship and were considered without having to apply. Have I misunderstood and missed a great opportunity?</p>
<p>waves, I'm pretty sure it is open to everyone, but those that are selected as finalists (and even semi-finalists) are typically the best of the best, and thus, more likely to be the recipient of a Presidential Scholarship. If you weren't at least a semi-finalist, it probably isn't in the cards.</p>
<p>Some of the presidential scholarships go to "first runner's up" among the Richmond Scholar finalists who are not offered the Richmond Scholar award. Some presidential scholarships go to a group of semi-finalists who were at the top of that group but didn't quite make the top 100 (who became finalists). Many presidential scholarship recipients will be selected from the entire pool including those who did NOT apply by December 15. So on this point I'm going to disagree with my friend Spiders05--just because you weren't a semi-finalist does not mean you don't have a shot at the presidential. </p>
<p>The group selected from among the semi-finalists will be hearing from us soon. The others will hear from us at the time of admission (around April 1). We have a wonderful applicant pool and these decisions are very difficult because there are many more deserving students (from a merit point of view) than there are awards. We wish we had many more. </p>
<p>If you haven't finished getting all your need-based aid application materials into our financial aid office, please try to do that ASAP. Our financial aid staff is working very hard to be able to include your financial aid offers in your admission packets. But please try to remember that the volume is high so turn-around isn't an instant thing. These evaluations take time. And we're packing up almost 8000 letters to try to get them all in the mail within a 24 hour period, checking every thing about multiple times to be sure it is all right. So last minute changes mess with the process. (And I don't mean to sound so rigid, but the timelines are incredibly tight and we're all working at 150% and of course there is no tolerance for error, so many of us are rather stressed.) </p>
<p>Just because you might not receive a merit-based award doesn't mean you won't receive need-based aid, so please be sure you explore that avenue as well. (Remember that we're meeting 100% of need so we'll find what we need to find for any admitted student including admitted international students.)</p>
<p>I know you are anxious--so are we. Thanks for your patience.</p>
<p>Our guidance office was going through a major overhaul and many of the students at my high school were shortchanged (I learned a lot really fast because of it) and I did not make the December 15th cutoff. My GPA and SATs are pretty good though and I am relying on the UR admissions office to give me a look for the Presidential Scholarship. Even though I got all my need based stuff in on time it would have been nice if someone would have said "all your hard work paid off" in the form of a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>The impression I got from Spiders05's statement was that if you had applied by the deadline and were not a semi-finalist, then the scholarship probably wouldn't happen. That's true, but if you didn't apply by the deadline you have no way of knowing that.</p>
<p>The thing about merit aid at Richmond is that there isn't a lot. They give huge amounts to few people, rather than small amounts to many people. This is okay for them to do with the awesome financial aid that they offer, because you don't have to depend on merit aid to be able to attend. I guess my point is that you definitely shouldn't assume you'll get merit aid or use it as a judgement that "your hard work paid off" because getting merit aid at UR is really, really difficult. You basically have to be an Ivy League-caliber student, and I'm not sure if you are or not, but if not, I wouldn't count on it, because you might be let down. (This is coming from a student who was hoping for merit aid last year but then realized it was silly of her to do so).</p>
<p>I don't mean to come off harsh, so I apologize if I did - and this post is not just directed at you. I just don't want anyone to end up disappointed because they didn't realize how competitive it is. And hey, if you do end up getting it, you can appreciate it that much more, knowing that it's a huge honor.</p>
<p>hi waves--</p>
<p>Like kellie, I don't want to be harsh, but the truth is that it isn't your guidance office's job to keep you abreast of deadlines like this, it is your own. I know you have a lot to juggle, and it is the only time you've ever been through the process, so it is a lot to manage, but bottom line is that this kind of stuff is the student's responsibility, even if students in other places have more help then you might have gotten. </p>
<p>Admission is enormously competitive. I hope you can shift your mindset just a little bit and realize that just by being admitted you are getting the message of "your hard work paid off and we think you are awesome". That's how we think of it anyway. And truly, there are a lot of people on the wait list who we'd also like to pat on the back because they did great, but we didn't have space to admit. And those folks don't tend to like hearing us praise them, because they feel like "well if you think I'm great, you should have admitted me" and I can understand that. But the number of beds we have is the number of beds we have and that's pretty much our ceiling. </p>
<p>There will still be a group of presidentials that come out of those people who didn't make the 12/15 deadline, so you still have a chance. I hope that helps. </p>
<p>UR Admissions</p>
<p>reading Richmond Scholars annual report 07-08:</p>
<p>133 Presidentials offered
20 went to top twenty Richmond scholar semi-finalist who did not make finalist
10 went to international students identified by Admissions office
7 went to Richmond scholar finalists who were not offered Richmond scholar award</p>
<p>The remaining 96 awards were offered to accepted students with SAT scores of 2190 or ACT comp 33 and above.</p>
<p>SCMom62 - you've given me hope. I can't tell you how much I want to go to UR, but money will make a difference with my parents. My SAT was 2290, GPA 4.0 all four years with ECs leaning toward a career in IR. Wish me luck!</p>
<p>Just got email offering admission - was a semi-finalist - did not make it as finalist - no mention of presidential - just directed to need based aid</p>
<p>Son just received an offer of admission and a Presidential scholarship. Was a semifinalist for the Richmond Scholars.</p>
<p>Good luck waves. The holistic process for unhooked apps appears to start after the test score cutoff, and 2290 should easily clear that hurdle.</p>
<p>Those of you who were just notified, can you say how? Email? Snail mail?</p>
<p>My daughter has a 4.0 GPA with a 34 ACT score and nothing. </p>
<p>Does she have a shot at some merit money?</p>
<p>My son received an e-mail of acceptance, along with the offer of the Presidential scholarship.</p>
<p>So did I. I'm so happy!</p>
<p>Did this come through today?
Money is an issue right now and although she wants to attend UR, she has a full ride else where so she was hoping to hear something.</p>
<p>Armomom, the e-mail came through around 11 a.m. -- if that's any help. Money, too, is an issue for us, so he may not be able to attend.</p>
<p>wow based on the other thread started about merit scholarships my numbers were way off - only 25 presidentials this year along with 50 Richmond scholars</p>
<p>should have ignored the annual report and looked directly at the website:
University</a> of Richmond: Merit-Based Scholarships</p>
<p>Question for UR admissions - if you were a semi-finalist, received an offer of admission but told that you were not a finalist - and no mention of presidential scholarhip in email - does that mean that you will not be receiving any merit scholarship at all?</p>