<p>DS just got his acceptance today in CA. I’m stunned because we did not ask for priority admit, and did not expect anything before April.
Financial aid offer is the worst I could imagine. Bordering on the absurd. If this offer is firm, this is not possible for our family. (For the record, we sent CSS in plenty of time.)</p>
<p>I got accepted to the midyear class also. I’m happy but a bit confused. I’ve got some mixed sentiments. I got a pretty good amount of merit. Congrats to everyone else!</p>
<p>Weird. I live about 20 minutes drive from Brandeis but haven’t received anything yet o.O</p>
<p>Accepted and 21k in merit money :)</p>
<p>^what are your stats?</p>
<p>^Is there a template I can fill out?</p>
<p>accepted from Ohio 
im psyched but forgot to send the css for fin-aid/merit awards… the price tag is freaking me out and it was never my top choice so im prob not attending. CONGRATS to everyone that got in!!!</p>
<p>Waitlisted in Cali :|</p>
<p>Accepted in Missouri. No merit Aid. For those of you angry about aid, I have great extracurriculars, a perfect ACT, top ten class rank, and the hardest courses available. They’re hurting for money and merit cash is scarce. I’m not ticked, it just means I won’t be going there.</p>
<p>Accepted! And I got a scholarship worth 25 grand per semester. That’s only a dent in the tuition cost alone so I still probably won’t be going there</p>
<p>That’s not a dent in tuition, that’s like more than full tuition.</p>
<p>One of my cousins is a Brandeis sibling (his older brother graduated from Brandeis several years ago) and was accepted as a priority applicant this past week. He is ranked 1, near perfect SAT scores, excellent leadership and extracurriculars, but was offered no merit aid. His older brother got a nice merit award (20k/year) several years ago but had significantly weaker stats.</p>
<p>Naturally, my aunt and uncle were concerned about the discrepancy, and gave the Fin Aid office a call, and it turns out that the school has really changed its game plan. Factors like total family income, number of kids currently in college, value of total assets, etc now play in to the merit award decisions. While Brandeis has been relatively generous in the past, it looks like they’re no longer going to be generous unless they really have to be (i.e. to positively impact enrollment of low-income, URM, and international students) or to specifically draw in some special students.</p>
<p>Just to clarify- we were looking for finanical aid for which we qualify, not merit aid. I don’t see how this would be affected by the new “game plan” on post #52~~~</p>
<p>We also can not figure out why we received the acceptance/finanicial aid offer now, as DS subbed application past the deadline for priority admit, and asked for RD.</p>
<p>Well, got to let go of that one. Hearty congrats to those who got in AND got their needs met. It’s a lovely school.</p>
<p>What was weird was that I am not eligible for need-based aid, but had a Stafford Subsidized Loan included in my financial aid package in addition to work study.</p>
<p>spinz-- sounds like you got 25k per year not per semester.
raiderade-- every student regardless of financial background is eligible for Stafford Loans even if you don’t need the money. Read the posts on the financial aid discussion board for more info.</p>
<p>“While Brandeis has been relatively generous in the past, it looks like they’re no longer going to be generous unless they really have to be (i.e. to positively impact enrollment of low-income, URM, and international students) or to specifically draw in some special students.” Sounds like sour grapes. How do you know that those “low-income, URM,” etc. don’t also have just as good stats as the boy ranked 1 with near perfect SATs?</p>
<p>Brandeis, like other colleges, probably seeks to balance its student body in ways that may seem like a mystery to worthy students who feel miffed because they did not get merit aid or did not get into a particular college at all. (I know someone who was top of his HS class; 2400 SAT, etc. and didn’t get a dime at Duke, but he got in; I also know another boy who was valedictorian with perfect SATs and got rejected from MIT). Unfortunately, the schools have only so much money and great kids get passed by.</p>
<p>I thought that was for unsubsidized, not subsidized. Every school has offered me unsubsidized loan options but Brandeis was the first to offer unsubsidized.</p>
<p>@Upstatemom: It’s not sour grapes. It’s a factual statement that Brandeis is giving less merit aid. This merit aid is going to extraordinarily qualified kids or to kids the university is really looking out for. Brandeis is giving less merit aid and it is partially based on financial need. You can read that on Brandeis’ website.</p>
<p>SCX isn’t talking sour grapes…I do think there is a change in the amount of merit aid Brandeis is in the positiion of giving out.</p>
<p>They were hit hard by the Bernie Madoff scandal and many of their contributors were, too. Plus the economic down-turn didn’t help any.</p>
<p>This financial climate may effect low-income students who are receiving financial aid, because they may be gapped more.</p>
<p>But the biggest change will be for those who have no financial need and are only looking for merit aid. Since Brandeis has you file your CSS profile, they have that information at their disposal. I agree that the students they most want and who have the lowest income (but don’t qualify for aid) will get the biggest merit amounts.</p>
<p>I don’t think that is sour grapes…it just make sense.</p>
<p>Just got off the phone with a Brandeis adcom. Turns out they’ve been swampt the past couple weeks and my emails regarding change of address got lost, so they sent my letter to the wrong address. They’ll be sending me my result again at the correct address :|</p>
<p>Hopefully this helps: </p>
<p>[Deans</a> speak about financial aid policy - News](<a href=“http://media.www.thejustice.org/media/storage/paper573/news/2010/10/26/News/Deans.Speak.About.Financial.Aid.Policy-3949737.shtml]Deans”>http://media.www.thejustice.org/media/storage/paper573/news/2010/10/26/News/Deans.Speak.About.Financial.Aid.Policy-3949737.shtml)</p>
<p>Just got my letter today here in UT! accepted with a Full ride! I’m sooo happy :)</p>