<p>Congratulations to those who were admitted to U of I on 12/11! </p>
<p>We have a few questions about the Provost Scholarship offered by U of I. </p>
<p>According to the U of I web site, below are the requirements for the Provost Scholarship.</p>
<p>Requirements: National Achievement, National Hispanic Scholar finalists, or National Merit Finalists who have indicated the University of Illinois as their first choice
Amount: Full tuition
Renewable: Yes four years, provided the recipients maintain a 3.0 GPA
Number: 30 </p>
<p>Here are the questions for the Provost Scholarship:</p>
<p>1) There must be a lot more than 30 students qualifying for the requirements. Realistically what are the cut off SAT/ACT scores (if any) in order to have a chance to compete for this scholarship? When assessing the SAT scores, does U of I only take into consideration of Critical Reading and Math subscores, or all three subscores?
2) Besides the SAT/ACT scores, what else is considered? What about GPA, ECs, essays etc.? Are they considered?
3) Will there be additional application and/or interviews required? If yes, when?
4) When will likely students be notified whether they are qualified?
5) For those students who got the prestigious Provost Scholarship, congratulations, you must be proud. What were your SAT/ACT scores? Can you share some of your info if you do not mind? Thanks!!
6) Are there any other merit scholarships offered by specific schools, such as college of business? </p>
<p>Not sure about the other questions, but I can tell you that I believe the merit scholarship notifications will come through email sometime in March (It will be different date for everybody). As for college-specific scholarships, I remember reading about a scholarship for business students. I think it goes hand in hand with honors recognition in the business program as well. I think they only take like the 100 best applicants. I’m not quite sure about these provisions, so I advise you to look on the website as there should be more information if you browse closely enough.</p>
<p>Very few students got this merit based scholarship at UIUC, perhaps this is why not many replies here. I do not have answers to any of your questions, but I suggest you call the UIUC’s scholarship office and inquire. They may not tell you the whole story, but at least you can try. </p>
<p>Does drusba know anything about it? He is the most senior advisor on this UIUC board. If he does not know, I guess no one else will know. </p>
<p>i got the provost scholarship and i can tell you this…i was only national merit commended (not black or hispanic) and i don’t recall putting U of I as my first choice…hopefully i’m not a “mistake” in the records! the award letter says “because of your high school academic record and activities, your status as a National Merit, National Achievement or National Hispanic Scholar, your demonstrated potential for success, I am pleased to offer you the Provost Scholarship.”</p>
<p>so i’m guessing they consider a mix of testing, GPA, activities, and essays.</p>
<p>oh and to answer some of your questions, midwestdad:</p>
<p>1) don’t know of any cutoffs, but no doubt your scores need to be high
2) GPA, activities, and essays are also probably considered, based on the notification letter
3) there is no additional application or interview
4) i was notified on December 20 (i applied priority)
5) my ACT was a 36, my GPA was 3.98 unweighted (but i was ranked 1/444 weighted), i was captain of debate and scholastic bowl teams, did a few other clubs, have a difficult schedule in terms of course rigor, and generally did a lot of out-of-school things related to politics, writing, law, and economics (those are my main strengths and interests)
6) not sure but you can look at the U of I scholarships page for additional information</p>
<p>6) there are many college and department specific scholarships although you won’t find full tuition in those and amounts can vary anywhere from $500 a year to an amount for OOS that provides a significant portion of the the OOS share of tuition.</p>
<p>As to shinycutestar, no you cannot qualify for Provost as it is limited to Illinois residents.</p>
<p>Provost relies heavily on GPA/rank and test score but essays and rest of file are also important and it helps somewhat to be a minority since National Achievement and National Hispanic are two of the categories and they do usually award a number of the Provost to those in those two categories.</p>
<p>Actually, I have a friend who already received the Provost Scholarship - she applied priority. So I guess you don’t have to wait until March. Now I’m thinking of changing my National Merit 1st choice to UIUC =)</p>
<p>The postings by fraudulence and anotherazn conflict with information we received directly from the UI contact (Jamie Mcfarling <a href=“mailto:jmp@uiuc.edu”>jmp@uiuc.edu</a>, (217) 333-0302) for the Provost Scholarship. </p>
<p>According to our phone call, as of Feb 1, 2010, some merit-based scholarships have been awarded (such as the Matthews scholarship), but NO Provost awards for the UI Urbana-Champaign campus have been awarded. We were told these will all be awarded by March 31, 2010. </p>
<p>Since NM does not send the first choice lists to schools until March 1, it makes sense that no awards would have been issued yet.</p>
<p>Either fraudulence and anotherazn are mistakenly referring to different scholarships, are lying in their posts, or we were lied to by the Admissions office.</p>
<p>That is good to know. My daughter is a NMF and we were hoping she might have a shot at the Provost. With 7,000 undergrads, I am sure the odds are very slim:) Do you know when we need to put U of I down as our top choice?</p>
<p>I would do it by March 1 so that she would be on the initial list that goes out to U of I. I found this document helpful… It shows how many colleges/corporations sponsor NMF. In 2009 Competiton there were 71 for U of I. Since the Provost Scholarship is just for IL, I would think you would have a good chance. I would think of the 71 some are from out of IL and only receive $500 for NM. </p>
<p>I just showed my husband the letter we got way back in October. It didn’t click for me then but s probably should he applied to U of I!</p>
<p>stockmom123, what I meant to point out was that from the NMSC report, all 71 NM awardees plus the 4 National Achievement awardees at UI, plus some National Achievement students that received no award, were all in the running for the 30 Provost scholarships. Its likely some NM Finalists that had UI as first choice went to other schools where they won other scholarships after they did not win Provost scholarship. They would not show up in the 71 number.</p>
<p>The odds may be a little worse than you first thought, but still probably better than 1 in 3.</p>
<p>Illini Dad, I called the contact person on your link and finally got the correct info! The Provost scholarships are awarded based on the fact that students are NMSF. Instead of waiting for NM to give them a list of finalists, they look at the apps and transcripts feel comfortable knowing the students they offer the Provost to will make NMF. I was told 12 of these scholarships have been awarded. They will be going into the 2nd round March 1st, and students will all be notified by the end of March if they get the scholarship. I asked what happens to the scholarships if people don’t go to U of I, and was told they double award the Provost with the knowledge that about half won’t attend. I was told the only time frame for putting U of I down as top choice is the NM timeline. If the student doesn’t get the Provost, they will automatically get the $500 once NM informs them in May/June that this student is a NMF. </p>
<p>I was told that only students who reached at least NMSF status or some Nat. Acheivement finalists were considered for the Provost. Not NM commended.
Now all we can do is hope for the best and wait until late March:)</p>
<p>There were 685 national merit semifinalists in Illinois. However many applied to the University of Illinois is what the competition for the 30 ( 60 ) Provost scholarships. Seems like a longshot to me:(</p>
<p>Don’t forget that National Achievement and National Hispanic Achievement awardees are not included in this tally of NMF’s and drusba has indicated that several of the 30 Provost awards are handed out to these finalists.</p>
<p>My apologies to fraudulence and anotherazn for questioning their accuracy or integrity. </p>
<p>Apparently, we were victims of lack of knowledge, poor communication or deliberate misrepresentation from the admissions office regarding early awarding of the provost scholarships. </p>
<p>Thanks to nkl811 for getting (what I believe) is the straight story. I guess UI didn’t get rid of all the disingenuous practices when the got rid of the old Chancellor, President, Provost, and the infamous “I-list”. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone waiting for the second tier awards.</p>
<p>It is good to hear that the $500 scholarships are not awarded until late in the cycle. That may give my S time to switch to his second “first” choice in time to get their guaranteed $3000 scholarship for NMF first choice applicants.</p>
<p>Can someone who received the Provost Scholarship note their statistics?</p>
<p>I’ve been accepted to U of I and received a likely letter for Columbia, making my decision much more difficult…unless I were awarded some money. What are my chances? I would appreciate it very much if I could get some feedback considering I’m already thinking about where I will attend…</p>
<p>Here are some stats to note:
National Merit Finalist
ACT: 35
GPA: 3.973 UW 4.73 W (Top 2% in a class of ~1100)
I’ve taken/am taking 11 AP courses, I have a very rigorous schedule
Won Best in Category in Engineering at Regional and State Science Fair
Science Club President
Internship at an Engineering Firm
Plus a few other good extracurriculars. I’m a double legacy as well.</p>
<p>This is specifically directed to people who have received the Provost (I’d like to compare) but anyone can chime in</p>