I’m really confused too. I have a 34 ACT, 14 AP classes, top 2% of my class, volunteer and research experience, years of music, and lots of leadership, yet I haven’t received a good scholarship from any school.
We were in the same boat 2 years ago. My daughter was offered money from the other schools she was accepted to. Purdue was her number one choice but due to money she was going to go to the school giving her the most money. She ended up choosing Purdue in the end and is every happy. They have frozen tuition for the past few years and she is receiving scholarship money now due to her good grades. They also have awesome parent pages on FB.
DD is planning to visit Purdue soon, though it appears that UIUC is forcing Purdue out of the competition for us with a generous merit scholarship, acceptance to Engineering Honors program and the prospect of a very attractive undergraduate research opportunity. Unless she sees some extra-ordinary stuff during the visit and falls in love with the program/campus, most probably she will decline the offer of admission.
GPA UW: 3.7
GPA W: 4.0
Class rank: school does not rank
AP’s: 5 plus numerous honors courses. I attend a small independent school (class size = 80) that doesn’t offer a huge number of AP’s. Despite that, the curriculum is very rigorous with lots of honors courses. According to my counselor, I have “maxed out the curriculum”
SATs: 2380, single sitting. 800 Critical Reading, 780 Math, 800 Writing
SAT Subject Scores: 780 Math Level II, 740 Chemistry
ACT: N/A
Extracurriculars (there aren’t tons but I am very committed to what I do):
Co-President (2nd year as president, member since freshman year), award-winning School Robotics Team
Varsity Golf, 1 season (had to choose between golf and robotics…robotics won!)
Coding for Good
Eagle Scout (many leadership roles and NYLT)
National Merit Commended Scholar
Participated in COSMOS the summer before junior year studying physics and electromagnetics.
Participated in Purdue’s STEP program this past summer.
Rec Letters: I am confident both letters of rec were excellent! One was from my physics teacher/robotics coach and the other from an honors history seminar teacher.
Accepted EA to Northeastern, also with a merit scholarship.
White Male
@NusaDua: You mean that even if Purdue do not initially give merit scholarship at the time of admission, there is a possibility that the tuition fee will get reduced as long as we get good grades?? What grade does one need to make that happen??? And what about the Honors Program? Did The thing is I am seriously considering Purdue, but am worried about the cost. I am confident that I will be able to do well once I get there. Do you think I should commit?? I also have other choices, but Purdue is my 2nd/3rd best choice…
adwaya sorry for the confusion. She did not get the same type of scholarship(merit aid) you get as a freshman. The school offers all kinds of scholarships you can apply to going into your sophomore year and beyond.
@NusaDua: Thanks…but that definitely means that the tuition fees will become reduced, if I manage to get good grades in my freshman or sophomore year, right…? Btw what is your daughter’s major?
Adwaya she is pre vet. Purdue has a lot of opportunities for scholarships. You can check out their scholarships online. The one bad thing about Purdue is that there is no grade inflation but that can also be a good thing since many employers know that.
@Emotive What your DD’s stats that awarded a merit scholarship at UIUC? I’m currently in the same position where it’s going to be UIUC unless Purdue or UT come up with some money.
@azdrew11 Her ACT is 34, GPA 4.40 weighted (mostly A, a few A-) for a STEM-focused curriculum. A very focused academic extra-curricular activity that has brought her numerous awards including “Intel STS Semifinalist.” I suspect this very last award had something to do with her getting merit scholarship from UIUC. She did not send the award notification to Purdue.
Is there scope for international students to get any scholarships @ Purdue ??
Is the supplemental scholarship application required to be eligible for the trustees or presidential scholarships?
No, I think those were based on the initial application.
Just out of curiosity did those of you with high stats who have not received scholarships apply by November 1, 2015?
@lvvcsf DD did submit her application by the priority date.
I suspect multiple factors are taken into account when awarding merit scholarships. For example, Purdue has been admitting most of the applicants from my DD high school for many years, though very few of the kids have accepted the offer. It may be that admitted applicants from other OOS schools with a better matriculation record are given a higher priority with regard to receiving merit scholarships that my DD and her schoolmates.
I know I don’t have the highest of stats, but I’m still surprised I’ve received absolutely zero scholarships. 33 ACT 3.9 GPA, OOS, lots of leadership activities and have won some prestigious awards. Visited Purdue twice and have shown a ton of interest. I was accepted 10/23 with the first round of applicants, female in FYE, and have since been accepted to much more selective schools. I was surprised to get on here and see people with nearly perfect stats in a similar position, not sure how Purdue expects to hold onto their top applicants like this.
@lvvcsf Yes, daughter applied back in October. Just got off phone with admissions, all the merit scholarships have gone out. Honors college invites will go out Friday. My daughter said no thanks.
Our Presidential letter just came Saturday. Honestly Purdue was a safety so we had been surprised about no merit money when others in our area in previous years with much lower stats had gotten decent $$$. I wonder if Purdue is trying to hit a sweet spot and giving the most merit aid not to the tippy top who have low odds of attending? My son will hit the no thanks button this week so hopefully that means someone else will get this merit money. He has gotten significantly more merit money from far more competitive schools so clearly Purdue is doing something differently.
Still no news for my daughter. Good stats…30ACT, 3.92 Weighted GPA, lots of AP and honors classes. Accepted direct entry into nursing program. $15k scholarships from Marquette and Ohio State. Losing hope with Purdue.
I think when it comes to the question of whether a university is a safety or a match finances must be a part of it. For most nearly all OOS flagships are matches not safeties because OOS COA is usually too expensive. I know Purdue had a 7% increase in the number of applicants over last year. I also know they have a set number of merit scholarships. From our experience I always encourage, especially those who get those merit scholarships, to wait for their financial aid package before making any judgements.
We had the experience a couple of years ago where we were unpleasantly surprised our D didn’t get a full tuition scholarship to an OOS flagship (not a major one in engineering). Someone else we knew did and it seemed at the time to me that they would have wanted a student like our D in their engineering program. The first thing I felt was a bit offended. In hindsight decisions have to be made. Universities have 10s of thousands of students to consider each of them have merits. As parents we have one child to consider and our judgements are rightfully biased.