I got into Vandy ED2 but was earlier notified that I had been selected as a Finalist for the Ervin scholars. I declined the offer and apologized that I wouldn’t be attending, but I have a couple questions.
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I didn’t even apply for the merit scholarships. I only applied for general admission. How was I chosen if I didn’t apply for it? Is WashU known to do this?
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Does Finalist mean that I was chosen for the scholarship, or that I would be further competing for the scholarship had I accepted the offer? Were the interviews this March for selecting the winners, or just to get to know us? Is there further competition for Finalists after this?
From my limited understanding, once you sign up for ED you have to rescind other applications, so when you ED’d to Vanderbilt, you should have rescinded application to Wash U. I don’t know the specifics of each merit scholarship on Wash U but finalist usually means you are invited to a weekend of interviews, etc, and some will be chosen as recipients, not all.
Actually @Esperanzamiaf, it would be upon acceptance into that ED school or else everyone would only be applying to one school and might not get in anywhere. 
@FranciscoPizarro There are some merit scholarship programs for which all applicants are automatically evaluated w/o extra application. You are selected for one of them as a finalist. You will be invited to the campus and compete with other finalists. 4 w/full tuition and 4 w/half tuition will be selected finally.
@FranciscoPizarro Just checked scholarship programs … Ervin is one of premier programs which requires additional scholarship essays … I have no idea how come you ended up selected as a finalist.