Request for Murray Scholar Essay

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
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<p>I just received an email stating "Congratulations! I'm writing on behalf of the William and Mary Murray Scholars Program Committee. The Committee selects deserving applicants as potential Murray finalists and requests that they submit an additional essay that will be used to select students as finalists. We found your application materials very compelling and would like to see your additional essay."</p>

<p>I plan on submitting the essay, but I was just wondering...is this also a likely letter?</p>

<p>By the way I LOVE YOU WILLIAM & MARY</p>

<p>EDIT: Oops just found the answer to this question in another thread, ignore this</p>

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<p>Congratulations!</p>

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<p>Basajaun, glad you saw the other post. While the email you got is not a likely letter as we do not utilize those except for some recruited athletes, your instincts are correct. We would not invite someone to submit an essay for Murray if we were not incredibly taken with his/her application</p>

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<p>My D got the send another essay email as well. She’s very pleased. But I wonder how many of these are sent out. Care to comment W&M?</p>

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<p>Nevermind my question above as I found your post of 9-28-2010.</p>

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<p>Northcarmom, just in case…we generally invite about 70-80 students to submit the additional essays. From there we narrow the pool down to 20 finalist to come to a campus for the weekend and from there we select our Murrays.</p>

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<p>Have all of the invitations been sent out? I received a 1480/1600 on the SAT and a 33 on the ACT so I am unsure of my chances. I hope some invitations are still coming because William and Mary is my first choice, but I can’t attend with out merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>nhojcast, we are still in the process of reviewing applications but most (likely 95%) of the invitations to participate in the Murray Scholarship application have unfortunatley gone out. While your scores are outstanding, nearly 10% of our applicants (~1100 students) score about a 33 ACT/1470 SAT Critical Reading + Math and we invite only 70-80 students to apply for Murray so not all of those who have outstanding testing will be invited to apply.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that need-based aid is also provided if you complete the FAFSA and you can bring outside scholarships to W&M so there are many ways to finance a W&M education</p>

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<p>nhojcast –</p>

<p>Don’t feel bad. My child had a 1540 SAT, 9 APs (5 completed), 4.6+ WGPA & decent ECs and didn’t get a Murray invite either. We’re hoping for Monroe status.</p>

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<p>Yes, please no one feel bad. The Murray is uber selective. We invite 80 students to send in a second essay from a pool of nearly 13,000 (about 0.5% of our applicants) and only 4 receive the award. We are so grateful for all of our amazing applicants (even those who we are unable to accept or unable to award with scholarships) so don’t get discouraged. We think all of you are amazing students and individuals.</p>

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<p>W&M Admin, how many receive the Monroe?</p>

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<p>About 5% of applicants are offered Monroe. That translates to about 10-15% of those admitted and 8% of those who enroll.</p>

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<p>I just received an e-mail inviting me to Murray Scholars weekend!!! Any other potential scholars out there??</p>

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<p>Congrats FBItomboy007. We’ll look forward to hosting you on campus in April. About 20 or so students are invited to that weekend.</p>

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<p>If we have not received this email notification yet, does this mean we are not Murray Finalists? -Thanks</p>

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<p>student5621,</p>

<p>It may be that those who were not selected as finalists have not been notified yet because a current finalist could decline. I’m sure W&M (and any other college for that matter) would not want to tell a kid that he/she was not selected as a finalist and then reverse that denial to an acceptance if one of the selected finalists were to deny the offer. So, if you have not received any notification, I would not lose hope for the Murray Scholarship because things always have a way of working out.</p>

<p>Now, I could be completely wrong, but that would be my take on the situation. I hope I was able to help.</p>

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<p>student5621, there are two Murray emails. The first invites you to write a second essay so that you can be considered for the Murray scholarship. If you have not received that initial email, unfortunately there is very little chance of you being a Murray finalist (99% of those emails if not 100% of those emails have been sent). </p>

<p>If you received the first email inviting you to send in an essay, there is a second email sent to all of those students. One invites you to be a finalist and come to campus in April for a Murray Scholar weekend (from which the scholarship recipients will be selected). The second lets you know that you have not been selected as a Finalist for the Murray Scholarship. We are in the final stages of notifying those students who received the first email and were asked to write a second essay. Most finalists have been notified but we are making a few final decisions. All those invited to write the second essay will be communicated with one way or the other in the weeks to come</p>

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<p>Thanks for the clarification!
This has been a very exciting process.</p>

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<p>No problem student5621. If we can provide some clarity and ease some anxiety, we’ve done our job!</p>