Correct, they are still giving them and there is no announced change in policy.
Everyone admitted to Rice is a standout student. How Rice chooses among these standouts to award merit, who knows? Another thing to keep in mind is that Rice, while still very expensive, has slightly lower tuition and room and board costs than some of its peer institutions. For example, University of Chicago is a lot more expensive as are Washington University in St. Louis and the Ivies. Even without a merit award, Rice may be a studentās best value among top 20 schools, especially if the student doesnāt qualify for financial aid.
Everyone who makes it to any highly selective college on merit is obviously an excellent applicant but among every excellent group there are always some who are creme de la creme. Even if you just look at tangible stats, obviously only a tiny group comes with a collection of National Merit Scholar, National AP Scholar with all 5ās, 1600 SAT, 800 SAT II, 4.0 GPA and 4.5+/5 GPA.
I think I got the merit scholarship because I had one pretty unique EC that Iām fairly devoted to and a few more āmainstreamā ones that Iām better at, and because my entire application was more or less a narrative about how my big EC enriches my smaller ones. (And I got a rec letter from my big EC that, while I havenāt read it, was probably pretty killer.)
I think test scores helped, but thereāre other admitted students with similar stats, but better subject test scores.
May be you just got lucky but imho excelling in German and climbing look pretty unique among a sea of applicants with math, science, Spanish and orchestra ECs.
The funny thing about it is that Iām not actually that great at climbingā¦ I just figured out how to explain how it connects to my other ECs and informs my worldview.
(Also, Iāve looked at numbers and itās likely that I was one of the only, if not the only, competitive climbers from not-Houston who EDed.)
I havenāt gone back and reread my essays, especially the perspectives essay. Iām going to do that at some point.
When do they send out info on merit scholarships? Is it rolling, or will it be around April 1st?
The RD merit scholarship notifications are made at the same time as the RD admission decisions are released towards the end of March.
^Which is predicted (I think by @Faulkner1897 IIRC) to be March 22.
They donāt put anything about merit scholarships in the acceptance letterāyou have to scroll down.
In past admissions cycles, if a student was awarded a merit scholarship there was a link to the award if the admitted scrolled down to the bottom of the letter. If there was no link, then that meant no scholarship. @awesomepolyglot says that Rice followed the same pattern with ED admits/scholarships this year. Many students are admitted with no merit scholarships. Financial aid is different. Rice meets āall financial needā as Rice defines that term.
Does Rice have merit for transfers?
No. The FAQ under transfer admission makes this clear. https://admission.rice.edu/apply/transfer/transfer-faqs
Does Rice offer merit-based scholarships for transfer applicants?
No, we do not offer merit-based scholarships for transfer applicants. Need-based aid is available. Admission is need-blind for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and we meet 100% of demonstrated need. For more information about financial aid, please consult the financial aid website.
Thank you so much for clearing that up!
Where is the merit link?
Usually if you receive a Rice merit scholarship, there is a link to it on the bottom of your acceptance letter if you scroll down. In the past if there was not a link, that meant no merit scholarship was offered. Financial aid is different.
Anyone get a merit link?
Someone in the RD thread at post 273 mentioned that they got a $15,000 scholarship. Others mentioned scholarships In the RD thread at posts 321 and 324.
I was post 321 in the RD thread. I hope the following information is helpful. D19 got the Trustee scholarship ā $15,000 per year. I did not see her open her acceptance decision, so I am not sure if there was a scholarship link. I do know it was listed on her financial aid offer notification, and the financial aid notification cover letter from the Executive Director of University Finanial Aid Services has a sentence that says āWe were informed you have been offered a merit scholarship.ā
So far only 4 admits received merit scholarships?