<p>my school does the RPI award ($15,000 scholarship) for juniors.</p>
<p>does anybody else's school do this? what are their requirements?</p>
<p>Hundreds of schools award the Rensselaer Medal.</p>
<p>If you are interested in attending RPI, you might want to inform your guidance counselor.</p>
<p>This is from RPI’s website:</p>
<p>[Rensselaer</a> Medal Program - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)](<a href=“http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html]Rensselaer”>http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html)</p>
<p>thanks for the link, i am very much informed on RPI and this medal. i was wondering if other students here knew of the criteria for their award, because ours is having the highest grade in math and science (i have expressed an interest in rpi as well as applying for a summer program there to my math and science teachers, both of whom are the deciders of the award :P)</p>
<p>My younger S was named a medalist last year as a Junior. He applied in November and is now waiting to hear…</p>
<p>At my DS’s school the guidance department along with the math and science department decided who to give it to. While my son’s credentials were very strong (2360 SAT, lots and lots of AP science and math courses) there was actually a stronger candidate (2400 SAT, Intel Finalist). </p>
<p>Even though the other kid had higher stats, my son was awarded the because we let the GCs know he was actually interested in attending. (The other kid was clearly going to MIT.)</p>
<p>So it never hurts to let them know if you are interested… GC’s may want to award it to someone who actually could use the scholarship.</p>
<p>One more thing… </p>
<p>You should realize that if you are also getting need based financial aid, the medal scholarship reduces that amount. For example, we have an EFC of $25K. RPI has given DS a $11K(or so) grant plus the $15K medal scholarship. We parents are still kicking in $25K.</p>
<p>When I realized this last spring, I was honestly disappointed. I had made the assumption that we would only have to pay $10K. However, it seems that this is common practice with most schools. And you have to remember that RPI doesn’t promise to meet full need – in fact some kids who are accepted are “gapped” (meaning that the family will pay more that EFC). However, at least for us, they are meeting full need and did not include work study in the financial aid package. DS does have Stafford loans in his package, though.</p>
<p>Sorry I did not see this!!!</p>
<p>Thank you for the info… RPI isn’t my favorite, so I won’t be disappointed i can’t afford it </p>
<p>(congrats on your child!!!)</p>
<p>My son was shocked when he won the award last year - as was I:) It actually was kind of funny… I had called his school’s guidance office last spring asking if they participated in the program (after reading about it online) and received essentially the following reply from his counselor, “uh…Renslur…is that a 4 year college?” I assured them it was and I sent them a link to the program info. That was the last I heard of it until my son’s name was called out during the senior’s award ceremony. So, basically, at my son’s school at least, all it took was showing a tiny bit of interest:) In the school’s defense…it is a new school (4 years) and the vast majority of students that go to college attend one of our state schools - rarely do students leave the state. </p>
<p>As a marketing tool, it worked on us and my son applied and is awaiting a decision. We’ll visit when and if he is accepted and receives enough aid to make it doable financially.</p>
<p>i hope your son gets accepted!
ours is awarded to juniors (there’s a whole group of just-junior awards (brown, yale, princeton, etc book awards), and then “student of the year” awards for all students)</p>
<p>^^ my son was a junior as well – that’s part of the reason he was so shocked when his name was called out at the senior’s award ceremony:)</p>
<p>hahahaha! that’s so cool! a great surprise, i’m happy for him :)</p>
<p>So we will be visiting RPI next week from Colorado. I just today heard about the Medal. So if our visit goes well and DD wants to apply will it be too late for her? She’s a Junior right now and thus far is doing well in Math and Science classes. I looked up her school and it is a part of their list.</p>
<p>If your daughter is a junior (class of 2012) there may still be time.
Here’s a link to the medal program, and there’s a place you can look up to see if your school participates and has already made an award:
[Rensselaer</a> Medal Program - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)](<a href=“http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html]Rensselaer”>http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html)</p>
<p>You do not “apply” for the RPI medal. It is awarded by the high school to an outstanding junior math/science student.</p>
<p>So, if your D is interested in RPI, she should talk to her guidance counselor and let the guidance counselor know that she is interested in RPI. That might help when the high school makes its decision.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My math teacher is nominating me even though i dont have the highest grades in the class but i am one of the most talented at math. When is the nomination submitted by the school??</p>
<p>Schools can submit the nominations right now.</p>
<p>You can look up on-line and see if your school has already made its nomination:</p>
<p>[Rensselaer</a> Medal Program - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)](<a href=“http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html]Rensselaer”>http://admissions.rpi.edu/aid/medal.html)</p>
<p>I was at RPI last Thursday with my daughter and asked the admission officer about the RPI medal (daughter is a contender). Schools can submit their candidate, and it’s not a nomination. The high school chooses their winner if they feel they have a worthy candidate. In other words, if your high school sends in your name, you get the medal. The schools are supposed to follow the RPI standards. I had to ask twice, since I thought it was like others said, a nomination.</p>
<p>Getting the medal doesn’t mean you’ll get in RPI - you still have to apply like the rest of the candidates. Also, the admissions office verified if you get other merit scholarships from them, they’re not cummulative (you get the largest one).</p>
<p>-John</p>
<p>You do still have to apply, but at least last year (2010) they had a streamlined application for medalists. I think there was no essay and they waived the application fee.</p>
<p>I was nominated from my school this year 
do you get an actual medal?.. cause that’d make it even better</p>
<p>Yes, you actually get a medal.</p>
<p>Here is an old web page that shows the medal:</p>
<p>[Rensselaer</a> Polytechnic Institute: Campus.News](<a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Campus_News/sept_02/sept_16/medal.html]Rensselaer”>http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Campus_News/sept_02/sept_16/medal.html)</p>