<p>I know there is a post already for this, but I want to dedicate this thread to people who think they deserved a better reward. Below are my stats and the scholarship rewards I received.</p>
<p>School of Engineering - $3,500 a year/Scarlet Scholarship
Buisness School - $10,000 a year/James Dickson Carr Scholarship
Arts and Sciences -$10,000 a year/James Dickson Carr Scholarship</p>
<p>Here are my stats...</p>
<p>Combined SAT - 2240 (770M, 730CR, 740WR)
ACT - 32 (36 on reading, 35 on math)
GPA - 4.7423/4.8
Class Rank -#1 (Valedictorian)
EC's - ECO Club President, Varsity Bowling, other strong EC's and leadership
Course Schedule - Rigourous, multiple APs </p>
<p>What went wrong here? I thought I was a lock for Carr Scholarship for all schools and possibly a candidate for a Presidential Scholarship. I feel like calling the office and asking for more money - is that even an option?</p>
<p>Is your SAT superscored or all one sitting? Also, when did you apply? If that is a superscore and you applied late, that’s the only reason why I can see what you got given the stats you have presented.</p>
<p>And rebel, I believe everyone knows what your son got and where he is going instead; you can calm down with the faux altruism. It can come off as insincere.</p>
<p>I dont think superscore makes a difference, I had only a 2180 one time sitting, but a 2320 superscore and i still got the Presidential Scholarship for all schools i applied to, including pharm</p>
<p>It was in one sitting and I applied before the priority deadline which I think was Dec. 1st. </p>
<p>I can understand not receiving the presidential as money is tight in the state, but not getting the $16,000 trustee or even the $10 grand scholarship for engineering is a bit puzzling. I am going to call on Monday to see what admissions has to say.</p>
<p>December 1st was actually the last day to apply. The “priority”/Early Action date was November 8. (Dates were changed for people affected by Sandy). So it could be possible that by the time you applied they had already received enough applicants to fill their Presidential scholarships. All speculation, though.</p>
<p>I just looked it up and I applied on October 28th, so it wasn’t a deadline issue. I am really bummed about this because I wanted a scholarship to fall back on if my top schools don’t give me enough aid.</p>
<p>ScienceGuy:
I can see your frustration then, as you definitely surpass the requirements for the Carr Scholarship at the minimum. If you do end up choosing Rutgers as a fall back based on what happens with your other schools, keep in mind that you can actually get more scholarship money provided you have fantastic grades, especially in engineering. I have friends who were able to receive more money (to the point of receiving the equivalent of a Presidential scholarship) after having good grades freshman year and demonstrating need. The Engineering Office of Academic Affairs has mechanisms for securing these kinds of funds. If you have any other questions regarding Rutgers Engineering I’m more than happy to help.</p>
<p>Also a tad disappointed with the scholarship I got. $3500 Scarlet Scholarship for SAS and SEBS</p>
<p>Combined SAT - 2200 (800CR, 740M, 660WR)
GPA - ~3.6UW, ~5.0W
I go to a hyper-competitive school (if anyone wants to search, it’s John P Stevens High School), took many honors and AP classes, and I racked up more than 50 hours of community service. My SAT was killed by the writing because I can’t write good essays in constrained time limits, but I’d imagined that Writing was the least important section of the three.</p>
<p>But maybe the scholarships are more selective than what I’d first imagined ): Does anyone else think I should call and ask?</p>
<p>sixoo6:
Considering how many people JP Stevens sends to Rutgers, the competition for scholarships is probably tough. I’ve talked to a bunch of students from there and the consensus seems to be that there are a lot of smart kids who apply.</p>
<p>Rhetorical13:
I’m sadly aware… which feels really unfair to me, since I’m certain that I could have both racked up a higher GPA and rank <em>and</em> have had less competition if I’d gone to another school.</p>
<p>Do you think my school will really affect how they give out scholarships? ): I’ll understand if I really didn’t warrant a higher award.</p>
<p>^ My son also received the $3500 scarlet scholarship for all three schools to which he applied (SOE, SAS, RBS). His stats are 2160 SAT, 34 ACT, 3.97 W GPA, mostly honors with 7 APs, top public HS in South Jersey. While he was happy with the scholarship and Rutgers is still at the top of his list, I was surprised that the amount wasn’t higher. </p>
<p>I think that coming from a very competitive high school can work in your benefit for some colleges (especially if those HS graduates did well at the college) or against you if it impacts your class rank / GPA. The latter might be the case for RU, whose admissions approach is more # driven. However, keep in mind that you may not have done as well at a less competitive high school with a less consistently motivated peer group. You might also find yourself better prepared for the transition to college coming out of this environment.</p>
<p>That being said, RU specially states on their admissions website that scholarships are non-negotiable, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to call. I’m personally not planning to do so and it seems that the bar went up this year because of either the competitiveness of the applicant pool or a possibly reduced overall pool of $$$ for merit scholarships. The kids who earned the Carr, Trustee or Presidential scholarships certainly had phenomenal records and I congratulate them and their parents for their accomplishments!</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know, but it’s impossible for an admissions committee not to evaluate you among your peers, both within your high school and in the greater applicant pool. There are only so many scholarships they can give out. This means that some people who “deserve” a certain scholarship will unfortunately not receive it. I would say that you deserve a greater scholarship, but as mtown pointed out, the applicant pool is getting stronger every year. For all we know, this could have been the most competitive year yet (I’d actually bet on that because Rutgers has been reducing their incoming class size starting last year).</p>
<p>Regarding the being in a different high school thing, don’t second guess yourself. I was in a similar situation, coming from a competitive high school, and when I received some of my admissions decisions, I thought the same thing. “If I went to this school, I would have been valedictorian…blah blah blah.” It doesn’t matter. You did your best in the high school you attended, and you’ll be better off for having done so. When you get to college, whether you’re paying nothing to attend or full tuition or somewhere in between, just continue to do your best. You can’t change your academic past, but you sure can plan for the future.</p>
<p>Thank you guys for both your inputs! I missed the note about non-negotiable scholarships, so I will not call. Just hoping that FAFSA will take the edge off this disappointment sitting in my gut ):</p>
<p>I’m proud of my school, even though it’s harsh and the students actively try to sabotage you and there’s no room in the hallways and our football players always lose and the school always takes credit for the hard work of its students and the Algebra 2 honors course is near impossible and it spends money on technology that no one can use while the staff is out of paper and the place is practically communist. It’s so typical of JPS - on the very last year, when I think I’m though, it comes back to screw me over one last time for the rest of my college years as a reminder good-bye ;D
/jk jk but all that stuff? totally true.</p>
<p>I am still going to call. I am just curious to hear directly from the admissions counselors regarding the scholarship situation. I am actually insulted by the offer - definitely the lowest amount offered to our school valedictorian in the past few years.</p>
<p>Yeah scholarships this year seem to be extremely competitive, my friend with 2290 SAT got Carr for all schools which is quite odd. However, I seem to recall that last year someone with great stats didnt get the scholarships he was looking for, called admissions who then re-evaluated his application and then gave him a full ride. In any case, you should def. talk to admissions as getting a bump in scholarship amount is not unheard of</p>
<p>Regarding unexpectedly low scholarships: the only thing I can say is that the competition is fierce, especially for SAS, because <em>everyone</em> applies there. And they apply early.</p>
<p>Most of the top students in our district apply to Rutgers as a safety and many end up taking the offers they get because of the extremely good value. Kids who dismiss Rutgers because ‘everyone goes there’ change their tune (some with parental pressure) when they are told they can go for free or nearly-free.</p>
<p>In the past I have read of Rutgers increasing some awards so I would probably call and ask about the possibility of that.</p>
<p>@rebel11: Never a crime, but you’ll never come out of it looking the better. Adults aren’t supposed engage in childish battles - or be in the wrong, for that matter.</p>
<p>It’s funny that you say that, because I was considering Penn myself… until I realized how much the tuition would be for an OOS student and that I probably wouldn’t land a scholarship at all. That, and that my family resisted the idea of me moving away by myself due to personal concerns.
+1 REAL WORLD FOR FOLKS</p>
<p>You’re projecting your own ideas about others and attacking them for it. It’s a bad habit to get into.</p>
<p>@soph627: I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist jumping it~! But to answer your question, I got my scholarship letter dated on the 2nd. I’m not sure about the others, but they’re probably still trickling in.</p>