<p>I'm not sure what the admissions etiquette is when one has been offered a merit scholarship. I'm not sure yet where I will attend, since I'm still waiting on April 1 decisions. But I am very VERY grateful for the scholarships they've offered me, and maybe demonstrate interest along the way.</p>
<p>So what is the norm? Do most people send at least an email to their counselor to say thanks? Or would that be weird, especially if most admissions offices don't hear much from these students unless it is time to confirm enrollment?</p>
<p>Also, please note that for one of my schools the FA award is too little. They eradicated loans as part of the award, but that doesn't mean they met my full need (or rather, what my parents say they could pay ... I don't know what my EFC is, I'm international). So if that school ends up as my top choice, I might try to appeal.</p>
<p>I don’t think a thank you note/email is ever wrong. So, go ahead and write it if you want to. </p>
<p>While this is a little different then what you are asking, I also know that many schools also have an annual formal event for their scholarship donors and the students receiving those scholarships are expected to attend as a command performance. It gives the students a chance to say thank you in person and a chance for the donors to see how their money is being used.</p>
<p>I don’t believe you need to write “thank you’s” for merit scholarships offered (and not yet accepted) as part of an admissions offer.</p>
<p>If you are offered scholarships from what are called “outside sources”, such as community groups, then you should express your thanks.</p>
<p>Once you accept an admissions offer and the merit scholarships, at the university where I am employed, students who received certain merit scholarships are contacted by our foundation (which handles these scholarships) and they are often asked to write a thank you note to the individual/entity who sponsored the scholarship.</p>
<p>A woman in my church who has since died endowed a music scholarship at the university. One of the requirements of the recipient is to come to our church once during the year the gift was received and “perform” (for lack of a better word) for the church. This year we had a lovely voice student sing a beautiful solo for the anthem during worship.</p>
<p>Our DS made sure to send thank you notes for each ACCEPTED scholarship he received.
For one, it was quite a trick to find the name and address of the individual donor.
He was persistent, and I’m glad he was.</p>
<p>To add to what bajamm is saying, my D received a scholarship from a community foundation. They had a reception and she was able to thank the donor, who had created the scholarship in memory of his son who had died while in college. The son had graduated from the same hs as my d. She also received a scholarship from our local panhellenic group and they had a brunch and all the recipients attended with their parents.</p>