<p>Could someone explain the $11,000 Trustee scholarship and its criteria to me? This is for a friend whose child has an A average and a 32 ACT and was accepted with the Trustee scholarship. Our hs does not rank. The Trustee scholarship is not listed on the website as an option and based on the student's stats - the net price calculator seems to indicate eligibility for $16,000 or even $20,000. Any insight?</p>
<p>UM factors in the whole app when making scholarship awards. GPA, test scores, rank (if provided), strength of schedule, ECs and recs, as well as the strength of the applicant pool are all considered. It’s not just concrete numbers.</p>
<p>I hope the student is still able to consider UM. Our S had a great 4 years there.</p>
<p>It might be under ‘transfer student’ scholarship. I got a transfer scholarship (collegiate) and I am still in high school. Pretty sure you just have to get 24 credits a year.</p>
<p>The same thing happened to me! I have those scores and my school doesn’t rank either. I was hoping for more but I’ll just see what I end up getting after all of the financial aid stuff comes out in march</p>
<p>Thank you for these comments. We are just so puzzled by (what seems to us) to be a disparity between the scholarship criteria listed on the NPC and the website and this award. Unfortunately, it does make a difference. This family does not expect to get need-based aid, but thought they could swing it with at least a $16,000/year merit award. </p>
<p>my-3-sons - thank you for pointing out that more than test scores and GPA goes into it. But the student is quite strong in all categories - so we are still puzzled.</p>
<p>We are also in the same situation. Based on what was listed my daughter should have received a higher scholarship. She has great extracurricular activities, community service, and letters or recommendation. We visited the campus. She tried to let them know that this was her top choice. I wonder if they could have missed something. It is frustrating. Obviously, with the high tuition cost, finances are a factor here.</p>
<p>I feel like often time scholarships are used to draw kids in when they are stuck between a couple schools. While its good to show interest, sometimes outright saying “my number one is…” and making it clear to said school will warrant money but schools don’t need to do too much convincing to get those kids to come to them. I’m no expert and have little experience with UMiami but from what I’ve heard from friends’ experience that that’s often the case.</p>
<p>Link to schoarship criteria, though it appears to be outdated (2007?)</p>
<p>Also, what is an “A” vs “A-” and what is OP’s friend’s child’s actual GPA?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www6.miami.edu/scholarships/freshmanacademicscholarships.pdf[/url]”>http://www6.miami.edu/scholarships/freshmanacademicscholarships.pdf</a>
and
[New</a> Freshmen / First Year Students | Enrollment Management | University of Miami](<a href=“http://www.miami.edu/index.php/ug/scholarships/freshmen/#Eligibility]New”>http://www.miami.edu/index.php/ug/scholarships/freshmen/#Eligibility)</p>
<p>Sorry, forgot he link above.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that, as others have mentioned, these are hypothetical minimum criteria for the scholarship. Sometimes people who don’t meet the criteria get a scholarship because of some other outstanding factors of their application, and sometimes people who do meet the criteria don’t get a scholarship because the other aspects of their application are weaker.</p>
<p>Also, the flyer that crazed posted is for the 2007-2008 academic year, meaning that, while the minimum standards probably remain the same, with a lesser number of merit based scholarships being distributed annually and a more and more competitive applicant pool every year, the actual numbers required to get the scholarships are likely, in general, greater than those listed.</p>
<p>Thank you - that made sense.</p>
<p>I think what is frustrating is that the net price calculator lists these various scholarships and encourages you to check off the one you qualify for to be included in your estimated package. Yes, there is language saying it is not a binding offer, it is an estimate and so forth - not questioning the legality of it. But it just strikes me as bordering on “bait and switch” to publish such explicit criteria and then not adhere to it.</p>
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<p>Based on this info - my friend’s student was eligible for Dickinson based on GPA and ACT score. The Trustee Scholarship is not even listed as an option.</p>
<p>It is always tough figuring out how acceptance and scholarship decisions are arrived at. We are not seeing the whole picture like they are. Their main objective is building a diverse class. They are trying to attract students from different geographical areas and backgrounds with their scholarships. They are also spreading out scholarships based on declared majors. So you are really competing against those in your same sub-set. The scholarship guidelines are just that, guidelines, not guarantees. It is hard to accept, but that is how most Universities operate.</p>
<p>Years ago my eldest was admitted to the U but not offered any scholarship even though her stats were in line with the criteria for the 1/3 tuition scholarship. We called and asked and were told that she needed to also be in the top 5% of her class (which was at the time not listed on the criteria page). I believe that class rank is very important for scholarships. My daughter’s school did not rank but UM ranked her themselves based on the school report from the GC and she was not in the top 5%.</p>
<p>seiclan - the class rank issue is interesting and that may be the crux of the issue. Our hs does not rank - but the school Profile lists a few wide bands of GPA and rank. This student is not in the top band comprising 7% of the class - but is in the second band - comprising 15% of the class. The family is planning to contact Miami tomorrow - so it will be interesting to see the response.</p>
<p>I agree with seiclan. Miami used to include a rank requirement when describing their scholarships. They dropped it from their website years ago but we have discussed this on this site for some time. It seems from all our anecdotal evidence that rank indeed does still play a critical role in their decisions as to who receives scholarships. Let use know what they tell you please.</p>
<p>Glad seiclan and Svm posted…we found out from UM admissions last year and the year before that they assign a class rank to students who do not provide them…</p>
<p>And anectodedly, I think they do practice what was described above; selective merit approaches related to demographic profiles (see accepted thread for evidence)</p>
<p>This pattern of lower scholarship $ for unranked students has prevailed for about 4 years now…</p>
<p>What is odd is that the scholarship requirements are still listed on the NPC while UMiami took them off their website a couple of years ago…</p>
<p>I’m not sure that I agree with the idea that not being ranked affects your scholarship. My school does not rank nor do weighted GPAs or anything of that sort. Even though I do not have a rank, I was still invited to singer/stamps weekend. This means that my decision was solely based on grades, scores, and extracurriculars, and it worked out for me.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t rank either, and I got the Singer/Stamps invite. I know at least with Honors invitations they just look at your whole application if you don’t have a rank.</p>
<p>According to the CDS, 68% of UM freshman graduated in the top 10% of their HS class. I remember reading in a UM newsletter a few years back, that half the incoming class graduated in the top 5% of their class. I think that if the school profile indicated that the student was not in the top band at his school, that was probably the tipping factor in being awarded a lower scholarship amount.</p>
<p>All universities have ways of figuring out how students stacked up to their High School peers. So even if a school does not rank, they do their own calculations and go from there.</p>
<p>Some schools are able to churn out lots of outstanding students (think expensive prep schools). They may have 100 students with stats that would land them a merit scholarship at Miami. So Miami (and most likely other schools that give out merit scholarships) have to have some way to limit the number of scholarships they give out. There is no way they can give them out to everyone or else they would go broke. They use rank in order to limit the number and spread these scholarships out around the country.</p>