<p>Has anyone received any information about a scholarship interview yet? I don't qualify for need-based it but I am in desperate need of a merit-based scholarship. Does anyone know the criteria U of R uses when awarding merit-based scholarships?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Interviews are held only for the Renaissance Scholarship candidates.</p>
<p>In the past, there have been about 100 scholarship candidates invited to campus for interviews, and 10 Renaissance (full tuition), 10 Genesee (1/2 tuition) and 10 scholarships of lesser value were offered to the finalists. Scholarships that are turned down by recipients are not then offered to other candidates.</p>
<p>Notification of Renaissance candidates comes out late February/very early March and comes with your UR acceptance.</p>
<p>The criteria for Renaissance scholars is holistic–academics, ECs and leadership qualities are all considered when selecting scholarship candidates and finalists. </p>
<p>Other merit scholarships have other criteria. And National Merit finalists get an automatic merit scholarship.</p>
<p>AND the merit scholarship offered to NM finalists can be quite substantial, and the NM scholarship itself is renewable, as UR is a participating school.</p>
<p>The student I know who was awarded the Renaissance Scholarship a few years ago got her invitation in mid-February.</p>
<p>My d got a nice merit award with no interview.</p>
<p>Not to put the cart too far in front of the horse, since I have no way of knowing whether my son will be one of the fortunate invitees, but are these interviews on campus? Also, my son will likely be a NMF, so would qualify for that scholarship (which I believe is nearly automatic). Is it possible to get merit awards that are cumulative beyond the National Merit scholarship?</p>
<p>By the way, does Rochester have a separate “likely letter” program? (Separate than the scholarship interview invitation, I mean.) It seems these invitations come out much earlier than other admission decisions. Or am I mistaken that Rochester announces its decisions around April 1?</p>
<p>Renaissance Scholarship candidates are given a date for an interview on the campus in the notification letter. (A weekend in mid-to-late March. No option to change the interview date–be there or be out of the running.) Candidates are expected to make their own travel arrangements, but are reimbursed up to X amount for expenses. (The year my D interviewed I think it was up to $400. You had to provide original receipts.) </p>
<p>Admission office reps pick students up at the airport and take them back for their return flight. (Or alternatively, give the student taxi vouchers to get back to the airport. Or put them on the UR shuttle bus if a bunch of kids are leaving at the same time.) Lodging (crashing on the floor of a host student’s dorm) and meals will be provided by UR. The whole weekend is pretty highly structured with city tours, interviews and campus activities.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you can “stack” merit scholarships. I do know that merit scholarship totals do not (cannot not?) exceed full tuition. </p>
<p>UR has no “likely letters”, but some acceptance letters do seem to start arriving a week or two before April 1st.</p>
<p>Thanks, wowMom, good information. I hope it’s relevant to us. ;)</p>
<p>I didn’t think scholarships could ever be stacked that much. If only, right?</p>
<p>Crossing fingers for you and your son!</p>
<p>It is my understanding that the UR provides Need -based aid and generally fills full need. They provide merit aid based on THE LARGEST merit award for which the student is eligible. I don’t believe you can receive more than one merit based award from what I have been told. I have spoken to the aid office several times and they have been VERY helpful and informative.</p>
<p>When you speak to folks at Rochester about aid, remember that need-based aid is administered by the FA office, but merit aid is administered by Admissions. Just make sure that you’re talking to the right person.</p>
<p>My son was interviewed a few years ago for a Renaissance scholarship. He was also an NMF. He was offered a half tution scholarship. It was the only merit scholarship that he was offered from UR. He was not offered a NM scholarship in addition to the half tuition one.</p>
<p>Sorry I haven’t posted in a bit. I have had a little reading to do! To clarify… </p>
<p>Admissions letters will begin going out in the next few weeks and will be delivered in waves throughout the final two weeks of February and throughout the month of March.</p>
<p>With regard to scholarships… Rochester offers each student the highest possible scholarship that he/she is qualified to recieve. So, rather than offering a student two different scholarships that add up to $15k, for example, Rochester simply offers one $15k scholarship.</p>
<p>Also, need-based aid is determined through the financial aid office, which guarantees to meet 100% of demonstrated need in the first year. The financial aid office requires the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Lastly, the Renaissance scholarship is extremely competitive. Less than 2-3% of the students that apply to Rochester are invited to interview as part of a three-day event in mid-March. It is the only scholarship that requires an interview, which is offered by invite only and as mentioned previously is only offered during that event (some international interviews will be held over the phone). However, students who have interviewed tend to fair better in the process of determining scholarships.</p>
<p>I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more specific questions.</p>
<p>McConklin,
Do the Renaissance invites come along with the admission letter or separately?
Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Acceptance + Renaissance invitation comes in a single letter.</p>
<p>Thank you MConklin,</p>
<p>If I am going to Rochester for REMS Weekend, will I have already been notified if I got a scholarship? Thanks once again!</p>
<p>Yes, Rens and Admission letters are sent together.</p>
<p>emeraldrose92 - Scholarship information, including any need-based aid that you may recieve, is delivered via e-mail approximately one week after recieving an admit letter. If you have any specific questions about your personal application, please feel free to contact me through a private message.</p>
<p>thank you very much!</p>
<p>MConklin - For clarification - If we received our acceptance through the Renaissance scholarship, we will be getting our financial aid award next week?</p>
<p>I believe Renaissance candidates will recieve a financial aid package according to the usual procedure - approximately one week after an admit letter is recieved. </p>
<p>I am certain that a revised financial aid package will be delivered one week after the interviewing event to account for the Renaissance Scholarship and/or alternative scholarships.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>