<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>Tonight I was accepted into UW Madison (I hope lots of you will be too!). I feel I am a competitive applicant for significant merit scholarships (I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA at a competitive high school, I took lots of APs, I have a 36 ACT, 2400 SAT, leadership in multiple ECs like robotics, good essays, great recs). Does anyone know if Wisconsin could send out emails about merit scholarships soon? Or will I have to wait until March or April for this information? I'm mainly interested because my family will have difficulty affording out of state tuition if I don't receive merit aid (I don't think we'll get a ton of need-based aid). Of course I plan to apply for scholarships through My UW, but it seems that the scholarships available there are mainly one-time scholarships.</p>
<p>Thanks, and good luck on your applications.</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptance! I’m sorry to tell you, as qualified as you are, if you’re looking for merit scholarships, UW Madison is not the place to get it. A vast majority of their merit scholarships are for upperclassmen, although you may be able to pick up a few small ones here and there. @PlayerZero Again, congrats on the acceptance as many of us are still waiting, myself included.</p>
<p>The merit money that most have heard about is the Kemper Knapp one-time award for NMF. Other than that, there isn’t really a pool of merit money at Wisconsin like there is at other state flagships. Wisconsin is pretty well known for offering little merit.</p>
<p>Do you guys know anything about the Stamps Scholarship at Wisconsin? I realize it is very competitive; is it possible for normal people to get it? Is it only for music majors?</p>
<p>You need to apply through Student Center for scholarship consideration. Very few scholarships and not many for nonresidents. What is your EFC?</p>
<p>Probably about 20-30k. However due to some odd financial circumstances we currently look much richer than we are (lots of assets that my parents will use for retirement) so I’m not optimistic about need-based aid.</p>
<p>5 music majors per year. Just started 3 years ago. I think they are hoping to eventually expand to other depts.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information!</p>
<p>all the merit scholarships are online at scholarships.wisc.edu that you can login to with your netid. it’s super organized. I only have to fill out 2 applications for 16 scholarships. I am still waiting on my decision.</p>
Hey I’m also keeping an eye on the Stamps. Although there is some basis to the thought that it might only be for music majors at Madison, I’m hoping it’s not. What I think happens is you get a notification to advance to another round (I don’t think you’ll get a Stamps automatically), whether that be another written application (like Purdue), or more likely an on-campus interview weekend, I’m not sure. I haven’t heard anyone get the invite yet from anywhere but Purdue though. Keep me posted if it comes through for you.
OP: if you are patient, I think in your case, you may be an excellent candidate for some scholarship $$ at UW. I’d recommend waiting with your acceptances as much as possible, to see what aid comes in where.
Other than some understandable “anticipatory anxiety”, I don’t see why waiting until March or so would make much of a difference. You’re talking the next ~four years at one of a handful of premier research institutions in the country, and you’ve already invested yourself sufficiently to receive top board scores, and likely more. The UW package and its resources may yet have a chance of being advantageous. Others on your list may turn out to be as well. You won’t know until you know, but don’t rule UW out just yet.
I presume you have done the scholarship applications- no automatic money from UW based on credentials like at some other schools. Also, once you have all of your acceptances and any financial awards be sure you consider the quality of educational opportunities available to you. It could be worth spending more on some schools (UW included) than just going to the least expensive place.