Scholarships

<p>Has anyone successfully appealed a scholarship (merit) and had it increased ? Students with lower GPA , lower SAT, less AP classes not as many ECs received more money ? I don't understand how that happens ...</p>

<p>Twins4ever:
Merit is probably determined, in part, by the program that the student is admitted into. I assume that Engineering is quite competitive so the merit may be tougher to get. I know that at other schools this is definitely a determining factor. Merit is very tough to nail down. It is like the chef’s special seasoning that is sprinkled on the acceptance recipe. When used heavily it tantalizes a specific receiver, sometimes it is used too sparingly and sometimes using none is acceptable. The chef makes the decision and doesn’t always get it right.</p>

<p>My daughter just appealed her lack of merit scholarship. She received generous and substantial grants and scholarships from 4 other universities and colleges. She submitted copies of the scholarship letters as well as her senior grades to date. She is a 4.0 student, and her dad and I are confused as to why nothing was offered in the first place. The admissions office did say they would get back to us in a week. Will keep you posted. Should be interesting.</p>

<p>Asked at VT and they were not even willing to have a conversation. Since admissions and FA do happen separately, I have to agree it seems more related to what slot you are filling that they need filled. A girl might be offered more to go into engineering than a guy, if all other characteristics-geographic location, grades, SATs, race-are the same. DS was admitted to his second choice program (business) and offered hefty scholarship but had been turned down from his first choice program (engineering). That tells me it is as much about what holes they need to fill as it is about qualifications. He is strong enough to be offered a great scholarship but not strong enough to get his desired major…</p>

<p>My D received merit scholarships of $10k/yr from Pitt and $15k/yr from UConn. I sent these offers to UD before they had even made an offer. I was hoping UD would match or exceed these offers, but instead they offerred only $7.5k/yr.</p>

<p>Dowzer - can we trade places? S was admitted to Engineering but since decided to do Business. Was accepted at UMD Smith Business School with $ and work-study, JMU honors and largest scholarship they give ( not huge but JMU cost is low, business program great) and Udel Engineering. He has asked to switch major to business and hoping for additional $ . He LOVES campus, location, town ,friends, only 2 hrs to home ect. UMD campus is overwhelming but the business program is better. We were hoping some more $ at Udel and ability to change into business would help but we are told he may not get into business and we may not know till after May 1st which is not much help. We did see FA on. Saturday to appeal money but will not know till next week I guess…ugh</p>

<p>Got work study of 2 k at JMU also. No work study at Udel…</p>