<p>Just wondering -
If I still haven't received an invitation to the Scholarship Weekend, does that mean that I don't have a chance at a full-tuition scholarship?</p>
<p>What about partial tuition scholarships? Is the weekend just for full-tuition?</p>
<p>Call the admissions office with your questions re: scholarship weekend. My son did last year when he heard about scholarship weekend after the fact and wondered if he'd missed all $$ opportunities. I can not say enough about the prompt and helpful response we got from the admissions office at Vandy on several occasions.</p>
<p>FYI: My son was not invited to scholarship weekend, but received 3/4 tuition offer plus Vandy's national merit finalist deal. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your response whatella! :-) How does your son like Vandy?</p>
<p>Whatella - Congrats to your son. You mentioned that he received the finalist merit money from Vandy. . .if a finalist is offered the $2,500 sponsor award from National Merit does that mean they won't be offered the $20,000 from Vandy? I am still confused on this issue. Thanks for any clarification you can offer from past experience.</p>
<p>Chopper - I got the $2,500 from NMC for my first year. Vanderbilt will provide $2,000 for the following 3 years (not your freshman year).</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply Evil, but I'm still confused. The Vandy website claims National Merit Finalists who name Vandy as #1 school will receive a minimum of $5000 per year. Then they go on to mention a possibility of another $2,000. Does accepting the NMC $2500 scholarship affect receiving the $5000 or the additional $2000 per year from Vandy? NM claims you can't accept their award AND get a school sponsored award too and obviously Vandy is offering more than $2,500. Maybe one doesn't affect the other. . .would you mind explaining it again? Thanks.</p>
<p>S is a junior and has received $5000 Nat'l Merit money each year. Until naming Vanderbilt as his first choice college, he was only a National Merit Finalist. In other words, he was not awarded an externally sponsored scholarship. Unless they have changed things, when he entered the policy was to provide $5000 to all National Merit Scholars whether there was an external award or the student became a NMS by virtue of the Vanderbilt award. Accepted students with these kind of credentials are likely to receive other generous merit aid.
Each year he receives forms to complete so that Vandy can forward the money to NMS Corp. and then they receive it back for those Scholars. It's kind of strange, but that's just for the NMS maximum amount. The additional amount shows up on his financial aid statement as a supplemental award.</p>
<p>Chopper: You only get the $5000 (and not $2000) if you do not receive other merit aid from Vandy. I get $2000 in the years from now because I am receiving another merit award from them.</p>
<p>I think I understand the difference in Evil Robot's situation now since he has a full-ride scholarship. Whatever confusion you may be having, I think the consensus you will find in this and all threads related to Vandy is the generosity they exhibit in trying to attract high achievers.
I have monitored this board for several years and I have seen many posts with regard to generous financial packages. Many students are initially scared by the fact that there are few full-ride scholarships, but most are pleasantly surprised when they see what is awarded. Good luck!</p>