jdm U of Miami in florida or ohio?
University of Miami = Florida
Miami University = Ohio
The University of Miami is a private college with a great merit $ program. Check out their website. <a href=âhttp://www.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,29532-1;40341-2;29913-2,00.html[/url]â>http://www.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,29532-1;40341-2;29913-2,00.html</a>
I was referring to the U of Miami in Florida. My son was just accepted with a 3/4 scholarship there.
my 3 sons: oh, good to know!!! Always confused me. ⊠not anymore⊠Thanks for the clarificationâŠ
âSchools that give full rides (or close to it) to selected students:
Emory
Vanderbilt
Southwestern U (TX)
Dickinson
Seattle U
Johns Hopkins
University of Arizona
Arizona State Uâ
Forget Dickinson in this list.
nvdad thanks for the merit info
Just wanted to put out some food for thoughtâŠschools âknownâ for good merit aid frequently change the criteria for awarding that merit aid as the âneedsâ of the school change. I think Brandeis is an example of that for this yearâs admissions cycle. Based on statistics and types of students who reported that they had received merit aid from Brandeis last year, many students (especially Jewish ones) with (some very) high statistics expected to get merit aid this year, but didnât. Based on a limited number of students who have posted on the Brandeis boards this year, there has been a shift of emphasis to recruiting Asian students and other minorities. There are several examples of these students with significantly lower test scores/GPAs who received large amounts of merit $$ from Brandeis this year when very high stat students did not. I donât know if this reflects a new type of âTufts Syndromeâ in which Brandeis doesnât award merit $$ to students that they suspect will attend elsewhere, a shift in enrollment priorities, or perhaps both.
I recently read a suggestion from Carolyn (I donât want to steal her thunder here and hope sheâll clarify if necessary) that parents of prospies dig up strategic plans for schools like these from the Web to try to predict if they have something to offer that the schools might reward. It sounds like a great deal of work to look these up and review them, but it could be a good investment for many. In this particular instance, especially in a time when Asian students are finding it more difficult to be admitted to more selective schools as an âover-represented minorityâ, they ought to consider looking at BrandeisâŠan excellent university and they could receive significant merit aid to boot!
Just happened to my son with a safety school. His stats are very high relative to the schoolâs historical stats. He really wants to go there, showed a lot of interest, etc. Certainly seemed he would be in the running for one of the top scholarships. He had received many letters in the past weeks which seemed to indicate he was in the running. Just got a letter with a merit offer, significantly lower than what we thought he might get. Perhaps this year a lot of kids are fishing for merit offers, maybe he showed too much interest and they figured they didnât need to throw the money at him- who knows. But, nothing is guaranteed and it seems to be more than true this year.on
Palermo: Which school is this? Weâd like to know which schools no longer give good merit $$.
I would rather not say. They changed their merit scholarship in the last few weeks to a range of $7,500 to $12,500 (previously had been the $12,500). Qualifications were a B+ with 1800 SAT. My sonâs stats exceed these by quite a bit, he has great ECs, but received the lowest level scholarship. While the school is still within our budget, he has been accepted to other schools with far more money. We were happy he fell in love with a safety but are disappointed that he did not get the level of merit aid we hoped for. Even at seemingly very safe schools, there is no guarantee.
How did you find out the qualifications for a particular award? Most schools do not have set criteria that they publish, although some do. They have a chart and it lists gpa and sat/act scores and an amount of money. This leaves out other factors. Interestingly, my son did not meet the official published criteria for a certain award at a school, and he got the merit award anyway. He does offer other things that we know this school wants in some of their applicants.
The qualifications were listed on their website. The unfortunate part of this is that there were several other comparable colleges we considered, but my son loved this school when we visited, far more than the others. Since this school had what appeared to be the most generous merit aid, I discouraged my son from applying to the other schools. Lesson learned.
Palermo, thanks for sharing your âlesson learnedâ. It will be a âwake upâ call for the rest of us. At least your son loved the school he applied to the best and you did get some merit⊠(altho naturally you were hoping for moreâŠ)
Thatâs why I donât think itâs a good idea to count on âmerit moneyâ to make a school affordable. âFinancial safetiesâ should be ones you can afford if you assume that you will get no aid and/or will have to take out non-need based loans that are available to you.
But, my recommendation to other parents it to take the extra time and have your child apply to additional schools, even if they are similar, if you are looking for merit aid. We tried to simplify the process by eliminating some colleges which were comparable and where he might have received more aid, but he didnât like the school as much. We are fortunate in that even with the reduced aid we can afford the school, but since some of his other offers are far more generous, I am now trying to get him to look at some of those more seriously. One school in particular is far better academically than his first choice and would end up at the same cost for us.
just a quick question re: palermoâs sons situation. Were the qualifications a B+ with 1800 SAT just to be considered for scholarship, or was it more, if you have those stats you WILL be offered a scholarship??
Perhaps in the case of this particular school, they have a very strong group who have met the minimum criteria for scholarship (i.e. the B+ /1800) and then they consider other factors, like strength of curriculum, essay submitted (if requested by the college), maybe even financial need etc. and that other students looked stronger than he did upon evaluating those other factors. Just a thought.
palermoâs recommendation is helpful. We all need to have our kids consider a cheaper, affordable safety in case needed level of merit doesnât happen. My son didnât want to go visit such a safety last week, but I insisted and now heâs happy with the school as a possible option.
No, the scholarship is not a guarantee and my guess as well is that there were perhaps more qualified students or students they felt they needed to entice. The point that I wanted to make was that he should have applied to additional schools. Even though he is near the top of the applicant pool at this particular college (he was invited to join the honors program and that is limited to the top of the incoming class), has great ECs (Eagle scout, athlete, music) that wasnât enough. Merit aid is a gamble and luck plays a large role.
Ditto, jlauer and palermo. We had that situation, and thankfully my son did explore a few financial safeties. Even though he had awesome credentials, he didnât get the amount of merit aid we expected or needed, and he ended up at one of those safety schools. (Itâs all good, though).
OhâŠokay i understand it now. Yes, it does pay to consider other merit schools that might give you moreâŠbut again, that will only work if the student really likes the school as much as the first choice.
I guess you could also inquire politely at the school about the strength of this yearâs scholarship recipientsâŠsort of ask gee, we were hoping for the $12,500 award but perhaps you have a very strong group to consider? You donât know what they might sayâŠmaybe they will say they made a mistake, or try and add a little bit more to his offer.