Here’s an extensive listing of merit scholarships available at Vanderbilt (from their online catalog):
<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/catalogs/undergrad/schol_need.html[/url]”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/catalogs/undergrad/schol_need.html</a>
My d was offered a 3/4 tuition Dean’s Select Scholarship in the College of Arts and Science, which she decided (yesterday) to accept!
Willamette , Knox
frazzled1-I presume you have visited at Vanderbilt-any thoughts?-particularly in regards to the atmosphere/students.
Bowling Green in Ohio has extensive merit awards/full rides for those with mimimum test scores/gpa.
Hi, momnipotent (love your name) - yes, we just returned a few days ago from our second visit to Vanderbilt. I posted a thread asking for opinions on Vandy’s student body and “rich kids school” reputation, which my d found quite helpful:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=50847[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=50847</a>
She decided in favor of Vanderbilt after we spoke to several acquaintances, one of whom is very similar to my (decidedly middle-class) d and is about to graduate from Vandy after 4 very happy years.
Last spring, D got 25K from Tulane, 10K from Rochester (applied on-line to both without visiting either), and full tuition from Furman. Attending Furman and loves it.
frazzled-ok- I read that thread. We are on the lower end of middle class and I just had a big discussion with D @ how comfortable she would be in the middle of the “rich kids school” and she commented that she is sort of in that situation now and thrives. So your D will be a freshman in the fall?
We want to take a trip soon to UKy(safety) and Vandy. $$ is a big issue but D really wants a challenge.
The College of New Jersey gives great merit aid. There is a matrix on its website
Baylor gives good merit scholarships, also to international students, though not need based: <a href=“Undergraduate Admissions | Baylor University”>Undergraduate Admissions | Baylor University;
My son is a junior there, is currently studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh, and absolutely loves it. We do come from an affluent area of Long Island, but he’s found quite a variety of students there. He became very involved with a campus Christian ministry there and has found really good friends through it.
thanks bevie- sorry @ OT
I hate to see this thread fade away so I am moving it back to the top.
Duke,Holy Cross, and Vandy offer good meri aid.
Par72:
I have to chuckle every time that I read that Duke has good merit aid. Duke had over 18,000 applicants this year. I think they offer a total of around 25 merit scholarships. That’s great for those 25 kids, but for the rest of the applicants (99.9% of the kids) the merit aid is really non existent.
(There may even be ethnic and geographical preferences given to a portion of the limited merit aid offered as discussed on their web site under the various merit programs.)
Here’s the link: <a href=“http://dukefinancialaid.duke.edu/merit_main.html[/url]”>http://dukefinancialaid.duke.edu/merit_main.html</a>
Hendrix College in Conway, AR is a small LAC with rolling admissions. Every application is reveiwed and considered for several different types of aid awards. Carolyn posted a link to their site. I can give specifics. My D, who is #2 in her class of @ 205 with 32 ACT, 1370 SAT, National Merit Finalist, EC’s include Band, Majorette Captain, Yearbook Editor, Quizbowl Team and some others, received awards totalling $13500 based upon her application. She did not make any separate Scholarship application. After an audition on her flute, she received a non-music major award of $1000/year (plus flute lessons). She will be expected to participate in a wind ensemble. She just found out she is getting the Arkansas Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship from the State Dept. of Higher Education, which kicks in another $10,000/year. Because of the Governor’s Distinguished, Hendrix will now kick in up to COA. We believe our next letter from Hendrix will also award D an additional $1000/year (for being Nat’l Merit Finalist) which can be used for books.
The University of Tulsa is another excellent source of merit aid that is one of the “hidden gems” in the U.S. My younger son ultimately went to Texas Tech Honors College (a freshman this year), but TU was a close second. As an example of its gem quality, TU with approximately 2800 undergraduates has the most Goldwater Scholars (awarded to college juniors in science/math) since 1998 of any college/university in the U.S. (along with Duke and Princeton). Two TU students were just named Truman Scholars (liberal arts students intending careers in government service) in 2005 as well.
TU is well-known for its recruitment of National Merit Scholars who get full tuition/housing, but they also are generous in merit awards to other students as well. Coupled with a low tuition for private universities (about $17 K this year), TU is a relative bargain.
From my TU boosterism, you would think I was an alumni (I’m a U Chicago grad), but - as you can tell - I feel that this university is rarely mentioned on CC which may be an overlooked opportunity for many capable students.
Sidebar - I have never understood why midwestern universities such as University of Colorado (CU), University of Kansas (KU), University of Tulsa (TU) have the “U” following rather than preceding. One of those factoid quirks I guess.
Trinity University in San Antonio is also a geyser (or should I say oil well) of excellent merit aid. It is an excellent liberal arts college of roughly 2500 students with a beautiful campus in that great manana town of San Antonio.
I grew up in the Philly area a few miles from Swarthmore College; went to Carnegie-Mellon my freshman year and then transferred to the University of Chicago so I have been steeped in the rarefied air of the top 25 universities through much of my early life. Most CC parents (and students) never consider the Southwest (except for Rice and University of Texas) in their college searches. You are missing some excellent schools (such as Texas Christian University, Austin College, Trinity University, and University of Tulsa) that are less burdensome to the pocketbook but offer equally rigorous educational opportunities to your offspring.
This is an important thread that deserves to be preserved and maintained. Therefore, I am pinning it to the top of the page.
Moderator Skyhawk
Scootron, Thanks for the details about your Daughter’s merit aid at Hendrix. It’s a great school that is overlooked because it’s in Arkansas. Their student stats seem to rise every year. I know we have had several other posters here in the past who had similiar stats and received similiar offers from Hendrix. They are also really working on broadening their geographic base and seem to be enticing more top out of state students with those merit awards.
When we visited Earlham a few weeks ago, there was a girl on the tour who had a Hendrix sweat shirt on. I asked her if she was considering Hendrix and she said that she had received a huge merit award from them and that she had visited twice and felt the academics were excellent. Our Earlham tour guide overheard our conversation and said that he had two friends who are at Earlham (he was from NH, by the way) and has visited a few times. He said that he thought that Hendrix might actually have a slight edge over Earlham in terms of academics but that both schools were very similiar in terms of the type of students and the overall feel of the campus. He said he was very surprised when he visited that there could be such a liberal and laid back school in Arkansas. The girl on the tour agreed and said she had felt right at home at Hendrix (she was from Illiniois) and that she liked the proximity to Little Rock. Sounded to me like she was leaning towards Hendrix over Earlham. 
We won’t be able to make it down to Hendrix before she applies, but my daughter is seriously thinking about applying. And she loves those pictures of the Peacan court.