<p>My guidance counselor keeps trying to convince me that some of the college I'm applying to, such as Rice and Cornell, won't give any merit scholarships if you send your application in after December 1st, a whole month before the stated deadline. Others won't take them past December 15th. This would leave me stressful with little time to finish my essays and get my recommendations in on time. I can't find anything online, but she's very insistent on these dates. Is there any truth to this?</p>
<p>Cornell doesn’t offer merit scholarships. Strike one on your GC</p>
<p>Rice has some merit scholarships but does not place an early application deadline on them. </p>
<p>As to colleges generally there is some truth to your counselor’s advice but it depends on college. There are colleges that provide merit scholarships which require that any applicant wanting to qualify has to apply earlier than the usual deadline, sometimes Dec 1 and sometimes even earlier. You really need to check each college’s site for its rules on merit scholarships. When you go to a site search for scholarships and then see what comes up and also search for deadlines for scholarships. It may take some effort to actually find it on-line but I have found for almost all colleges the information can be found.</p>