Omg I was accepted!
Accepted!
how do we know if we got any merit aid?
they will email you
D was accepted! She’s planning to accept, this was her top choice! Stats- We live in VA, GPA weighted is a 4.3/uw was a 3.9something, 31 ACT. She did on campus interview. First generation college. Decent fin aid package, more than MOHO. We’re all very excited here!
@lolalollipop , all financial aid is on bannerweb. Go to Student Financial Services Menu and then Studenr Aid Award and you can view it there
actually i think it should be in the student financial resources section
ACCEPTED TO SMITH AHHHHH this is the day after finding out i was rejected by by Barnard. I’m so happy !!!
so if there isn’t anything there then I didn’t get merit aid?
@lolalollipop unfortunately I think so. also I believe they’ve already notified all recipients of STRIDE/zollman
@lolalollipop we were under the impression merit aid went to the early writes
@circuscats That’s a shame 
I got a lot to Bryn Mawr so I was hoping I’d get some from Smith, too.
@lolalollipop check the Student and Financial Aid Information link
so if i got a merit scholarship but no notification about stride, the scholarship does not include the research part of stride/zollman?
@occasion , no I don’t think so. D got the Presidential Scholarship but was really hoping for a Stride. She was accepted to Wellesley also, and has now decided to go and visit.
Waitlisted, surprisingly My counselor thought this was a sure bet.
@starkly, wait listed as well 
So odd. Smith is much wealthier but Barnard is still need blind for all domestic applicants and offers much better financial aid. Why is this? Barnard’s FA package was better all around: lower EFC, more grants, fewer (no) loans.
@klingon97 it seems to vary wildly by school and person and I’m not really sure why. Smith was much more generous for my daughter than MHC, but reading the forums here it seems sometimes people experience the exact opposite. I have read sometimes people request appeal and show comparable college (in your case Barnard) offers and request adjustments based on that. I did see in the financial aid package my daughter received from Smith they said every recipient is entitled to one review if they would like, maybe you can pursue that?
Everybody’s formula for calculating their own version of EFC is different. Reed, for example, supposedly ignores non-custodial financials and empirically so does Princeton. Smith seems to put equal weightage of non-custodial finances. Also some colleges include net home equity value in the EFC calculations, others don’t. And finally some colleges account for other assets owned and declared in their calculations (securities, bank balances etc) while others do not.
It is always a good idea to ask for a review for at least the following reasons: 1) it shows that you are genuinely interested in the college; 2) it alerts them to the fact that finances will play a role in the decision to attend; 3) there is always some money left - the FA departments are always conservative with the available pool of funds always planning for some incremental awards, higher yields than might actually transpire. Whatever you do - always talk about your own personal family’s finances. Do not ever mention any other college’s FA package. That is never welcome and you will end up talking to the hand. They do not like their FA offers shopped.