Smith early decision and merit aid

Hello! My daughter (a junior) has Smith at the top of her list and is considering ED next year. However we are in the position of not qualifying for need based aid, but we do need merit aid to make it affordable. Does anyone have any insight on how Smith is for offering merit to ED applicants? Just trying to weigh increasing chances of getting in by applying ED, but knowing that if we weren’t offered merit we would probably not be able to accept and have to move on to other schools. Or also, how Smith is about merit for regular decision? She is very interested in the STRIDE scholarship as she wants to major in physics and do as much research as possible. Any statistics on if more STRIDE scholarships are offered to ED applicants? Thank you for any insight!

Our daughter was just admitted ED for class of 2023. We heard from both sides of the argument when it comes to applying ED, some schools don’t offer any aid, while others offer more. Smith seemed to pretty much match what the NPC came up with, so long as you enter accurate information. She recieved a grant that made up for the difference between the cost of attendance and the expected family contribution. Because it’s difficult to compare offers when you apply ED, we (she) ended up applying to two of her backup schools early action so that she could at least compare some offers, and have something to fall back on. Good luck!

@CollegeDad74 Thank you for your response and congratulations to your daughter! I’ve been hearing both sides of the argument too - so hard to know which would be better. I guess sometimes you just have to make a decision and go forward!

In general if you are looking for merit it is better to go RD. Smith gives a very limited amount of merit to a very small group. If they are certain you are attending if accepted (ED) then there is not a reason to sweeten the pot.

Anecdotally from last year, ED applicants did get merit scholarships. It’s obviously not a guarantee (only ~10% of Smithies get them) and if you want one, you best be sure your D’s GPA and scores are amazing. Like 4.0+ and 1500+ SATs/33+ ACT.

Same as what @odannyboySF said. Merit scholarships are rare at Smith, but they are awarded to both ED and RD applicants. STRIDE is a pretty big deal and requires some very impressive stats, and is awarded both ED and RD applicants. You will not find statistics on which applicants got STRIDE, only anecdotes. Our D was RD and got an “early write” with the Presidential Scholarship, at $10K/yr. That was a complete surprise. Unlike schools that regularly offer merit, there is no published guidance about who may qualify for scholarships at Smith.
I’m assuming that you have run the NPC for Smith before saying that you don’t qualify for aid. It is a school that meets 100% of need, so it is possible to get help with a fairly high income.

I would not apply ED if merit is required. Smith matched the NPC for us, but how can you plan on merit? You could also call the school and ask for their advice.