SMU Merit Aid

<p>The thread I was mentioning, that has all of last year’s postings of their merit money, is a thread called “Sad Day.” You will be able to judge from the date of each post if it was early or late in the game. FYI.</p>

<p>^^ “Sad Day” is the thread that I was thinking about (I posted on that thread about 10 months ago). Most posts are dated in January through mid-March.</p>

<p>Hi dtex50. Yes, KansasGirl was right. I was one of the people who mentioned that SMU’s scholarships trickled in over several months, at least for my son. It’s hard for me to remember the sequence or amounts from SMU specifically, since my son applied to 7 schools, heard good things from all of them, AND it’s been more than a year since he heard from the first one.</p>

<p>But I DO know that he received one or two scholarships with his initial SMU acceptance letter in either November or December 2008 (TCU came one month and SMU the other – can’t remember which order). One of the initial SMU scholarships was the $7500 a year I think you all are talking about. I’m not sure of the other anymore … maybe for $2500 a year?</p>

<p>Then, over the months of January, February, and March, 2 or 3 more rolled in. In early March, he got word, via telephone, that he received another huge scholarship that made the total a few thousand short of full-tuition. In mid-April, they brought the award up the little bit extra to equal full tuition.</p>

<p>With each notification of an award, he was never informed that more might be coming. He just got the next award, and then thought, “Wow. That’s really nice.” And then the next one would come. He may have received word that he was being considered for a particular scholarship – in between the other ones that arrived in the mail. I really can’t remember anymore. But he was never told anything like, “this is just the one scholarship … more will/might be coming.” They just came in and surprised us.</p>

<p>Good luck to everybody. I hope you all are very pleasantly surprised!</p>

<p>dtex: The student you claimed to be a NMF who claimed to get only $7500 must not have designated SMU has his or her first choice school. You must do so to get the half tuition plus amount. I also have heard that amounts trickle in over time and that departmental scholarships come later. I would suggest contacting SMU and letting them know of your child’s other offer. I would stress that SMU remains your #1 choice. They may request that you send them a copy of the offer. Many schools will try their best to be competitive with the other school’s scholarship package. Hope this helps.</p>

<p>^^ Very good advice. Thanks!</p>

<p>Btw, tuition for 2009/2010 was somewhere between $35,500 and $36,500, including general fees that all students pay. So half tuition should amount to about $18k/yr.</p>

<p>They’re starting to trickle in! Just received a scholarship on Friday and another one came in the mail today! I’m happy because my parents are elated. :)</p>

<p>Today’s letter also said notification for presidential will be late Feb. Another college has selected me to interview for their presidential, and I hope SMU will do the same… but I know it’s super competitive. :'(</p>

<p>Congratulations, Odd Monkey! And thank you for sharing. You’ve done a great job and it will be fun to hear where you decide to attend. What is your major?</p>

<p>I am experiencing the same thing as Odd Monkey. They send out scholarships in pieces. Ex. Departmental then university merit. Presidential in Feb. should be interesting. I’m just happy to be considered for it. So any of you all out there who are anxiously waiting for scholarship info, it should be there soon.</p>

<p>Does this mean that if you did not apply EA then chances for merit scholarships is limited?</p>

<p>Congrats, Odd Monkey! Good for you!</p>

<p>Congrats to you, too, aGGieENGiNeeR!</p>

<p>mw4hsk, I can’t really answer your question. Sorry. I don’t remember. Otherwise I’d address it!</p>

<p>yeah I just got a scholarship today too. hopefully they will send out some more soon!
aggieengineer- based on your name, are you considering a&m? I was just wondering; both engineering departments are on my list.</p>

<p>nevermind, i just saw you applied to tamu</p>

<p>yeah im accepted to TAMU biomedical also. However, that major may change to EE or ChemE after first year if I go there. They, unfortunately, take until march with a lot of their scholarships. SMU is interesting me with all of the scholarships coming back but I’m still uncertain about their engineering program. It seems to be growing quite a bit from what I understand.</p>

<p>Haven’t heard of this one before, but today’s mail had the coveted letter from SMU. Daughter was awarded a $7500/yr renewable for 4 years Merit award called the Distinguished Scholar award. I hope more comes, but the waiting will be hard.</p>

<p>I received the Distinguished Scholar award today. There was also a note saying that I was being considered for the President’s Scholarship. I am thrilled! I’m anxious to see what the future holds…</p>

<p>I also received an invitation to apply for the Dedman College Scholars Program. Does anybody know anything about this?</p>

<p>does anyone know how many are “considered” for presidential? i know there are 80 finalists, but how many receive initial notification?</p>