<p>Re posts 15 and 16 (Jersey13 and Keilexandra):</p>
<p>The son of a friend was hoping for a merit scholarship from Vandy this year: 2400 SAT, perfect 4.0 unweighted, university math courses, many AP courses. Result, no merit scholarship of any sort. Not one of the ‘named’ awards, nor a partial no-name award.</p>
<p>This young man was short on ECs and leadership.</p>
<p>A few years ago, I think he may have been offered something. The last three years has seen the landscape change at Vanderbilt, with respect to both admissions and merit awards.</p>
<p>I can’t say for the other schools Keilexandra mentioned.</p>
<p>@Starbright,
As I recall, the book The Gatekeepers also documents an instance of admissions preference for the children of faculty and staff at Wesleyan.</p>
<p>for those looking for great merit scholarships (both NMF and high SAT/ACT scores), you may want to take a closer look at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa). </p>
<p>National Merit Finalist or National Achievement Finalist
Value of tuition in-state or out-of-state for 4 years
4 years of on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
$1,000 per year University National Merit/Achievement Scholarship for 4 years
One time allowance of $2,000 for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
Laptop computer** </p>
<p>Presidential Scholar
An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive the value of out-of-state tuition for four years.</p>
<p>My middle son was a NMF and also a very talented runner. Initially he only considered some D3 and a few D1 schools with a strong academic reputation. He applied to 10 schools and got in to all of them. (Chicago, Carnegie, Emory, Wash U, Case, Davidson, Vandy, Texas A&M, Washington and Jefferson and University of Alabama (* only because we asked him to). He was offered elite scholarships at Emory, Case and Davidson. Since we do not qualify for any need based FA, our out of pocket costs would still be $20k+ per year AFTER full tuition scholarships. We urged our son to visit UA during Spring Break (late March) of his Senior year, reminding him not to judge a school based on books/lists/biased perceptions. UA was a wonderful surprise for him. UA quickly moved from the bottom of his list to the top within days of his visit. The Dean of the Honors College convinced my son to apply for one of only 40 spots in the Computer Based Honors Program long after the dead line had passes. The CBHP students begin research in any field of study before the end of their first year.<br>
Not only has his academic and research experience been wonderful, he also gets to compete at a Division I level. (*The dorms are also beautiful.) </p>
<p>I encourage all to visit [The</a> University of Alabama](<a href=“http://www.UA.edu%5DThe”>http://www.UA.edu) and take a look at a school you may never have considered.</p>
<p>My only evidence re “facbrats” is that I have yet to hear of a qualified one rejected. Now, people who are tenured faculty at Ivy League universities (or the equivalent) tend to have pretty smart kids who fit very nicely into an elite university’s view of what a student should look like, and they are often very successful when they apply to OTHER similar universities, too. And some faculty kids are a poor fit and they and everyone else are aware of it and so don’t apply. Or they are desperate to go somewhere far from Mom and Dad. Nevertheless, the ones I have seen apply to the home institution bat 1.000.</p>
<p>Keil – What an excellent summary of key points!</p>
My neighbor is on faculty at the Dental School of a nearby university. He told me himself that his daughter got into the school (not the dental part) because he was on the faculty. And from what I know of the girl, she would have had a very, very hard time getting in on her own.</p>
<p>Hmmm re facbrats, no evidence to supply but if you were in admissions and you were deciding between equal candidates you would have nothing to gain and everything to loose by rejecting a respected faculty member’s student. I doubt that being a faculty “'kid” alone would tilt the scale, but being a well qualified faculty student would be a hook equal to any other hook. How many kids “want” to go to college where their parents work? I imagine the tilt is only at the “home college” and after that they would loose that hook e.g. Harvard prof’s student applying to Yale, etc.</p>