<p>Does anyone know how the merit scholarships at St. Louis U. are? Its one of my first choice match schools, and I was wondering how competitive they are in giving out merit aid.</p>
<p>You automatically are considered for merit awards at acceptance valued between $3K-$15K. There are larger Presidential/MLK awards which require seperate applications/interviews. All in all, I think very competitive. Call the admissions office, nice people.</p>
<p>My son was recently accepted at St. Louis and was offered $6K a year in merit aid.
He is seriously considering SLU.</p>
<p>D applied, was accepted with nice merit aid (no separate scholarship app). Was asked to apply for the Presidential Scholarship (separate app). She did apply and was asked to attend the Presidential Scholarship weekend (interviews, etc.) </p>
<p>She declined because:</p>
<p>OOS - and the cost of airfare and hotel is not paid for by SLU. For us, the cost would have been about $750. </p>
<p>She would have had to miss at least one day of school + the weekend to attend.</p>
<p>Other scholarship weekends in Feb. (a couple with expenses paid, another unpaid). She needed to look closely at the calendar in an effort to determine just how much she could juggle in Feb.</p>
<p>Taken separately, none of the above was the reason she choose not to attend the weekend. But put together and added to the main reason: </p>
<p>400 students interview for 20 Presidential Scholarship over a period of two weekends, and d honestly didn't feel that she was competitive enough to be one of the top 20</p>
<p>d decided not to attend.</p>
<p>Perhaps a mistake, because the Presidential Scholarship covers full tuition plus has some perks added. But truly the odds of getting the scholarship are so slim, and for an OOS student who is still undecided, the expense and time spent to attend made her look closely at those odds. If we lived closer or she was positive she'd attend SLU, then the decision would have been different.</p>
<p>Good luck to all trying for the Presidential Scholarship. The whole app experience with SLU has been nothing but positive.</p>
<p>My D interviewed for the Presidential Award several years ago. The main benefit of participating in the weekend turned out to be that SLU added $2000 to their previous scholarship offer to all who attended.</p>
<p>Not sure if that is still the case, but the $8000 over 4 years has been very helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks, IllinoisMom. My son has been inviited to the Presidential weekend, it's nice to know that there is a reward for attending. 1 in 20 is long odds.</p>
<p>In my acceptance packet I was originally awarded 18k / year in merit scholarships. I interviewed for the presidential scholarship and I was indeed a winner. That scholarship comes out to being about 30k / year. The weekend was incredibly well run by the SLU staff and students. The scholarship services at SLU are very nice.</p>
<p>Cycloneman- what were ur stats</p>
<p>cycloneman34,</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS!!! Have you accepted admission yet? I believe the Presidential Scholarship is actually for full tuition for 4 years, so you are protected from the annual tuition increases. Believe me, that means A LOT!</p>
<p>My D received the Provost award of $13K per year which was nice, but with the annual increases, its’ true value decreased over time.</p>
<p>Again, congrats!</p>
<p>Cycloneman-- congrats. Are you going to accept it? My daughter was a presidential scholar. She graduated in 2007. She loved SLU – was very happy there. The school just keeps getting better and better. Fr. Biondi had a grand vision, and it seems to be coming together. Best of luck!!!</p>
<p>In student reviews that I’ve read, I hear that minorities have a much easier time with scholarships. As an Asian American, I’ve received a $15k Provost Scholarship (I’m attending SLU’s Med Scholars this fall).</p>
<p>SLUMpED: not sure if your info is correct. I have met dozens of kids who were on merit scholarship at SLU and many of them were not minorities. The awards are usually based on gpa, tests, and/or service to the community. Whatever someone’s background is, they should apply because SLU is generous with aid and scholarships.</p>