<p>As a student host and interviewer for this upcoming Singer/Stamps weekend, today was our pre-weekend meeting in which we were informed of all the changes that are taking place this year compared to years in the past (relayed by the Cristi Busto that we all know and love).</p>
<p>The Stamps scholarship weekends historically have been made up of 120 students. This year, the program is growing tremendously, and there will be approximately 160 students. 10 students will be nominated for the Stamps scholarship (and therefore move on to interview with the Stamps foundation), and 5 Stamps scholars will be chosen from those 10. The other five (not chosen) will remain Singer scholars.</p>
<p>Of approximately 350 interviewed for the Singer scholarship (over the three weekends total), about 70 will be awarded this year. A common concern is that "what if the first weekend has all the smartest kids [which it actually does, as the criteria for a Stamps invite are higher] and they manage to give out more than one-third of the 70 in that first weekend?!" Fear not, as the 70 Singer awards are divided roughly equally over all three weekends, so students in all three weekends have equal chances. </p>
<p>In the past, getting an invite to any of the three weekends meant you would be a Foote Fellow regardless of whether or not you are awarded a scholarship. This is no longer the case. All Stamps scholars are Foote Fellows. All Singer Scholars are Foote Fellows. Not all students invited to these weekends will be Foote Fellows. </p>
<p>In the past, in most cases, if you attended a weekend and were not awarded Singer or Stamps, you were presented/surprised with a grant of about $4,000. This is and has always been somewhat random, and still is. An invite without a subsequent award does not mean you can count on a $4k "parting gift" grant. </p>
<p>I'm really excited to see everybody this Saturday! For those of you attending: Your student host is your most valuable resource. We are literally there for YOU. Not your parents. Not the University... you. Be sure to take the time on Saturday to pick your student host's brain and truly "try on" UM.</p>
<p>Interesting…so the odds are better for the Singer if you are invited for the latter two weekends. Singer/Stamps: 23 out of 160 will get the Singer and the remaining Singer weekends: 23 out of 100 will get the Singer.</p>
<p>Interesting – makes me glad my D chose to pass up the Singer/Stamps invite. It sounds like there is a pretty high likelihood that it could have ended up being an expensive and exhausting sightseeing trip to a school she’s already visited. Best wishes to all who are attending!</p>
I’d have to disagree. The odds for top scholarships like these will never be in anyone’s favor, so to say it’s not worth it (by your logic, it never would be “worth it”) isn’t fair.</p>
<p>It’s more than just the interview to compete for the scholarship. It allows the participants a great deal of time to “try on” the university, meet and talk to a lot of people, and get a true feel for what it’s like. The deans’ panels (which is another change this year: They have ALL of the deans speaking this time) and the mock classes are really neat and eye-opening in terms of what the university has to offer.</p>
<p>The more time you spend at any university, your ability to make a good personal choice about it grows tremendously. I personally decided UM was right for me when I attended Stamps weekend last year, regardless if I got Singer/Stamps or not, and regardless of my yet-to-receive responses from other schools like Stanford and Duke. I was that confident in my comfortability with UM, and wouldn’t have been able to make that choice had I stopped at a mere campus tour.</p>
<p>paying4collegex4: Odds don’t sound good but we are looking at this as a break from work/school and to visit a new place we haven’t been too. With the split between the three weekends, and the “higher” stat kids for the Stamps weekend, it makes the competition even stiffer for those students in the first weekend. </p>
<p>Well I know the chances for the top awards for the Univ. of Delaware is pretty good. They invite the top 120 or so applicants and they are all awarded a major scholarship ($20,000+) plus the few that get the complete full ride. So everyone attending gets a scholarship that covers most of the tuition. Univ. of Maryland – for the Banneker Key semi-finalists – they all get a half tuition, full tuition or full ride awards. They are invited to interview just to determine which one they will get. So if invited, you know you will get something major.</p>
<p>Unfortunately without the full tuition award, there is no way we can swing the $40,000+ tuition at Miami and it doesn’t matter how much DS loves it.</p>
<p>Seeking Uni --The benefits you point out of such scholarship weekends can definitely be worthwhile. It isn’t quite true, however, that “the odds for top scholarships like these will never be in anyone’s favor.” For our family, we’ve concluded that these sorts of weekends are worthwhile if any of the following factors are present: a) the school pays for a substantial part of the costs of the visit; b) over half of the students attending the scholarship weekend receive at least a full tuition scholarship c) at least ten percent of the student body receives a full tuition scholarship; or d) the school is one our child would choose to attend even if she received no additional scholarship. Our D’s initial visit to Miami early this semester caused her to conclude that there were better fits on her college list where she has already been awarded full tuition or more, so she decided to pass on U Miami’s Singer/Stamps weekend – but that doesn’t mean that the weekend isn’t worthwhile for other students who are differently situated. </p>
<p>MTNest – My d has been on a two week whirlwind of scholarship/special program visits, so adding another weekend to her agenda didn’t have the appeal of a needed break from school for her – at this point she is actually anxious to get caught up on two weeks of missed school work over this weekend – and to make it to Miami in time for the dinner on Friday she would have also had to cut short a scholarship interview visit at another school that offers 70% or so of their candidates the scholarship that they come to interview for – which we concluded would have been an unwise trade off even before we knew that Miami has increased the number of candidates competing for the Singer/Stamps.</p>
<p>To all attending – best of luck. I am sure that Miami will do a fabulous job selling you on the school based on all the rave reviews the weekend has gotten in the past!</p>
<p>Wow, 10% of the school receiving a full-tuition scholarship? What kind of fantasy school are you dreaming of? Also would like to add that the chances of getting Foote standing from the Singer/Stamps weekend IS in your favor. Not everyone gets it, but there’s a very good chance you would. And the benefits of being a Foote Fellow, at least in my opinion, override the costs of attending the weekend, so much so that, given the choice between a full-tuition scholarship at another school and a 24k scholarship from Miami plus Foote Fellow, I’d choose Miami in a heartbeat. They don’t really stress how amazing Foote Fellow standing is before the weekend, or even during the weekend. I am currently triple majoring because I have the room in my schedule to do so, while still only taking 15-17 credits a semester. My friends are all extremely jealous when I tell them that I don’t have to take the boring and irrelevant classes they have to take for their Gen Eds. I know it’s too late for the people who chose not to go to the weekend to change their minds, but for anyone else applying next year, take my advice. If you get an invite, go. You have sooo much to gain, and only airfare to lose.</p>
<p>Mareinebio444 – Washington and Lee is an example of a school where 10% of the incoming class receives a full tuition scholarship. The Curtis Institute of Music is a school where everyone receives a full scholarship. Olin College of Engineering used to be another, though they have now dropped their scholarship to 50% for everyone. Obviously such opportunities are few and far between – and the school that is right for one student might not be a good fit for another – but they do exist for highly qualified students.</p>
<p>Also, note that this whole discussion was provoked by SeekingUni’s comment that the attendees would NOT necessarily be offered automatic status as Foote Fellows this year – so it isn’t safe to assume that spending the money on airfare will yield Foote Fellow status. (Also – I haven’t checked out AP credits at Miami but at many schools the AP credit that students who have the credentials for Singer/Stamps typically have would place them out of all gen eds anyway – so the opportunity for double/ triple majors isn’t particularly unique. Due to her large number of AP credits, a half tuition scholarship with Foote Fellow status at Miami would not be a better economic and academic choice for my D than some of her other options.) </p>
<p>Bottom line – I’m not saying that Miami isn’t a great school or that it doesn’t have great opportunities. Clearly it is a great school and the loyalty and enthusiasm of the people on this board speaks volumes. I am only saying that since my daughter had determined in advance of the Singer/Stamps visit offer that Miami probably wasn’t the best fit for her and since she has other options that offer similar monetary and academic opportunities that feel like better personal fits, I’m glad that she didn’t accept this invitation given the low odds of receiving any benefits that might move Miami way up her personal list. Others opinions will vary. For some U Miami will be the perfect school and this weekend will no doubt confirm that impression whether or not they receive any additional scholarship money or a Foote Fellows invitation. People who are fortunate enough to receive Singer or Stamps invites should certainly seriously consider the opportunity.</p>
<p>Many of these kids are kids that apply to Miami and similar as “safety schools” and yes, are drawn in when they show up for the weekend. Those higher ranked schools (in general, I am not talking Curtis or Olin but rather WUSTL, UVa, Ivys, Berkeley, etc… most of these kids do not get offered such great merit money. We were not comparing Maryland to Miami or Delaware. I don’t doubt my sons stats would have gotten him full or close to full merit awards at many schools, but these are not schools he would even consider. </p>
<p>Our HS valedictorian son chose the U upon his visit regardless of the final Singer offer (which he did receive along with Foote Fellow.) These kids are treated very well at the U and the Foote Fellow perks (not just the exclusion of gen ed courses) is terrific. </p>
<p>The merit awards (below Singer) make it affordable to many who otherwise could not attend or be strapped with huge loans.</p>
<p>Announced during dinner, all the Stamp weekend participants are Foote Fellows. Do not know if this will be the case with the next two Singer weekends.</p>
<p>^That’s greats news. When my D was choosing schools (and she had many great options, choosing among several full rides/full tuition scholarships, as well as highly ranked schools, which all of your kids will have by the time this is done), Foote Fellows was one of the things that really put Miami above the rest. It is more than just being able to pass over some classes as another poster said. There are functions for the group, and many special honors associated with being a FF.</p>
<p>Hope you all enjoyed the dinner last night! My D was one of the speakers!!! Have fun today.</p>
<p>ehh I don’t mean to burst your bubbles, but I think that Dr. Green might’ve misspoke when he announced that…Talking with Cristi Busto, it seems that he had the wrong impression. getting the scholarship is an assured FF, and then about ~75 (if I remember correctly) across the other three weekends also get the fellowship</p>
<p>At the parent session, they said all Singer and Stamp scholarship winners are Foote Fellows and since the this group had such high stats, the majority would most likely be Foote Fellows. Also said they had not decided on how many scholarships they are handing out but 20-25 percent from this weekend would get the scholarships.</p>
<p>Since conflicting information is being given, let’s hope they are on the same page in the upcoming weekends. During lunch, saw many parents with their kids at the tables with their mentors. Heck, when they called for group A to go to the interviews, parents were joining their kids until told to stay behind! Could not believe parents thinking they could go along for the interview!</p>
<p>MTnest, I am proud of her :). It amazes me how accomplished and driven kids are today. I was involved back in college, but nothing like my kids. I can tell you that it was very easy for her to speak, as she LOVES the U. Back when she was making decisions, she was very, very torn, and she didn’t actually decide until the end of April. Now, looking back, she can’t imagine being anywhere else. She’s had wonderful opportunities and some fantastic professors, and overall, we have been extremely pleased. Good luck, and I’ll be rooting for your DS.</p>
<p>@Kendamon, there are numerous opportunities for Foote’s other than being exempt from gen eds. Foote’s get first grab at tickets to on-campus events and speakers (Obama came twice last semester, and Foote’s had tickets set aside for them). Also, Foote’s have the opportunity to take a special class called Books that Matter, which is offered every semester. Freshman have a class of their own, and there’s another class for upperclassmen or Freshman who have already taken the first course. Foote’s are also paired with a Foote peer mentor in their field of study who helps them get through the transition from high school to college and is there as a resource for them. In terms of registration, Foote Fellows get the earlier registration times on their registration days.</p>