<p>What type of applicants usually receive merit scholarships? </p>
<p>I guess I've always assumed that a merit scholarship was out of reach for me, because as selective as Uchicago is, the kids getting incentives must be the type that would otherwise choose Harvard or something.</p>
<p>So, is this true? Do you know anyone who received a merit scholarship, what was it in the amount of, and can you provide any info about them as an applicant? (sorry for the lack of parallel structure ahah)</p>
<p>Your rank and ACT/SAT II scores definitely trump mine. Hopefully you don’t need perfect scores to get a merit scholarship ^^;</p>
<p>Did anyone without a 36 ACT get money? Haha.</p>
<p>Edit: I went back to that thread and holy crap people on CC are crazy.</p>
<p>So a 3.9 GPA 36 ACT 800 SAT IIs and heavy involvement in extracurriculars is “decent” or “borderline” for UofC? Come on. Yes, acceptance to selective schools is somewhat of a crap shoot but there’s a certain point where you’re a strong applicant and people can stop telling you that you are just “decent”. Guess it just shows the silliness of these chance threads.</p>
<p>I know several others with merit scholarships, who as far as I know do not have ‘perfect scores,’ so it’s not nearly as impossible as you think to get a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>Yeah, my parents have been pushing me heavily toward selective private schools that offer some form of merit (WUStL, UChicago), but I have this feeling that I’ll be lucky just to get in. I kinda feel like they have unrealistic expectations of me…it’s not worth it to go to a mediocre private school, yet it’s too expensive to go somewhere unless you get a scholarship. Kinda takes away, well, any option whatsoever. Hah. Talk about rock and a hard place.</p>
<p>But I suppose if you don’t apply, you never know. Maybe that’s all they care about.</p>
<p>eh, don’t worry too much about it. work hard on those apps, make sure you have safeties, and enjoy your senior year. at some point, it’s out of your hands.</p>
<p>Historically, Chicago gives merit scholarships to those students whom the faculty would most like to teach. How that’s determined is somewhat murky, though it is not purely on numbers. Folks we know who were given scholarships had some other interests/awards that made them attractive candidates.</p>
<p>One of my kids got one; have never been told why.</p>
<p>What were his scores like? Just curious about who would be “in the running,” though it seems extracurriculars, essays, whatever play a big role in the final outcome.</p>
<p>My 1st year received a 10k/yr merit scholarship. Her stats:</p>
<p>SAT - 740 CR 800 M
SATII - 790 Math2 770 Physics 780 US History</p>
<p>GPA - 3.7 unweighted 4.2 weighted
School doesn’t rank - top 10% in a highly competitive public high school class of 800
Junior year - 2 AP classes Senior year - 5 AP classes</p>
<p>ExtraCurriculars:
Marching Band (9,10,11,12) Drum Major
Jazz Ensemble (10,11,12)
Wind Ensemble (11,12) First Chair Trombone
Academic Team (11,12)
NHS
Mu Alpha Theta
Italian Honor Society
Math Tutor for Elementary School
Over 200 Hours Community Service - Rescue Squad</p>
<p>Never saw her teacher or guidance counselor recommendations but they must have been good. </p>
<p>She spent a lot of time on her essays but they weren’t over the top. They were a true representation of her personality and she had fun with them rather than stressing and obsessing about them and I think that was evident in her writing. She felt she was a perfect fit for the UofC from day 1 and I think that was evident in her essays and application materials as well.</p>
<p>Reputedly, at least in the past, these had nothing to do with “stats”. Absolutely nothing. I know (or know of) people whose stats were marginal for Chicago who got big scholarships. In a sense, that’s not surprising at all. The people who get in because there’s something interesting they have done or written are more likely to attract faculty interest than people whose main claim to fame is good grades and test scores.</p>
<p>To the OP: I have a $10k a year merit scholarship, and I didn’t get in to Harvard. Sure, there are some students who receive them and turn them down (my sister, for example, who also got a $10k but chose to attend Macalester College in St. Paul, MN) but they are not necessarily the people you’d expect. I had good stats, slightly above average for UChicago but not by much (33 ACT, 3.9 GPA) and the other students I know on campus who have merit scholarships are as surprisingly human as I am. A lot can be said about putting effort and passion in to ECs, showing skills and talents, and especially writing good and creative essays (but not just for creativity’s sake-- creatively representative of you and the way you actually are). My essays were a fictitious historical analysis of the party hat (don’t try this one again), a very simple, straightforward, and oozing-with-love Why Chicago, and a short paragraph about why I like the guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. Show yourself through your essays, and don’t try to write what you think people want to hear from “generic college applicant X”-- 1,500 other people will do that. Only you know what goes on in your brain, and why your brain will be perfect here, and if you can get that across you are going to be vastly closer to merit scholarship territory than a person with great stats but no life.</p>
<p>So, the robo-Harvard übermensch with amazing stats and no personality is not the type that gets these… I’m still not sure how the scholarship committee identifies the UChicago “spark” in potential merit recipients, but everyone I have met who has a merit scholarship and has chosen to attend definitely has it, and got their award based on that and their personal achievements, not just test scores.</p>
<p>The general story on Chicago’s merit scholarships has been that there are so few of them and their process for awarding them is so obscure that no one should count on one, that’s it’s not the best choice for “needed” merit money. That may be changing a little–they used to just award about 30 full tuition and 100 10K per year scholarships (plus their National Merit awards). Last year they opened it up and spread it around with 5K per year awards.</p>
<p>As for stats. It’s a big question. My D has 10K per year. She was a pretty complete package, with good stats and ECs. But I’ve heard of others without the conventional stats also winning awards. I’ve always wondered if it was her essay that clinched it. Her essay on a Chicago prompt came alive, managing to tell a lot about her, in a way that no common app essay could. </p>
<p>But who knows? So far, they’re not telling.</p>
<p>So . . . there’s the secret! Grace showed a quality far more rare than getting 1600 on the two SATs that count. About a thousand kids a year can do that, but explaining why you like Yngwie Malmsteen? Objectively, that ought to be impossible!</p>
<p>One of my kids got the 10k/year award. Outstanding scores, super intense course difficulty. Pursued his passions, not his GPA. If I had to pick one thing that might have done the trick, I’d say it was the essays. He wrote fearlessly. Was also rejected from Harvard. :)</p>
<p>Other kiddo also got into Chicago EA, did not get merit. Essays were absolutely terrific. Did not apply to Harvard.</p>