My daughter (junior) currently has two ACT scores of 33, but 34 superscored. Top 2% and 4.0 GPA. Lots of leadership and multi-sport athlete. we are OOS. Will this get consideration for Distinguished Scholars?
Hello- I think it’s a crap shoot. I have two examples for you.
My son - instate, ACT 34, SAT (old) - 2230 with 800 math. 4.0 unweighted gpa, rank 2/312. All AP classes taken. Completed 27 credits of courses at UD with a 4.0 (to include Calc A. B, C and Differential Equations), two Varsity sport (captain of both senior year), Eagle Scout, Delaware Boys’ State participant, works a part time job year round — NO invitation to distinguished scholars.
My son’s very good friend- instate, ACT 35 SAT (old) 2350 - 800 on two sections, 4.0 unweigted gpa, rank 1/312. All AP classes taken. Completed 27 credits of courses at UD with a 4.0 (to include Calc A. B, C and Differential Equations), three Varsity sport (captain of two senior year), Class President - all four years, speaks three languages fluently — NO invitation to distinguished scholars.
I have no idea what it takes. I thought for sure at least his friend would be invited and hoped that they both would. I don’t know if being in state helps or hurts. I do know of two instate private school students who received the top scholarships in 2016. Both came from classes of under 30 students which is interesting in and of itself.
Good luck to your daughter! She just might have the secret ingredient.
Wow, I’m shocked they didn’t get consideration for DS, but I’m sure with those credentials they have plenty of other great options. If you don’t mind ,e asking, what merit did they get from Udel?
I was shocked as well. They both have many other offers, and neither has made a decision yet! They both got the same exact amount - $6000 per year. That is the highest in state amount without being a distinguished scholar. The OOS awards are higher and they can be found on the UD website.
Daughter is current UD sophomore Dupont Memorial Scholar (highest level DiScho award). Out of state, but attended well-known in state private boarding school. I don’t recall her exact SAT score, but she was NMF, and had at least one section of 800. Pretty sure she did not have 4.0 GPA, but again…high school among most rigorous in the state. I’d say she had okay but not outstanding ECs, but an extremely rare natural curiosity for a HS student.
Given the posts above (the kids who did not get invited to DS weekend seem to have arguably better stats on paper than my D), I’m guessing that being at a school of known rigor helps. Another guess is that the college counselor or other high school staff/teacher might have some sway in things…possibly tipping off the UD AOs “to pay special attention to this application” (if you’ve read “The Gatekeepers”, you know that this does happen). This is, of course, pure speculation on my part.
Daughter chose UD over Carnegie Mellon Engineering. Curious what other schools the kids mentioned above were choosing between — and which one they ended up choosing.
I have a daughter who is a graduating UD senior DiScho. She was OOS, large competitive public HS, 4.0+ GPA, ACT 35, good extracurriculars and a great ‘story’ having left HS after junior year to be a competitive equestrian and finish HS virtually.
I also have a son finishing freshman year at UD as a DiScho. Same exact stats including GPA and 35 ACT. Heavy sports emphasis, recruited D1 athlete (but not at UD). He had great essays with passion and purpose and was a great fit in engineering.
Both got into multiple other schools including Ivies. It was not an easy decision but both felt a great fit at UD and were happy to be named Distinguished Scholars and receive the award they each did. They’ve done great at UD and despite fairly challenging coursework were both able to become involved in research, and stay involved athletically and socially, without sacrificing academically.
All that said, I honestly think the ACT of 35 got them the most DiScho interest, supported by great transcripts and meaningful activities that they had real interest in, and a plan they had thought out for their future.