STEM Scholars

So I got accepted to Uconn’s honors program with consideration as a “STEM Scholar” which is accompanied by a merit scholarship and benefits. I was just curious if anyone knows how exclusive this program is and what it entails exactly? Or how the program compares with top schools in the STEM field?

Good question, would like to know the answer as well.

My letter didn’t mention anything about consideration, they just invited me to join STEM Scholars in the Honors Program.

I’m pretty confused, because two of my classmates also going to STEM fields did not get STEM Scholarships from UCONN and they are much higher class rank. So far, my friend and I are the only kids I know so far from the school to get STEM Scholars, and we both had research experience, so maybe that’s a requirement.

We didn’t know anything about it until the scholarship acceptance link thing showed up on daughter’s web portal the week before decisions came out. It is listed there at the bottom of that list of scholarship policies. There is a page on their website about STEM scholars but it is rather vague and does not say much as far as the qualifications for being invited etc. UConn does seem to keep a lot of details rather close to the vest so to speak. I guess we will wait and see daugther’s admission packet for any types of scholarships or honor’s invites–if there are any. My guess it will finally get here by mail at the end of this week or early next week.

Congratulations to you for the invitation and scholarship. It seems like a rather new initiative at UConn.

I agree, the qualifications are pretty vague. Prior research experience seems like either a necessity or a huge edge. We also both received 10K in Merit Scholarship, although OOS scholarship will be higher, most likely to entice them to attend.

The qualifications for the honors program however is much more straight-forward. SAT Scores (Combined Math and Reading) or ACT seem to hold more value as a determinant than class rank. There were kids last year who were easily the top ten in the grade who did not get into honors due to a low score, while kids who were very behind in class rank yet had the scores that got them in. Note however, that the numbers they posted (1400 combined for reading and math, 32 for ACT) are not infallible, in the group, several kids have gotten honors while not meeting the score.

Best of luck to your daughter!

@aPandaa My daughter did get a scholarship and STEM scholar invitation as well. We are giving it serious consideration as the award helps with the total cost quite a bit, she got the major that she wanted, and Connecticut is in close proximity of a lot of my relatives who live in Mass, Conn, and Rhode Island. She has been doing a research internship this year and I suspect as you do that it had something to do with getting this offer. We wait for the last few school decisions to come in and see if there are any other scholarships attached, then we will decide.

Thanks for your support.

Congratulations to your daughter! If it makes it even better, STEM Scholars are the top of the batch of even researchers (Some kids with research didn’t get it). It is a big honor, and it’s definitely pulling me toward UCONN. Best of luck with your decisions.

@aPandaa‌ Yes, our whole family is excited about this offer. She will major in biomedical engineering, how about you?

I am majoring in physiology and neurobio, but did not get the scholarship. Does anyone know what it was based off of? I have a 1450 CR+M and 300 hours research lab experience. Only received 5k merit for honors college.

@Krish400158 We don’t know what the criteria are for it. We only learned that it existed when the accept scholarship link appeared on the web portal a few days before the acceptance day. Only knew about the Honors College, didn’t know there was a scholarship attached. That became evident when reading the scholarship policies. It was a pleasant surprise.

The UConn STEM program is a small subset of the Honors program. There are approx. 75-80 STEM students per year and approx. 400-500 Honors students per year. The additional requirements for STEM (in addition to meeting the Honors requirements) are a STEM major and significant STEM extracurricular activities (e.g. research). What other colleges are those who received a UConn STEM admission and scholarship considering? How does the UConn STEM program compare to other colleges that are more highly ranked, e.g. Univ. of Rochester, Univ. of Michigan, Cornell, Brown, etc. How are you deciding between UConn STEM and the other colleges to which you were (or your son/daughter was) accepted?

@FredFlinstone99 We have no idea how this STEM program stacks up against the more highly ranked schools that you mention, especially since we didn’t know about it until a couple weeks ago. Our daughter was interested in the general Honors program, this turned out to be a plus. Our decision will be based somewhat on geography and finances. We would like our daughter to be in New England near lots of relatives because we live overseas and so are not able to get to her quickly if there is a real emergency. The scholarship makes UConn affordable for us as we don’t qualify for other aid. Purdue was high on my daughter’s list and are still seriously considering it, but even with the scholarship she got there, it will end up being quite a bit more, especially with extra travel expenses. We are waiting for some other decisions but again, the cost of attendance will be a determining factor. We aren’t so worried about ranking–she’s a great student who will make the best of wherever she goes to school, as she has done all along.

@NorthernMom61 I will also be majoring in BME! If both your daughter and I end up matriculating I’ll be glad to have a study buddy.

@Krish400158 I am sorry to hear that. A part of it could be due to GPA and other things besides research. My other friend who got STEM Scholars was an intern at a hospital before she did research, as well as was started our schools Science Club. I did an internship at AstraZeneca overseas, and also won first place at a fair as well as received awards at all the others that I attended. SAT II Scores may have potentially played a part.

@FredFlinstone99 So far, the only decisions that I have received are Georgia Tech and UCONN STEM Scholars, as well as UC- San Diego. The deciding factor that would bring me to UCONN STEM Scholars is the money as well as the growth that UCONN is going through.

I do have a 3.9 GPA, 4.3 and have over 500 hours of medically orientated experience, including time spent as an EMT, at a hospital, and research. Im sorry, it just frustrates me that UConn seems to offer so little in terms of monetary substance. I got an interview for its BS/MD program, I just feel that im not being adequately represented. For example, my brother also received 5k, but his SAT score was almost 300 points lower, furthermore he is being offered another scholarship all together. @apandaa

Hey Krish. I would appeal at that point, and I would be pissed if that happened to me. In contrast, me getting STEM Scholar seems a bit undeserving. The only other possibilities I can think of are that if you come from a school that is very high achieving, they may have set a quota of kids per school that can get STEM Scholar. Not a fact, just a theory.

On the alternative, you’re a highly competitive applicant, and as a result there is a lot of potential for other schools to accept you that you would probably attend over UCONN. Sorry if that comes up as insensitive at all.

@aPandaa Cool. You just may end up being classmates. Your overseas internship must have been interesting.

@Krish400158 It does sound like you would be a great candidate for the STEM Scholars program, and I understand your disappointment. After following the decision and scholarship threads at some of the schools that my daughter applied to or was interested in at some time in the recent past, the whole “holistic” process seems to defy logic in many cases. From stats alone there seems to be no rhyme or reason why some applicants get in or not and some get much larger scholarships than others. It is frustrating.

I understand, thank you both for your help and feedback. I may try an appeal, but at this point it seems like I’ll have to go with what I have. @aPandaa‌ @NorthernMom61‌

Best of luck to all the other schools you are applying too. If some STEM Scholars end up not attending, I think there may be a possibility of it being transferred to other students, although I am not sure.

@Krish400158‌ I do hope things work out for you. You sound like an extremely competent student.

@FredFlintstone99‌ In response to your questions, I personally was also offered admission to the STEM scholar. I’m currently still waiting on 5 more schools of a total of 8 (I’ve heard from and been accepted to UConn, Northeastern, and MIT). So far, I’m between UConn and MIT, but may possibly have other competitive offers (my stats aren’t actually all that good, but being accepted to MIT seems promising). I’ve decided that my decision will come down to how I feel after visiting campus and how much the school costs (I still have yet to receive MIT’s financial aid award).