Called Scholarships and Financial Aid yesterday, kind of confusing. One woman said decisions were sent out Feb 3rd, and that they cannot disclose any info regarding financial aid until Feb 22nd. Another guy at their office said letters will be sent later this month.
@ItsOVO I got a scholarship today on my Howdy portal and I have not received any mail. Granted it was only $1000 but it gave me an OOS tuition waiver.
Nothing for me yet, unfortunately. I would be so grateful for that OOS tuition waiver!
Received a letter today (live in Alabama). Called to understand the awards and was coached how to use the Financial Aid portal mentioned in other posts. The person I spoke to said there is the potential for more awards to show up in the next few weeks. She said the awards mentioned in son’s letter, also dated 1/25/16, is not necessarily complete. What has been offered is a start, but hoping for more to make attending aTm happen. Award included Opportunity Award $1000, President’s Endowed Scholarship at $3000/yr, and $1000 Study Abroad stipend. Does anybody have any idea of what COE departmental scholarships look like for incoming freshman, especially EE/Comp Eng track?
@WeSayWarEagle do you mind sharing stats?
@WeSayWarEagle, the opportunity award & president Endowed both qualify your son for OOS tuition waiver. So you pay 4000 off of instate tuition per year. Congrats to you son! If you’re hoping to match UA offer, it probably won’t - my youngest was recruited heavily & his offer was more there, heck they even invited us to a 5 star restaurant to chat! He did well here, but their offer was more (as were a few others). For us, we gave him the choice and have never regretted it. He is a top student here, 4.0 senior & hasn’t regretted his choice for even a moment.
First, missed on NMSF
ACT 34, 34, 32, 31 (overall lowest sub score was math 32)
Jefferson County IB School; program ranked #11 by WP Most Challenging High schools, has ranked as high as #5
Weighted gpa 4.3 on 4.0 scale
18 IB/AP classes
Project Lead the Way Engineering Academy as electives
Beta Club President-Junior and Senior year
Master of Ceremonies for school production
1st place team, Ten80 STEM engineering reg event
Math team
Future Problem Solvers
Varsity tennis
Volunteer work through multiple channels: tutoring, humane society, special events
IB Workstudy Jr/Sr year
Various Honor Society induction, including IB
Worked a paid job summer between 11-12
The IB program is so hard that there is no extra time during the school year beyond the EC’s son is already involved in. He gets home and has major homework every night.
We worked hard to not inflate, as I suspect there is A LOT of inflation on resumes… especially with volunteer hours. Didn’t want to be in a position where any verification would expose a lie.
Attending UA would never be an option for us, immediate circular file… for many reasons.
Do I need to submit the FAFSA to be considered for merit scholarships?
@WeSayWarEagle Why is UA in the immediate circular file for you? Curious to get a local’s perspective. Thanks for a response.
There are some merit scholarships that do require the FAFSA, some do not. If you don’t submit one, your app will not be forwarded to those who require it. Merit scholarships are often sponsored by individuals and they can pick the criteria for eligibility. There are some for certain HS districts, certain interests, certain majors, etc… There are also others that do not have those sorts of requirements, nor require FAFSA. It is up to you which ones you want to be considered for or not.
I wasn’t born in the state, but have lived here a total of 20-21 years during different periods of time. I graduated from Auburn, left state upon graduation for jobs in CA, TN, MS and back to AL. You may wish to throw out my perspective and that is fair. My S wants to major in Engineering. UA is ranked 100 and that is shared with Miss. State. The fact they are ranked does deserve respect, but I would rather send my S to Miss State than UA. Miss. State demonstrates TRUE southern graciousness, but I can’t say that for UA. The reason is the culture. If you are sold out to the Greek experience, then UA may be the right place, as they (known as The Machine) have been known as THE controlling force at the univ. for decades. If your child wants to pursue leadership, it will not be because they set themselves apart academically, but because The Machine has chosen them and they must do as they are told. Just google it. Further, the fan-base is known for its arrogance and entitlement, not exactly a virtue. They claim greatness in every area known to man, but the stats don’t necessarily bear that out. They do lure a lot of NMSF and high academic achievers because of their lucrative offers and that is something most parents find hard to ignore. For me, I would only send my S there if it was the only university in the nation. Thank goodness, it it not. Our college search is based on engineering ranking, culture, geographicy and lean conservative. We applied to 12 schools, both public and private.
Thank you @WeSayWarEagle.
Is it safe to say that if I haven’t received a merit scholarship yet, I probably won’t?
I called the office that awards scholarships and was told that more scholarship awards would be going out in the nest few weeks, so there is still reason for hope. We are holding on to hope still.
IF you haven’t filled in the FAFSA, you might want to do so before the deadline for priority March 15th. It takes time to get your FAFSA ID so don’t wait til the last minute. Some scholarships only require $1 of need, some require more, some require none, but must file FAFSA to be eligible. Other scholarships do not require FAFSA at all. If you’re looking to maximize your potential, then file.
One more tip - check to see if there is an Aggie alum group in your area. They exist all over the world. Many offer scholarships to incoming freshman & continuing students - those are considered outside scholarships.
A dad here. For the FAFSA application I had to estimate income from some sources and would have to update the application once I receive the paperwork necessary for filing the tax return. Will the scholarships and grants be based on the estimates put in the FAFSA or will they hold back the decisions until the final 2015 tax return numbers are transferred in there?
My guess is that they will submit for consideration now - and then adjust later if needed. Grants and scholarships are very different. Some grants have very specific formulas and will need to be recalculated. Will your FAFSA change significantly with the range of possible income figures? You could try both the min/max in the FAFSA calculator and see how much difference it makes to EFC. EFC is based off ranges versus exact amounts as I understand it.
I’m an out of state student from Indiana who will be a freshman this fall and has been accepted to Texas A&M’s freshman engineering program (petroleum) in College Station.
Stats:
32 ACT, 2030 SAT, Rank 14/330, 4.25 GPA
Varsity Football (Academic All-State), Varsity Cross Country, Varsity Track, National Honor Society Vice-President, Beta Club, South Madison Youth Commission, Best Buddies, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, German Club, and German Honor Society.
I was awarded the Opportunity Award scholarship valued at $1000 + an OOS tuition waiver
I was also awarded the 2016 Nelson Scholarship for the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering.
I hope these credentials can be a measuring stick to someone as I have used CC numerous times when calculating chances of admission and scholarships. I look forward to attending A&M this fall!