<p>Has anyone heard about merit scholarships for this year? Does anyone know when to anticipate hearing from HWS, particularly for those who applied early for merit consideration? </p>
<p>I am interested in anyone who has experience with the Blackwell scholarship process as well.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Okay, so I will answer my own question! D. received Trustee scholarship today! ($80,000) Wish all schools were like this with merit aid!</p>
<p>Congrats Moonstone! Would you mind posting your daughter’s stats?</p>
<p>Moonstone, congratulations! That’s fantastic! Last spring my son, a first year this year, got a $60,000 scholarship/fin aid and we were thrilled with it. It was what really determined where he was going to go because the straight financial aid for the others schools was inadequate; we have twins so money was a big issue.</p>
<p>Carolyn: What is your son studying? We will go to the Trustee weekend, so we hope to meet some professors, etc. and really talk to some some students about HWS.
Carmen: 2100 SAT, Top 5% class.</p>
<p>Congrats!</p>
<p>When did she apply? I applied as well, and I’m waiting for news on acceptance/scholarships.</p>
<p>She applied by Jan. 1st to meet the merit deadlines. It was probably Dec. 31st!</p>
<p>I applied for both the Trustee scholarship and the Arts Scholars scholarship. I was notified that I am a finalist for the Arts Scholars program (meaning I have to fly to NY to audition live to get the $$), but I haven’t heard anything about the Trustee yet.</p>
<p>Hopefully they’ll consider me for it! :O</p>
<p>Moonstone, my son is currently interested in philosophy, political science or history; he’s contemplating law school. There’s a lot of school between now and then so we’ll see. Hopefully he will have a useful internship this summer that can help clarify the direction he wants to go.</p>
<p>mjh2010, congratulations for being a finalist for the Arts Scholars program. That’s very exciting! I wish you well in your audition. What kind of performing art do you do? </p>
<p>RowNathan, good luck in your application and scholarships as well! My son had no idea he was going to receive merit money, so you never know how it will turn out!</p>
<p>Carolyn: I auditioned with classical piano, though I also submitted my photography portfolio…but I’m pretty sure you can only apply under one category, so I’m up for a Music Scholarship (which makes more sense seeing as how I’ve been playing piano for 10 years and taking pictures for only 3!)</p>
<p>Moonstone: Do you know if HWS mailed all Trustee Scholarship notifications at the same time? (sorry, just a little anxious:P). I figured chances would be decent, since their applicant pool isn’t too huge and even fewer bother applying for the scholarship. Oh well. All I can do is hope:) Congrats on your part though!</p>
<p>mjh, I love classical piano. I’m not sure if there’s a photography club, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were. If not, you can start one easily enough. When is your audition? And when will you find out if you get the Art Scholarship? I rather imagine that if you would get one scholarship, you wouldn’t get the other. They have to spread the wealth around, so to speak. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.</p>
<p>In a HWS on-line chat the admissions/finaid people said the Trustee letters were mailed yesterday, but some people were saying their mail was delayed because of the snowstorms. Just from the conversation, my guess is you will hear soon.</p>
<p>Just opened the mail with a thin envelope from HWS. DD got a Trustees scholarship for $80,000 total. WOW.</p>
<p>My D also got the 20K with 1410 SATs and top 5 percent. Any thoughts on academic atmosphere, social scene, or HWS as place from which to go to graduate school? Career counseling office seems great. Again, input would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Just got my letter!</p>
<p>Congrats 2bizee and RowNathan!
Are you going to the Trustee Scholar day?
It is certainly nice to get this kind of early confirmation. HWS is not my daughter’s first choice necessarily, but it seems like a great school for her and the financial piece is very important. I am looking forward to getting to know the school a bit more.</p>
<p>Congratulations to you all! I encourage you to attend the Trustee Scholar Day, whenever that is. It is really useful to spend some time at HWS if at all possible. My son is a first-year and we have been very happy with the school, although, Moonstone, it was not his first choice as well. As is often true in life, it’s what we make of the opportunities we are given. We have twins, so money was a consideration for us and his $64,000 merit scholarship (I was inaccurate earlier) was welcome news.</p>
<p>When we attended the accepted students open house in April, I was very impressed with the caliber of support, organization, and resources the school has available for students. They have just thought everything through. Honestly I don’t know how HWS was doing before President Mark Gearan came ten years ago, but he has brought direction, energy, and purpose to the school. I have a sense that HWS was a respectable school before, but he seems determined to put HWS on the map. And the professors I talked with simply knocked my socks off.</p>
<p>JustBob, I think HWS is a great undergraduate preparation for graduate school. I know they have an excellent pre-law program (I think virtually all pre-law students get into one of their top three law school choices) and as you said, the CDO has a lot to offer. Much of the value of career counseling depends on the motivation of the student, so if your daughter takes advantage of the services they offer, I think she’ll be all set. They encourage students as first-years to start using them and not wait till they’re second-semester seniors to get going on future planning.</p>
<p>Perhaps I can answer about the social scene and academic atmosphere in another post. If you have specific questions, that might be helpful as a start. Also, earlier threads at the bottom of the HWS forum page are also available; take a look at those within the last six months or year. Some informative posts have been written by a recent former student who is now in med school (when he has the time!).</p>
<p>CarolynB: Thank you for the thoughtful and courteous reply to my post. I strongly agree that opportunities are what you make of them. D may have a tough time choosing schools, as her college list was put together to maximize good choices, not to flail about trying to get into an Ivy. But the point is that, ultimately, the individual student must grab the knob and walk through the door, be it at an Ivy, another private school, or a state university. ALL of these students are privileged and lucky. As for HWS, we have visited several times and are impressed. Seemingly little things, such as the web posting of what, if I remember correctly, is a roommate code of conduct shows a high level of caring. We will, indeed, look at the postings you suggest. Again, thanks.</p>
<p>JustBob, one of the things that simply astounded me about HWS is the personal attention the First-Year Deans give the incoming first-year students before they even set foot on campus. HWS feels it’s critical for first-years to have a successful start so the students submit a list of potential classes they like and indicate their interests and potential future plans. The Deans review this information as well as their admissions materials and actually line up the students’ first semester classes, including the First-Year Seminar (which determines the pre-major advisor). The students obviously can change their schedule, with input from their advisor, and my son did, but the effort and individualized care the First-Year Deans take is noteworthy. While I confess I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of other schools’ first-year orientation, I don’t know of any other school who does this (and with twins, we visited a LOT of schools!).</p>
<p>With our having girl-boy twins, we visited both co-ed and women’s colleges. On one of our visits to a women’s college, the admissions person pointed out that while the current ratio of women to men is 60% to 40% in co-ed colleges, studies have shown that 90% of the student government leadership positions are held by men. Obviously, she went on to say that at their college, ALL the leadership positions are held by women. HWS is truly unique in its opportunity to offer student government experience equally to both women and men. I think that sense of equality subtly permeates many of the campus activities and encourages the women to come forward and take leadership roles elsewhere.</p>
<p>On a similar note, it’s my understanding that in the recent past the women of William Smith College had a vote on allowing sororities onto the campus. The women said no, they were all one big sorority. I think that shows tremendous maturity in understanding how Greek life can impact campus life: while it’s a way to have automatic friends and be more easily organized to get things done, at the same time it creates exclusivity that the women recognized.</p>