UNC-Scholarships and Honor Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
1

<p>My daughter was recently accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill. She has not received any scholarship info or anything about Scholarship day, so I'm afraid she will not get anything form Carolina though she is top of her class and was a Moorehead-Cain Nominee. It looks as though scholarship day was today according to some recent posts on this forum. However, I emailed UNC-Chapel Hill asking about scholarship info and they stated students will not be notified until April of scholarships and the honors program.</p>

<p>Since she has not heard anything yet, am I to assume that she will get nothing? I'm just a little confused about everything since there is conflicting info. I know just because you are top of the class and a Moorehead nominee or anything else for that matter does not mean you will get a scholarship, just kind of wondering since I got some conflicting info.</p>

<p>Anyone know?</p>

2

<p>From what I've heard you do not have to be invited to Scholarship Day in order to be offered a scholarship.</p>

3

<p>Son attended Scholarship Day on Friday, 25 Jan. All attendees were told that they were enrolled in the Honors Program. Attendees participated in group discussion and wrote an essay on the topic (the influence of the Communist Party on the intellectual community during the '30s??...it put me to sleep, ) Results will be snail mailed next Friday regarding the level of scholarship.</p>

<p>Son was also a Morehead semifinalist. Results were mailed on the 25th also. No joy :-(...BUT, good luck to all the Finalist! </p>

<p>I believe the minimum level of scholarship support for those 113 attendees on 25 Jan is $2500, renewable each year (if you maintain adequate GPA).</p>

4

<p>Are all university administered scholarships awarded as the result of scholarship day, e.g., Carolina Scholars and Davie Scholars? Was this scholarship day only for IS, OOS, or both? Is this the only scholarship day held by the university?</p>

5

<p>Are all university administered scholarships awarded as the result of scholarship day, e.g., Carolina Scholars and Davie Scholars? (I THINK so...but not the Pogue..but a guess based on the semantics of the letter received) Was this scholarship day only for IS, OOS, or both? (Son is Instate..not sure about OOS) Is this the only scholarship day held by the university? (not sure)</p>

6

<p>If all 113 attendees make the Honors Program, and all end up attending UNC, there are not that many slots available for those not invited to this day. Especailly since I read on this board that there is a Scholarship Day in February, which I assume is for the RD applicants.</p>

7

<p>Two years ago my daughter attended the January scholarship day. I don't know if it was diffent two years ago, but at that time it included both IS and OOS students. Also, I have no idea how representative our table was of the overall group, but FWIW, of the four students at our table, three of the four decided not to attend UNC. I have never heard an overall figure about how many of the students actually end up accepting the scholarships and attending UNC.</p>

8

<p>We've been very surprised that we haven't heard anything re: scholarships/honors. But it does make decisions a bit easier to sort through. UNC is rapidly taking a backseat to other top notch public and private institutions that are offering our son full tuition/honors to a full ride/honors.</p>

<p>How can one possibly justify UNC in light of these offers? Sort of sad really, 'cause the boy really liked the college. On the other hand, we'll be giving up a place to some very worthy OOSer that will be thrilled to attend UNC.</p>

9

<p>I do know that two years ago, several of my D's friends who were not invited to scholarship day DID get honors invites and DID get some amount of scholarship award, although I don't know the timing of the honors invitations or the amount of the scholarships. I think that some of the decisions about other honors invitations will be based upon the yield from scholarship day, but I don't know how they figure that, since many students won't make a decision till April. Don't give up on UNC yet!</p>

10

<p>There are two scholarship days, and the results of the first won't effect the results of the second. Everyone invited to scholarship day is also invited to the honors program. I didn't want to post that before everyone knew because I thought it was such a cool surprise.</p>

<p>The Carolina Scholars are only selected through scholarship day, and I believe it's the same way for the other big ones like the Davie scholars, but I could be wrong. Last year, way more Carolina Scholars enrolled at UNC than they had thought they would, but they were excited by this, so I really don't think that it would limit them in how many they select for the second round of scholarships.</p>

<p>Scholarship Day is for in and out of state students.</p>

11

<p>Last year, my daughter was not invited to Scholarship day, and did not get any scholarship money from UNC, but she did get invited to Honors. Plus the Honors letter is dated "January." </p>

<p>Depressing about the lack of scholarship funds, of course! But the Honors hook is probably what tipped her decision to UNC.</p>

12

<p>All the best to everybody hoping to get merit scholarships and/or honors, but really-- I do think you have to look at the quality of the school, the selectivity of UNC, and understand that even though they have a lot of merit scholarships, the competition for those is still very tough. Being awarded honors as an incoming freshman is difficult, too. </p>

<p>If you look on their website, they mention that 180 merit scholarships are awarded each year. Out of ~3700 accepted students, that's still only ~5% of the incoming class, so still competitive. That figure probably doesn't reflect the Morehead or Robertson Scholars, either, but they're even more selective:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Each year the University offers special scholarships to a select group of entering freshmen. These competitive awards recognize and encourage academic excellence. Criteria for merit-based scholarships include academic achievement, leadership qualities, commitment to service, and potential for success at the University. Financial need is not a consideration. The University seeks to identify students who have earned academic distinction in high school. Because UNC-Chapel Hill is a selective university, competition for these awards is very strong. Approximately 180 new scholarships are awarded each year to an incoming class of over 3,700 students. The recipients of these awards demonstrate impressive academic and extracurricular achievements.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>So, being awarded one of these scholarships (and honors) is still a difficult prospect; it's just not a given in a school as selective as UNC. I often think people believe that it should be, because UNC is a public university, but that's just not the case. </p>

<p>UNC just completed their Carolina First Campaign, reaching something like $2.3 billion (something on that order), and more scholarships, both need-based and non-need based will be made with some of that money, but probably not for this year.</p>

<p>To answer Maximus's question, though, I think a lot of people "justify" the cost of UNC (if they don't get a merit scholarship), because the quality of the school is excellent and, to be honest, the relative cost-- even for out of state students, and certainly for in-state students, is low.</p>

<p>Anyway-- good luck to all.</p>

13

<p>If they only offer 180 merit scholarships, how many freshman are accepted into the Honors program. Is it the same amount or more?</p>

14

<p>Note to cloying - is the second scholarship day only for RD students?</p>

15

<p>Keep in mind that last year more than 20,000 people applied to UNC-Chapel Hill. Just getting into Carolina is very competitive, perhaps more so than getting into honors programs at many other universities.</p>

16

<p>Agree with ThoughtProvoking.^ </p>

<p>snoz: Usually, ~200 freshmen are picked for honors, and in the past, has pretty much been split evenly between in-state and out-of-state. Remember, too, that if you don't get into honors as a freshmen, you can apply after your first semester, or is it first year, provided you have a certain GPA.</p>

17

<p>Unlike many other schools, UNC doesn't send out scholarship information as early as some other schools do. Frankly I think it is because they also don't have very many who turn down the offers so they tend to be very deliberate in the process, especially in the case of OOS students. While all schools over offer expecting some fall out, I've been told that UNC has historically had a very high matriculation rate among those offered merit aid and for that reason keep the offers fairly limited.</p>

<p>Their whole process is a bit different in that their EA announcements aren't made in December like most other schools.</p>

<p>My S didn't find out about Honors until at least two weeks after the RD announcement arrived so for those of you with offers from other schools in hand, don't despair quite yet. Some of those schools tend to put time limits on their offers in an attempt to improve their yield; unfortunately this only adds pressure to an already difficult time. I do know that in the past several CCers have contacted admissions when they found themselves in a situation of having to commit to a scholarship offer while waiting to hear from UNC and as I remember were able to get some guidance as to whether they might expect an offer from UNC. It NEVER hurts to send a copy of an offer from another school (as long as they consider it a peer school) to help verify the offer for them.</p>

<p>I don't think for example that an offer for Honors and money at a school like Arizona State would have much impact, but a school like UVA or similar schools might make a difference. It never hurts to be proactive.</p>

18

<p>BTW: If a school claims a time limit on a scholarship or other benefit, I believe that they are actually required to offer you an extension until May 1st if you ask for it, per NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counseling) guidelines.</p>

19

<p>Interestingly, our son just heard that he was offered a place in the honors program. Monday morning mail!</p>

20

<p>Congratulations to your son, Maximus!</p>