<p>Missed National Merit by 2-3 points (the joys of living in CT...) and the full ride which comes with it, but the University Scholar program seems interesting. They claim that they accept the top 1-2% of the applicant pool, and admit 75 students to the program each year. Does anyone have an idea of the stats that make up the top 1-2% of their applicant pool? My SAT score is well above their 75th percentile, but not sure how far above it has to be to be in contention for the program. I know that a lot of it is based on extracurriculars, which cant really be quantitatively measured, but does anyone know the averages for GPA and SATs for those who were given the scholarship? Its helpful to know if I have a shot, or if its well above my league... They give merit $$$ to the top 25% of their applicants, which Im fairly confident I would fall in, but the difference between $20,000 per year and a full ride(~$38,000 excluding room and board) is not a small one.
Thanks for your replies in advance!
-sesasheep</p>
<p>I was disappointed son didn’t receive scholars program. He did receive deans scholarship of 16,000 per year and is NMF so hopefully will receive full tuition eventually. He had 2380 SAT I in one sitting, great grades from a top high school, perfect SATIIs. He is a white male from new england.</p>
<p>The USP is about more than just grades.</p>
<p>He will get the full scholarship if he selects NEU as his first choice by a certain date-and I think that comes with the honors program but I am not sure.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the stats are for the top 1-2% but they seem to go up every year-I am sure someone on here might have that info.</p>
<p>No idea how they choose because son also had lots of volunteering, eagle scout, club head, club sports ect… but i’m grateful for the honors program at least!!</p>
<p>I got into the Scholars program.</p>
<p>I will admit that my GPA and SAT scores were, while not bad scores, not the best in the world. I’m not close to even being the sal/val. But, I think it’s true that the program does specifically look for entrepreneurial individuals.</p>
<p>I’ve been working at a semiconductor processing lab since I was in 9th grade and have done work alongside engineers for years now. The lab I work at is the most innovative in the industry, and I think that’s what provided the biggest boost for me.</p>
<p>I’ve also started a small business building/renting out home-based servers for individuals that want to hose videogame servers. I’ve been doing that for three years. </p>
<p>I’m also president of my school’s Science Olympiad team, scored second in the state at NYSML for math team, am involved in debate club, interact club, and some other areas. Community service includes 160 hrs of volunteer TA work at a local community college in computer programming classes.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you don’t need a 4.0/2350+ to get into the program, just a solid motivation to break the mold :)</p>
<p>I was also accepted into the program and although I did have pretty good grades and scores, I think Carlos is exactly right about what they are looking for (although I’m not sure my achievements were quite as impressive as his!). That is, students who have accomplishments outside of school not so much in the form of common ECs like clubs, but in areas that go far beyond what high school students are usually involved with. Things that show they are independent, entrepreneurial, and strong leaders.</p>
<p>I think it’s worth mentioning that they probably looked for independent, entrepreneurial and strong leaders that exercise those characteristics in unique ways. personally I think I got lucky and happened to stray into fields that interest both me and the university, but I’m positive, illogic, that you (and others in the program) are just as qualified but in different ways.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine they got 75 of the same people, they probably looked for cases in which each person was unique in their own way and stood out in their own way</p>
<p>While I was accepted into the program, I will admit that my stats were not the best of the best as Carlos stated himself. My GPA is 4.94 weighted and my combined SAT is 2060. I am ranked 7 out of 310. Evenso, I had other factors that helped me get into the program; I am a first generation african immigrant who migrated to the US as a toddler and my essay focused on this. I participate in science competitions for chemistry and I do analytical chemical research with a professor at my local college. In terms of leadership, I am captain of the debate team treasurer of NEHS. I’m also in music, I tutor, volunteer etc. I think the program is looking for diversity and initiative, not just stats.</p>
<p>Yeah, sounds about right to me 
I am a minority, I’m hispanic, but I don’t know if that helps to get into the program itself. I imagine it might. I think I remember reading somewhere they desire multilingual individuals, too, so that’s a bonus as well.</p>
<p>My GPA is definitely lower than 4.94 weighted but my SAT was 2220, a score I felt comfortable with.</p>
<p>Formyfuture, were you admitted to the program for the 2017 class or are you already in it?</p>
<p>Edit: for those curious my essay focused on building a robotic arm for a science competition, and my struggles with the process. I focused on the skills I’ve gleaned from working at the lab and how I used those to learn the true nature of engineering, and how I can give back to my environment with that knowledge.</p>
<p>I agree with what was said above. I was admitted EA, for the class of 2017 to the program, and my stats were good- above average but not spectacular. I had a superscore of a 2130 on the SAT, and a 94.3 weighted gpa(idk what that is on a 4.0/5.0 scale, and each school weights differently.) I did take a very rigorous course load however, especially in the context of my school. I am an African-American female, and my essay was centered around the notion that I didn’t need to fit a certain mold, and I have been breaking out of the mold that people have set around me(btw, the mold was the notion that I am “white” because I do not conform to the stereotypes of how a Black person should speak, dress, act, etc.) it was more of a creative essay, if you will, albeit not a very creative topic. I am president of two clubs, a co-captain in a varsity sport, a volunteer tutor, a paid tutor, and I have been heavily involved in a science program since the 7th grade. I also volunteered a lot and am in NHS. I don’t particularly know why my application was deemed remarkable enough to warrant a space in this program, but I am grateful. However, I also think recommendations come into play as well. Don’t worry about getting into the program- while it is a great opportunity, you never know exactly what the admissions committee is looking for. With that being said, good luck!</p>
<p>^Congratulations, Jazmine! Make your own mold and don’t let anyone tell you who you should be! :)</p>
<p>This year they admitted 120 students to University Scholars, according to an email that went out to current students looking for hosts for the USP visit weekend.</p>
<p>Any idea how many sent out for last year? Seems like only 45 cohorts enrolled last year (from the website UPS, it said the first cohorts 45 and they tried to fill up to 75 this year(?))</p>
<p>I think they did not get the yield they thought they would last year (the first year of this program) so they are accepting more this year and looking to have more in the program also - time will tell.</p>
<p>Carlos, I was admitted for the 2017 class</p>
<p>Do they look again at the pool EA to compare with the pool RD to choose the best for scholars at the end for this year? In the past years they did that , so many EA who did not get to be chosen as the trustee or the scholars at first but at the time of RD decision they got upgraded, bumped up to be chosen to override the original smaller award. It does not make sense if they make decision separately from the pool EA or separately from the pool RD because the top 1-2% means overall not 1-2% of each pool…Just my 2 cents!!</p>
<p>Are any of you who are in USP coming for the visit weekend? I’m one of the current students hosting overnight, so I’m just curious.</p>
<p>bump bump bump…</p>
<p>Just curious!! Is race a decision factor into this? Seems like these posts are from Black and Hispanic…anyone else?</p>
<p>I don’t think race plays in, at least not directly. I’m not even sure they know that when making their selection. It’s based on your success so far, perhaps with regards to any challenges you’ve had to overcome, so if there are some minorities from disadvantaged backgrounds, it may be overcoming hardship that helped earn the scholarship. When the group came for the welcome event, there were a lot of people from various backgrounds. I didn’t feel like it was skewed particularly for or against minorities. This really is a scholarship based on merit, from what I know.</p>