<p>The most accurate posts that I have seen regarding our experience with academic merit aid were stated by a_placefortruth.</p>
<p>Unfortunately we never knew that schools could use academic merit money as a way to "diversify" their populaion. No matter how outstanding or high achieving "academically"" a middle class male caucasian from the northeast may be, he may still be told by the institution that he doesn't bring enough diversification !</p>
<p>I would just like to point out that Sinner's Alley (aka SA, the Alley) is not a dreadful place:). Unlike other forums, where old hands make mysterious comments that make newbies wonder what is going on, here on cc have a long-running thread in the Parent's Cafe where people tell stories and make eachother LOL. And Cur, you have a standing invite to return. You have missed the marmots, the exploits of various sons (thank the spirits you don't have one, in short), and the hymn to VW Buses. And to the rest of you, should you feel like venting as this long admission season ramps up for the class of 2008, go find the thread and kvetch all you like. As a preview, and sort of a thread hijack (sorry) tempers can flare from the stress of all this, and we find everyone can make it through best if there's a place for a little levity. Speaking of which, Cur, along with the finaid data, thanks for the levity and aw-shucks of the past year. Dying to see your drop-off day thread. It's a tradition, after all.</p>
<p>Back to your previously scheduled program.</p>
<p><strong><em>Not a merit aid post</em></strong>****</p>
<p>Alu, as you know as well as anyone, my addiction to CC is considerable. I am doing my dead level darnedest to stay on the FA topic so that my jonesing would not become debilitating (again). </p>
<p>It's sort of like my theory that if I only bought horrible tasting cigarettes, I would quit smoking. Now I just smoke horrible tasting cigarettes (but they are cheaper). If I wandered back to the bar I am sure that my corruption would again be complete. </p>
<p>That's not to say I don't miss it. I do. </p>
<p>I have snuck a considerable peek at the Alley now and again. It was one of our better ideas, wasn't it? FA doesn't quite allow the same comic freedom, but I still try ;). Thanks for the nice words.</p>
<p>Look at what Elon's doing as far as making the game understandable, or at least giving us a program to follow along. This appears to be the opposite of what posters have been saying about Richmond. </p>
<p>Check out these scholarships offered to incoming freshmen at Elon , the fellows deal lderochi mentioned -</p>
<p>Up to $6k plus bene's for the Fellows programs, open to OOS, too and best of all on stacked on top of the merit awards like the Presidents. </p>
<p>Elon's Fellows programs offer exciting academic and personal growth opportunities beyond the scope of the usual college experience -- opportunities like $750 travel grants, special courses, internships or paid research assistantships. In addition, each of the Fellows programs offers scholarships to selected incoming Fellows. To be considered for one of these scholarships, students must apply and be admitted to the Fellows program. The scholarships are renewable for an additional 3 years, provided that all program requirements are met. These Fellows scholarships are awarded in addition to any Presidential Scholarship that has been received.</p>
<p>Elon College Fellows </p>
<p>Who should apply?<a href="http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/Fellows/ec.xhtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/Fellows/ec.xhtml</a></p>
<p>Students must have completed a rigorous course of study, rank in the top 15 percent of their high school class, and have a GPA of at least 3.7 and SATs of 1280 or more (ACT 29 or higher). </p>
<p>Sixty academically talented students in the liberal arts and sciences will be selected based on their high school academic performance, interviews and essays. </p>
<p>Who should apply? Honors Fellows
Students who have taken a demanding high school curriculum, rank in the top of their class, and have SATs of 1330 (ACT 30) or higher and a GPA of 3.8 or higher are encouraged to apply. </p>
<p>Each year, 40 students will be selected as Honors Fellows based on their high school records, essays, teacher recommendations and interviews. Honors Fellows may pursue any major offered at the university except for engineering. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions...d/grants.xhtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions...d/grants.xhtml</a> </p>
<p>Very nice profile page , you might can get some diversity points for being outside their present scope. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/snapshot.xhtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/snapshot.xhtml</a> </p>
<p>Take this Fellows program with it's really nice bene's and add to it the President's , couple it with their lower than normal list price, and a kid can have quite a bargain here at a fine school of increasing reputation. Not THAT many but for a high stat kid, may be just the ticket. </p>
<p>Be sure to scroll all the way down on the profile linked page. This what you hope to find when you research a school's merit aid possibilities. </p>
<p>Presidential Scholars: 401
Average GPA of Presidential Scholars: 4.41
Average SAT of Presidential Scholars: 1300
Fellows Programs: No. in Program Average GPA Average SAT
Honors 40 4.74 1399
Elon College 57 4.51 1311
Business 24 4.29 1311
Journalism and Communications 30 4.27 1320
Leadership 24 4.03 1185
N.C. Teaching Fellows 25 4.62 1258 </p>
<p>Kudos to Elon.</p>
<p>It is still not clear at a school like Elon, how they really determine who gets the limited merit money. According to their profile, it looks like a caucasian male still may have a tough time, even with stellar credentials... :)</p>
<p>Answering whether Wake assumed anything about my S -- they knew, because we told them in Jan via an update to his application, that he was a finalist for the GWHS at W&L, the Jefferson at UVa, and Roanoke College's top scholarship (he eventually also received an offer of full tuition there -- an up and coming school that we really liked). They certainly know (or should know) that scholarship finalists at these schools will be offered admission and will be encouraged to accept. And we discussed where he applied with Wake friends in the fall and winter, including with the director of admissions whom I have known since were were sorority sisters together at Wake, and a couple of others in the administration as well. So, I cannot assume that they assumed he was not seriously considering other options. </p>
<p>I just conclude that they elected to allocate available scholarships to other worthy candidates. Wake seems to have a rather "bright line" threshold SAT score for scholarships (which were not my son's strongest point), which at least they make clear to prospectives. I respect and understand that choice, both as an alum and a parent of an applicant. I recount the story simply as evidence that we should expect nothing, even as we are going for it all!</p>
<p>And I continue to firmly believe that every student can be happy and successful at any number of different colleges. What it takes is research to find them, effort to secure the opportunity to go, and a desire to make it an amazing experience once there. </p>
<p>And that's exactly what Curmudgeon's journey teaches us!</p>
<p>I don't know if anyone already said it, but Whitman College (#36 in the rankings, I believe) is great for people with need. :)</p>
<p>Wildflower, can you give us some data points if you know them? It might help somebody this year consider Whitman.</p>
<p>When looking for merit aid in MI, I came across Spring Arbor University. They offer full tuition for NMF and 1/2 tuition for semifinalists. Both are renewable with a 3.5 gpa. I didn't see a limit on how many they offer but I don't think they are bombarded by NMF's. They also have 13 other scholarships of various amounts. Don't know much about this school (it's only been around since 1873) but for a smart kid with a hopelessly middle class family, it could be the difference between going and not going to college.</p>
<p>Ever hear of the Kalamazoo Promise?</p>
<p>Students living in Kalamazoo and attending the Kalamazoo public school system can get 100% - partial tuition to any public college/university in MI. To get 100% tuition paid, the student should have attended K-12. If the student attended 4-12, 90% is paid. </p>
<p>So, if you have several children to put through college four or more years down the road, and are thinking of moving, you should consider Kalamazoo, MI. Remember, U of Michigan is a public school:-)</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I don't work for the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce.</p>
<p>I had never heard of the promise. What a fantastic deal. My D is a senior this year and S will be in 10th. So we wouldn't qualify. But I do know a young couple just starting a family that may find it quite interesting!</p>
<p>How do they choose the schools eligible to nominate people for Jefferson Scholarships? Just wondering out of curiosity. From the info on the website, my school and the other school in town aren't eligible, although it looks like a lot of other schools in my county (in Va) are. I saw some magnet schools on the list, and then just regular public schools too so it seemed a little random. I guess they must have to register or something. </p>
<p>Does UVa have any other merit oppurtunities? William and Mary? Sorry for all the questions, but like everyone else has said, when I try to look stuff on the websites it's really confusing. I was wondering if anyone had any more insight into merit aid in Va.</p>
<p>I dont know about all this no merit aid, my son applied to Bowdin, Colby, Macalester, Grinnell, and Furman. He was a National Merit Scholar He was admited to all and all gave finacial aid more than our EFC. In the end He chosae to go to Furman which had the best aid package, but all were within a couple of thousand</p>
<p>l_j, it would be very helpful if you would tell us a little more about your kid's pacakages. We realize that NMF 's get small awards at the need only colleges you mentioned and at least at Bowdoin, some have received an additional award for a total of $5K "merit". If you could tell us your EFC and then tell us how aid "brokedown" at each school between merit schols, need grants, loans, work study that would be very helpful.</p>
<p>I know that's asking a lot but your experience would be invaluable to 2011 NMF parents who wish to apply to the same schools. Thanks in advance and if you can only do a couple that would be great, too.</p>
<p>princedog , I know that W+M has few merit scholarships but I know that last year they started a new scholars program for their top recruits. Maybe someone has specifics that can help you about the two schools. I can't because we wrote off W+M early after visiting and finding the merit awards so limited and OOS tuition so aberrantly high IMO (compared to other southern publics). I couldn't get her to look at UVa.</p>
<p>Just starting the college visit process with D #2, and began with a visit to Southwestern. At the info session we were told about the merit aid provided. Given that the total cost of Southwestern at around $31,000 is already 5-10K less than many other LACs we are looking at, the "self-defined" merit aid becomes that much more significant.
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/m86qv%5B/url%5D">http://tinyurl.com/m86qv</a></p>
<p>Scroll down about half way and you will see that there is no mystery to the process. And these funds are strictly merit based. No FAFSA, etc. required. Need based aid is available but is a separate process.</p>
<p>And if you want to see what your chances of admission by class rank and test score look like, check here:
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/l4yle%5B/url%5D">http://tinyurl.com/l4yle</a></p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for sharing experiences and helping to make sense of the merit aid process!
I recently stumbled onto something interesting hidden deep on the Rice website.
<a href="http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Selectivity-National_Merit_Scholars.asp?SnID=279002323%5B/url%5D">http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Selectivity-National_Merit_Scholars.asp?SnID=279002323</a></p>
<p>They used to brag about having a large number of NM Scholars, now it is evidently not the "in" with admissions that it used to be - 177 students on various NM scholarships last year vs. 870 ten years ago and even 529 in '04-'05. </p>
<p>If you are interested in Rice, click on the other links on the sidebar for more statistics that aren't easily found on the admissions web page.</p>
<p>Re Jefferson Scholar nominations. Good question about how schools "get" a nomination. Happen to know the answer bc we know a person in JS Fdn office whose job it is to increase the number of nominations. The simple answer is: the school asks for one, then goes through the process, which I understand is designed to make the opportunity available. </p>
<p>We also found it surprising last year when my S was nominated that so many schools have a nomination but did not nominate anyone - there were only 40 something nominees from Md for example, and I recall there being more than 150 schools with nominations. It takes work on the part of the college counselor as well as the nominee, to be sure. But what a waste not to use that opportunity! </p>
<p>So go ask your guidance counselor! Nominations are due Nov 1, so there may still be time.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon, unfortunately I don't have any specific data. But here is Whitman's website: <a href="http://www.whitman.edu%5B/url%5D">www.whitman.edu</a> (finaid info is in the admissions section) :)</p>
<p>crum.............unfortunatly I tossed all that stuff out except for furmans and its not handy. roughly though my efc was 7000. the bottom line cost to us for him to go to colby or bowdoin would have been just over 6000 . grinnell and macalester would have been 6500 more or less. furmans cost was 5500 more or less.</p>
<p>I like some of the stuff I have read in this thread. bottom line do the research.</p>