<p>Does anybody know anything about the scholarships that Washington University in St. Louis provides? I'm particularly interested in the Annika Rodriguez volunteering scholarship, the Summer Scholars Program in bio research, and the Engineering Fellowship. Can anybody provide a range of qualifications needed for those?</p>
<p>Also, how good is Washu in dishing out random financial aid based on merit? I don't qualify for any need-based aid, so some extra money that they give to students (without applications) would be very helpful.</p>
<p>i have a question about this merit vs. need-based aid situation... </p>
<p>i understand that need based is given out by the information you provide on CSS and FAFSA. but washu has all these additional scholarship apps you have to fill out, that no other school i've applied to has told me about. that is, all they tell applicants about financial aid is their deadline for CSS and fafsa. they don't seem to mention any additional scholarship applications.</p>
<p>my question is, do i have to do the legwork to find what merit-based scholarships the other schools offer? and is it worth it to actually apply for so many scholarships when you're only going to end up at one school anyway?</p>
<p>i hope this isn't too confusing..
all answers greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>"do i have to do the legwork to find what merit-based scholarships the other schools offer? "</p>
<p>Unless the cost of college is of absolutely no concern to your parents, yes, it is worth it to do the above. If you are a senior, you are getting into this process late because some colleges that have Jan. admission app deadlines have Nov. deadlines for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>whoa, thanks for the suggestion, northstar, but this is news to me.. the washu merit scholarships, for example, have deadlines in mid-January.. and November is such a busy time for writing college essays, EA/ED for those that wanted it -how could students have time to fill out additional 3, 4, (even 5) apps per school for scholarships!</p>
<p>but all this aside, i have a few more questions. some of these scholarships are available for those who are "incoming students." if i haven't been accepted yet, can i still apply?</p>
<p>also, (this finaid stuff is really confusing me) i was under the impression that schools automatically considered you for their scholarships (merit, or need based) once you filed an app, sent in the FAFSA, and sent in the CSS (where applicable). is that ever true?</p>
<p>-would be grateful for any further help, additional comments..</p>
<p>SimplyxMe:
Our D2 was a winner of one of the full-tuition Moog scholarships at WUSTL last year. She applied for the scholarship and admission at the same time - so yes, you can apply even if you haven't yet been admitted.</p>
<p>Some schools don't need any extra paperwork from you to be considered for their merit scholarships. WUSTL does, and (in my opinion) it's worth the effort.</p>
<p>You need to thoroughly read the admissions and financial aid sites for each school. At some schools you're automatically entered into the merit scholarship pool with your application but in others (such as WashU) you have to do separate scholarship applications. Need-based financial aid is done on the basis of the FAFSA and CSS information, but merit is generally not - it is merit based. However, some schools do require you to fill out these financial aid forms to be considered for merit based scholarships.</p>
<p>".. and November is such a busy time for writing college essays, EA/ED for those that wanted it -how could students have time to fill out additional 3, 4, (even 5) apps per school for scholarships!?</p>
<p>This is late for you, but may help younger students.</p>
<p>It helps to start looking at merit scholarship info when one starts considering colleges. Junior year is not too early. If $ is a consideration, one also can tailor some of one's application decisions on which colleges are likely to give one merit scholarships. This particularly can be helpful if one's family isn't likely to qualify for much financial aid.</p>
<p>It also helps to begin working on college apps in Aug. If one waits until Nov., one will be swamped with schoolwork, stress and senioritis.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships can pay for up to the full cost of tuition plus room and board and other perks. Thus, the top merit scholarships can be worth $200 k or more, definitely worth jugggling one's schedule to find the time to apply for them.</p>
<p>the comments really helped clarify some of the confusion.</p>
<p>i guess my next step (i hope to still meet the deadlines) would be to find out which of my schools need separate merit scholarship applications to be sent in. i hope to find it in the finaid sites for each college. (and i'll start looking at WUSTL apps..)</p>
<p>Some colleges put merit scholarship info in a "scholarship" section that differs from what's in the financial aid section.</p>
<p>One also can e-mail admissions and ask if there are merit scholarships available. Some colleges don't post all of their merit scholarship info on their websites.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that most colleges offering merit scholarships reserve them for students at the very top of their applicant pool. They use the scholarships to lure students away from more competitive colleges where the students are likely to gain admission, too.</p>
<p>Being a URM (particularly at colleges trying hard to boost their diversity) and/or having very desired qualifications at the college also will up one's chances of getting merit aid.</p>
<p>The white, Hispanic and Asian students whom I heard of getting offers were National Merit Scholars, had a rigorous curriculum and had some impressive state-level achievements.</p>