For the family budget, my daughter would need about 30K in merit aid (or 10K need-based plus 20K merit stacked on top of that). Is that much merit available at URochester? What sort of records do kids getting large merit awards have?
I tried scrolling through the acceptances threads and didn’t see any merit awards that large, but I didn’t scroll through every single page. Thanks for any hints.
U Rochester merit awards range from $2000 to full tuition (Renaissance and Global Scholars). Only 20 Renaissance Scholarship are awarded each year.
Profiles of Renaissance Winners–[The Renaissance & Global Scholarship: Student Profiles](https://enrollment.rochester.edu/rens/#tab3)
The link below will take you to a list of merit scholarships. There are some profiles of various merit award winners on the page.
[Merit Scholarships](Scholarships – Financial Aid & Scholarships)
Here’s a slightly older (2015) blog post by Dean Burdick, UR’s Dean of Admission, talking what kinds of things have an impact on merit awards–
[What Kind of Scholarship Can I Get?](https://enrollment.rochester.edu/blog/what-kind-of-scholarship-can-i-get/)
Renaissance Scholarship program is ending, with a new program to take it’s place:
http://www.campustimes.org/2017/04/23/renaissance-scholarship-to-be-phased-out/
@AroundHere, my kid was admitted in 2015 and the npc was pretty accurate back then for need-based and merit awards. Have you tried it?
@Marylandfour Thanks for the link. It sounds like we wouldn’t qualify for the replacement program since we don’t have high finanacial need. Our budget is just lower than our official EFC.
@AroundHere D received a merit award from UR in the range that you’re looking for. What would you like to know? It was awarded with her acceptance letter, no separate application or scholarship competition.
Right now we’re just trying to figure out what schools to include in a college visit trip – trying to include a mix of do-able (admissions and aid) and maybe 1-2 reaches. My D is a junior.
My experience with financial aid there (as a incoming freshman next fall) has been GREAT! It’s the best package I’ve received from any school. I’m a triplet (I think this divides the EFC by 3) from a pretty well-off, upper middle class family and was still eligible for $21,600 per year in need-based aid on top of a $19,000 artistic + academic merit scholarship (Prince Street Scholarship) I didn’t send my photo portfolio but linked my website so they may have seen it, plus I have a big list of music extracurriculars. I didn’t interview or send in any supplements besides the required 250-word essay. My GPA is above average but I’ve gotten a handful of Bs and Cs so I was really surprised, but I think they have an initiative to get more artists on campus. By comparison, I got into NYU’s photo program but was given virtually no aid whatsoever. So, uh, U of R’s aid was good enough to make it my top choice! I think my family will be paying just under 20k if I do work-study, which makes it less than they’ll be paying for my brother at an in-state public school!
I received 20000 per year merit aid. I didn’t do anything super above and beyond, just visited campus, made sure to do an interview, and applied for priority merit scholarship consideration (still count as RD but the deadline is Dec 1). So, it’s definitely possible.
My daughter got offered just 5k on merit and another 15k in need based. She’s a 3.9 unweighted student. Lots of APs around 4.1 weighted GPA. Good test scores but not elite. I think just under 1400 SAT and 30 on ACT. She is also a recruited athlete but it’s D3 so of course no athletic money there. She’s very disappointed but almost resigned to the fact that we/she can’t swing over 50k a year for undergrad. We would end up with six figures in loans after four years. Went back and forth on appeal but basically told we had no leg to stand on. Obviously a very competitive school for merit aid.
How does a student who has taken “lots of APs” and only have a 0.2 delta between UGPA and WGPA? The 3.9 suggest almost straight As and therefore the corresponding weighted GPA should be well above 4.5. My son has a 3.52 and his weighted is a 4.24.
Different schools use different weighting systems. At the high school D2 attended (top 50 private prep), the highest possible GPA was 4.3. The school offered 26+ AP and post AP courses. A student didn’t take any AP/post AP classes, but still earned all As would have a 4.0 GPA. A student who took 10 or more AP/post-AP classes and earned all As still couldn’t get higher than 4.3.
This is why colleges require a counselor’s letter. The letter explains the weighing system the high school uses.
Thanks.
I’m still confused on how the merit scholarships work. If my D receives a merit scholarship will that come off of my EFC? My D currently has a full tuition scholarship at UF if she is accepted. She is also interested in looking at schools that aren’t as large. Her stats are 4.0 UW/4.9 W gpa & a 34 ACT. I appreciate any guidance.
Go to the source - call and ask U of R’s fin aid department! Also helps for the student to add a letter requesting (with good details) the need for more merit. It worked for my niece. But personally, when I had a question regarding merit and scholarships available the best thing to do was to just call and ask!
@slk1000 I agree that you should call and ask. In general, your question will depend upon the size of the merit award and your EFC. At the extremes, a full ride merit scholarship will reduce essentially everyone’s EFC. A 1K merit scholarship will only reduce it if the EFC was full pay.
Back in 2011, Dean Burdick blogged an interesting breakdown of how UR values student accomplishments for merit scholarships. It’s dated, but probably still mostly relevant:
https://enrollment.rochester.edu/blog/quotwhat-kind-of-scholarship-can-i-getquot-v1/
If you feel shortchanged by a UR merit offer, suggest you include the points listed in the blog posting as part of your rationale for reconsideration. I did so for my son when he applied and it yielded another $4k/year in merit aid for him.