D19 has a 3.71 unweighted GPA, 4.2 weighted, top 20%, with a 34 ACT.
Seems likely she’ll get at least one level of AES, but I don’t even know what the levels are (the website is extremely vague). I believe the top level is full tuition + $3000, but I don’t know if that includes housing. And I don’t know how likely she is to qualify for the top award based on her class rank.
Anyway, the essays are supposedly optional. Will the essay help (or hurt) the AES chance? Or is it strictly based on stats? What about letters of recommendation? She had a teacher write her one for another school. Obviously, we don’t know how good the letter is. But should we request that she also send that letter to UTD for scholarship purposes?
Also, people are saying “full-ride”? But isn’t it only full tuition? To me, the term “Full ride” includes room and board.
Rec letters and essays are not “required” but all things being equal, a student with a rec letter and essays will have the advantage over the same student that doesn’t (this is based on posts on Reddit from people that work in the AES office). They certainly won’t hurt so submit them!
The highest level of AES cover full tuition and mandetory fees and $3K “per semester” room and board is a bit over $5K a semester. We figured that assuming no other outside scholarship, with the highest AES our out of pockect expense would be about $5K a year for UTD. That’s less than we pay for food and public school fees and EC’s in high school, so for us we consider it a full ride.
Thanks, but now I’m really confused. I hadn’t seen that link before. But that link says, “Letters of recommendation, essays, or other materials are not considered in the award process and thus new submissions will not initiate a new award.”
Yet, people who actually make the decisions say they are considered?
Getting D19 to write a college essay is like pulling teeth (she’s burnt out from writing 3 essays for a different school last week, none of which can be used for UTD). So it’d be cool if we can just submit the application now instead of having to wait for her to do the essay.
And the letter of recommendation is from a class where she got a B (the teacher is extremely strict with grades, I believe only 1-2 people per class get an A). D19 had her write the letter because she got a 5 on the associated AP test.
They are considered if students are rated the same. They need something to break the tie, they will not reconsider standing based on later submissions of essays or rec letters. They are not required but could make a difference.
@Alikath - first congratulations to your D19! I bet your D had stellar stats - high scores, GPA and rank. @gushmahler;s D has the score but the ranking may keep her from getting the top scholarship. Doing the essays and letters of recommendation might be worth an additional $4000/yr.