<p>@LINYMOM, it definitely can’t hurt to ask but a friend of mine last year was a very competitive applicant and got a merit award, but her ability to attend depended on the prospect of additional aid, so her dad came down to speak with FA but they said there is nothing they can do. Best of luck in your attempts, though!</p>
<p>Not to be rude, but I am not sure why people assume that they are entitled to a scholarship. Each school has a different selection process. Unlike most schools, which are purely focused on GPA and Standardized Test scores, Miami seems to have an overall view. I am grateful that Miami offered my son scholarship money. We were totally surprised and therefore more appreciative. My son was accepted atTulane with no scholarship money.</p>
<p>I never felt like I was entitled to one, it’s just that I felt like I was competitive enough to receive one. Miami is one of my top choices and without a scholarship, there is no way I can attend. That’s the only point I was trying to make because I just don’t understand their selection process. (And I don’t think anyone does this year to be honest.)</p>
<p>rightofway - It is not rude, but to be frank, most of the well-known merit schools have reduced their awards due to the competitive nature of this group of students. From my personal experience, parents are only going on what past amounts have been for similar criteria. Therefore, expectations are set up from this information.</p>
<p>My DS was thinking he would receive a higher amount given his stats; however, he understands that each class year changes given the mix of applicants. He is hoping to receive a chance to further increase some merit help with a scholarship invitation, but he realizes that may not come. This is not a feeling of entitlement, but he has worked very hard during his high school years.</p>
<p>I am not sure what part of the country you are from. During this process, I have had the chance to meet with Admissions Directors from some of the most competitive schools (non ivy) on the east coast. They have mentioned a trend not to just focus on overall gpa, standardized test scores and ec’s. They are looking at students that have worked while in school, participated in competitive internship programs and ec’s that have focused on what the student plans to study in college.</p>
<p>Rather than speculating on how things are done, I believe in picking up the phone and calling people. If I have a question, I call the school. I do not subscribe to the theory that calling will look negative on my child. Based on me picking up the phone and picking the brain of a director of admissions (not Miami), i believe it helped my son get into that school. Message boards are great and very helpful, but there is nothing like getting the information directly from the source.</p>
<p>I am not sure how anybody can chance someone about getting into a school and making the statement that they will get in and then quote a scholarship amount.</p>
<p>The person above me is correct, my ACT score is an acceptable 33 and my unweighted GPA is a 3.45, but that is a result of me taking the most rigorous classes offered at my school (which is one of the top thirty in the nation), and I have done research projects in physics and chemistry, and on and so forth, and I had my college essay filtered through several of my literature teachers with doctorates. I got more scholarship money than my roommate, who had much more impressive grades and standardized test scores than I, so I think they are focusing more on everything you do, rather than just your grades and test scores.</p>
<p>There is also much variability added due to the character of the person processing your application, and the quality of your essays.</p>
<p>
Well it actually looks like they increased their merit awards in some cases this year because before, the highest was $24k and we’re seeing some $29k awards this year. But it could be to compensate for increased tuition.</p>
<p>With money being equal - Miami or Tulane??? My son wants to major in Business - Tulane has the 5th year for 1/2 tuition…very good deal. Heard housing was tough at Miami after freshman year. We sent a deposit into Tulane but not ruling out Miami. Any thoughts out there???</p>
<p>My expectation for a certain amount if scholarship was based on the NPC on Miami 's website. That’s it. What DS got was 25% less. As I said earlier, we are extremely grateful. But I’m just pointing out that it’s their NPC that we plugged the numbers in. Others may have also had expectations based on previous year awards. That’s perfectly legitimate too. We are just here to talk about it and help each other - and those who apply next year - try to understand this somewhat mysterious process. It is obviously not black and white. If this upsets anyone, they don’t need to participate in the conversation.</p>
<p>Yea I got the President’s for 11K with a 25 ACT AND A 3.7 GPA. I was very surprised I even got in.</p>
<p>My son was awarded 15k with a 32 ACT 3.9W top 8% and from MN</p>
<p>My daughter’s friend is the perfect candidate for any school and she received 20K, President Scholarship as well. Weird that they have such a wide range of amounts.</p>
<p>We just heard of a boy in our area who is receiving 39K per year! He had a 34 ACT on 1 sitting, top 1% of the class, distance runner on CC and track, and very community minded and multi-talented kid with lots of extracurriculars but not outstanding science projects or anything. He is very well liked and I assume he interviews very well. He wants to go into pre-med and his dad is a doc.</p>
<p>That would be the Singer Scholarship (full tuition).</p>
<p>Perhaps UM is beginning to reflect Grant amounts in the financial section of the myUM pages. It seems like last year, there were Miami Grants and Coral Grants awarded prior to the Singer weekends.</p>
<p>Hmmm, saismom didn’t say if this student was already a freshman or an incoming freshman…</p>
<p>He will be an incoming Freshman. Several students from our top high schools here in the panhandle of FL have received nice packages in recent years. Most had some outstanding science fair awards or other notable achievement such as top 1%.</p>
<p>Hmmm, that’s peculiar… Do you know what the name of the scholarship was? What is the student’s intended major?</p>
<p>DS finally got his official letter but with no merit money. After reading the posts here, we were kind of disappointed. 4.25 GPAW, top 8% class, 1330 SAT, 630CR, 700M, 700CW. Even a small amount would have said to him “we really want you.” He was offered $20K from Tulane, his other top choice.<br>
DS called admissions and spoke to his adcom (who we had met with last April, and emailed back and forth with several times. She did not seem to have any recollection of who he was, even when he reminded her that they had met. He asked if his application could be reviewed for possible merit $$. She looked up his file and told him that although his GPA and rank were “great” since his SAT was below 1350, that was probably why no $$. (then she said that that number was not a hard and fast criteria) Really??? 20 points? What is that one question?? She said that they would review it, but not to expect a different outcome.<br>
I know that he should be happy just to get in, but this is kind of putting a damper on things, especially seeing kids here on CC with similar and even lower stats getting money. Looks like Miami might be losing out on a great kid… Tulane is looking like the front runner now…</p>
<p>I’m not sure, but I think some of the variation in scholarship amounts may have to do with the geographic location of the applicant. After last years scholarship amounts were posted, it seemed that students from underrepresented states were offered more. So if you were from Idaho (just saying! :)) you would be offered more than an equal applicant from let’s say New York.</p>