<p>My son’s experience differed from that described by Thumper. In the case of public OOS schools, he was offered merit scholarships shortly after rolling decision acceptances. However, none of the major merit awards at top schools were awarded before RD applications had been received. As examples, in the case of both UChicago and Vanderbilt, the faculty committees that choose scholarship winners do not even meet until after RD apps are in.</p>
<p>So, the answer is: it depends on the school. Call and ask them. That is what we did, especially when one large award came in in early March and son was still waiting to hear about another one.</p>
<p>Perhaps one determining factor about the timing is how “formula based” the merit awards are. For most publics, the awards are based on test scores and rank/gpa, etc and are therefore automatic. In the case of some of the very large scholarships at privates, the selection method is not as formula-driven, and the number of awards is limited.</p>