<p>Well, we have all heard of NMSF and NMF being given full rides to big state colleges like Oklahoma, Arizona, and what not. Well my friend is a Hispanic National Merit. He has recieved lettes offering him full rides to Ohio State, Clemson, Arizona, Oklahoma, and other big state schools. Then he comes to school today and tells me he got a full ride to WashU. I double check with him to make sure it is in St Louis and not Seattle, but he says its in St. Louis. I know WashU gives scholarships and I know colleges like URMs. However, I cannot see how a top 20 private college can give a full scholarship to my friend. He has about a 3.3 uwGPA and a 3.9 wGPA. At my school, top 12% has like a 4.5 wGPA and there are a bunch of 4.0s and many with 3.85 uwGPA. He can go to WashU for free, just based on his PSAT scores while people strong enough to get into Harvard are waitlisted. Makes you think about WashU's admissions doesnt it.</p>
<p>Anything is possible. Just have never heard of anything like that before. Just out of interest - ask him to show the offer in black & white. Just does not sound like WashU. As far as I know NM spanish or not does not equal a full ride at WashU.</p>
<p>My D has applied/is applying to WashU. She is also a Nat. Hispanic Scholar, has a good GPA, full load of courses each year (no free periods), lots of honors and AP's, very nice art (painting) portfolio, 1440 SAT and they haven't said a word about a free ride oe even that it exists just for being a Nat Hisp. Scholar. Something sounds fishy.</p>
<p>I'll double check with him. He was positive it was WashU and not University of Washington. Appologies if he misread. Just venting about the thought that a top university would give out scholarships like some of the soso state schools.</p>
<p>Sorry to muddy the waters, but the University of Washington doesn't shovel out full-rides, either, especially if the student mentioned above is out of state. They do quite a bit of needs-based aid, of course, but not so much merit. </p>
<p>FWIW, my son is in-state and, while WASU has been more-or-less actively recruiting my son, UW has been strangely quiet. We did get one letter from UW, saying, "Wait for an exciting letter from our president in your mail soon!!" It has now been more than a month with no word. They also have the fun combination of a user-hostile Website and the world's most tedious online application (they require you to hand-enter everything that is on the official transcript that they also require). Or, maybe they are very generous and just hate my son. </p>
<p>There are other "Washington" colleges in the country. Perhaps it's one of those?</p>
<p>Edited to add: UW gives out about 250 merit scholarships to freshmen every year, out of an incoming class of thousands. Only four of them are free rides for tuition and books, but not housing. The application due date is Dec. 1, so they haven't even started handing them out yet.</p>
<p>before you go off on a rant against WashU, you might want to actually check the credibility of your friend.
The ED application deadline was yesterday. Obviously you do not get admissions decisions the next day after the deadline. I applied RD last year, and they let me know early that I was in, but it was still at least a month after the application was in. And scholarship information came much after that (including National Merit Scholarship stuff).
And if you actually go onto the National Merit Scholarship Corporation website and research the Hispanic award, it's basically just a listing of the top Hispanic scorers on the test that gets sent to all the colleges. ie, they get their names, and their test score. So, what do the colleges do?
They send out letters of congratulations (it is after all an achievement), and say that there are full ride scholarships out there, blah blah blah.
But obviously there's that whole catch about the rest of the stuff matching up. I know there are some schools like you mentioned that /are/ "yay, you're National Merit, here's money".....
but that's not WashU, and I think you already know that judging by your incredulity when you heard your friend.
I'm guessing the letter probably said there are full ride scholarships (if that). But it most likely didn't say anything specific about your friend actually getting it. You know the type of letter "Dear interested student.....blah blah blah"....probably a bunch of people got the same letter. That doesn't mean that they're all going to get the scholarship.
So before you jump to hasty judgements about WashU, I'd look at the plausability of your friend's bragging. The fact that the Early Decision Application was due yesterday is a telling factor too. ie, they didn't know his grades etc, before.
One final point in this post which is getting rather long is that this year WashU overenrolled, with the largest freshman class ever. (I'm sure you've heard about it from other postings on CC, if not, well, you don't have to look too hard). ie, they're not in the position that they need to heavily heavily recruit people. Enough (actually more than enough) qualified people apply and decide to come here without them having to lower the standard to fill the seats in their classes.
Well, if you've made it this far, I'd like to thank you for reading this. I know it sounds kinda harsh "basically your friend is a liar" is probably how it comes off, but yeah.....I mean, I'm always willing to give him a chance, but it seems to me HIGHLY improbable that what he is claiming is true. When you asked him the question about St. Louis, you may have been asking the wrong question. You should have asked what exactly the letter said, and how in the world he knows what kind of scholarship he's getting before he's even been admitted (which, if your assessment of his grades, etc. is correct), seems kind of doubtful to begin with.</p>
<p>i'll be brief and say that no admissions decisions or financial aid decisions have been released. Baring any extreme circumstances, there is no way your friend should know about either his admissions status or financial aid package yet, perhaps your friend is not telling the truth</p>
<p>makes you think about the credibility of random people, doesn't it or maybe those who based their judgements on an entire school on one isolated example that might not be true...just a thought</p>
<p>Yeah, your friend was obviously lying.</p>
<p>If your friend got a letter saying: Congratulations on Natn Hispanic. We have scholarships that cover tuition, room and board. Hope to hear from you soon kinda thing, he could have misinterpretted it to mean that he was automatically eligible for one. The wording of some of these letters from colleges can be very misleading and WashU is one of the most aggresive marketers out there. I can especially see where he might have misinterpretted considering so many colleges really did send letters saying we have a scholarship for you based on your PSAT scores. Has he even applied to WashU?</p>
<p>That's not true in any way or form. Washu full ride scholarships require a lot of work: essays, letters of rec, sometimes even interviews. And the due dates for all Washu schloarships are far away from now.</p>
<p>I have Natn Achievement scholarship (the equivalent for Blacks) and I got $2500 from the National Merit Corporation, not Washu. I must add, however, that Washu was listed as my first choice, so they matched NM's offer!</p>
<p>I'm starting to think he got a letter that keepmesane is talking about. He has no reason to lie about it though. He was never intending to apply to WashU because he prefers the state school atmosphere and has an uncle who is going to get him in as a preadmit to UMich's bschool.</p>
<p>see, the thing is though, washu still doesn't give full rides to my knowledge, especially not for something like nat'l merit. full tuition, yes, but these scholarships require extensive applications, on campus interviews, etc. no one I know is having room or board paid for by anything other than need-based aid.</p>
<p>yeah, this is true...WashU doesn't give "full merit rides"...only full tuition(some with stipends that can contributed to room and board, but the biggest stipend is only 2500. I don't have to pay any money at all, but thats because I am a full tuition ervin and I have need based aid that covers my room and board and other misc expenses.</p>
<p>Maybe he has some other scholarships or some other FAFSA kind of aid. R u sure it was a full ride through just the Hispanic national....</p>
<p>still, they don't even release finalist info until march at the earliest, and any FAFSA info wouldn't come until after an admissions decision</p>
<p>Saw the letter. Big scholarship (so about 100k spread over 4 years at the end of the day). He gets the cash if he can get into WashU, which he should not unless WashU is that desperate for a hispanic.</p>
<p>can u elaborate on what the letter exactly said?</p>
<p>So the money isn't from WashU directly? That'd be pretty stupid to say "here's 100k, now can you get in?" Something doesn't seem right.</p>
<p>I think the money was from WashU. I am not going to remember the letter verbatim, but it said the money is contingent on his admission to WashU. He does not have a free pass for WashU, but they said if he does get in he will be either a candidate, or will get, some scholarship of about 25k a year. It looks just like the letters he got from Arizona State and Nebraska, so I don't know.</p>
<p>That still doesn't make sense! Here's 25k IF you get in! If he wasn't even guaranteed admission, how can he be guaranteed over half tuition off?</p>