<p>I got the Trustee and another scholarship at Rice (total $25K per year) but no merit or fin. aid at Duke. Is it possible that Duke will match and if so what strategy can I use to negotiate with Duke? What are the pros an cons of each school?</p>
<p>bump. 10 char.</p>
<p>I doubt Duke will match. If you don’t get one of Duke’s merit scholarships then financial aid is calculated solely based on your family’s demonstrated need.</p>
<p>For 2008-2009 admittance, I was also awarded the Rice Trustee scholarship which when added to Rice’s Financial Aid package gave me a free ride at Rice. Duke’s FinAid was very small comparitively. I tried to persuade Duke to improve their offer, but, had NO luck. So don’t hold out too much hope, especially in these tough economic times when Duke’s endowement is down approx 20% and the number of financial aid applications to Duke have increased substantially.</p>
<p>If you can afford Duke and it has strong appeal, give it serious consideration as it is a good school. If not, be happy with Rice as I have friends there who are also very challenged and getting a great education.</p>
<p>Rice is a small school and heavily Texan. Duke is standard sized for a private school and less regional. They have different cultures and you should investigate which one is a better fit for you.</p>
<p>As far as academics, I suggest you look carefully at the details of department where you intend to major to compare the two schools.</p>
<p>Best of luck and congrats on the offers. Whatever you do, don’t second guess it. You’ll do fine in either of them. While the school can be a catalyst, ultimately success depends more on you than the school (cliche)…</p>
<p>No school will match another’s merit-based finaid with their need-based aid.</p>
<p>If another school calculates your EFC to be significantly lower than Duke’s, however, you can ask Duke’s finaid dept. to review your file, and they’ll be more than happy to. I know of a few instances where this has bumped students’ finaid up by a couple thousand dollars. You can’t ask them to “match” another school’s aid (even need-based), but you can use the other school’s superior finaid package as a basis for your inquiry as to whether there was an error in Duke’s calculations.</p>