What kind of aid, if any, can I expect from Case Western?

hardworker · 08-10-2009, 10:08 PM

Here are my stats:

I need a school that I can count on for financial aid, do you think Case Western could help me with that?

Rank: 5/ 550 people (Very Competitive)
GPA: 4.7 (out of 4 due to weighting)
Class load: hardest possible no doubt!
ACT: 29 ( trying to improve for september, but please consider me as a candidate with this act score for now)

ECs:
__________________________________________________ ______________________

Editor-in-chief of School Paper - first junior to become one in a long time, I am absolutely certain that the newspaper advisor will write me a first class recommendation. I am also the first EIC to serve for two years in a row!

Question: Our school paper won a national award from Columbia University (silver crown) during my time this year as EIC, is something I should mention? This award is not directed to me specifically but more to our entire paper. I think it's appealing as it is an award recognizing the top few papers internationally and is from Columbia itself.

Founder and manager of newspaper website

Awarded Outstanding web-designer by IU

Write for other community papers as well, including our cultural one.

Many essay competition awards; won 1st place in state for a newspaper article I wrote. That same article won 4th place nationally at another competition (which I will not list here for security reasons as you can easily look me up)

__________________________________________________ ______________________

History Fair 3rd Place in State/Metro scholarship Winner/ National Qualifier (Alternate)

History Fair Executive Director's award for Superior History

Internship at congressman office summer before junior year

Attended Illini Girls State
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Founder/President of an Indian community service council for students (we help out at various community festivals, represent the youth, currently planning a cultural show and a trip abroad to India)
***Currently collaborating to make this an "international student" effort meaning students of all cultures create a joint effort.

State Cultural Pageant winner (first runner up) and miss talent
__________________________________________________ _____________________

500+ volunteer service hours through hospital volunteering (the usual lol), tutoring, after school enrichment program helping for younger children, etc. etc.

Math Honor Society President

Founder and manager of MHS website (to submit service hours, updates on events, etc)

National Honor Society

French Honor Society

DECA state winner

I have several other ECs but I feel that these are my main ones and the ones that I am most proud to be involved in! However, as you can see my goal was to essentially divide my interests in three areas: writing/publishing, Politics/History, Indian Culture. Then of course, this is all accompanied by the usual honor societies and community service.

While I am certain I can increase my ACT score by September as I have this asmy biggest commitment for the summer, I would like you to evaluate my chances for this fall!

Recommendations – My counselor especially told me I am her “top junior” and will receive a “stellar” recommendation, and I am certain that the same will apply to my Newspaper Advisor/English teacher who has seen megrow extensively since freshman year. Also, would it be advisable to receive some sort of letter confirming the legitimacy of my internship at the Congressman’s office? I don’t want to give off any sort of impression that it was received through connections and whatnot since it most certainly was not!

Thanks for your advice!

casegirl · 08-12-2009, 12:11 PM

A school you can count on for aid? You're not going to know for sure before you apply that you can get but, I would think that you would get at least a Provost scholarship.

Couple thoughts:
-Case's financial need-based aid is awful. Pretty much all loans because most scholarships money is pumped into merit scholarships, which is good if your parents income can vary widely year to year and you need to know that you will get a fixed amount of money
-Tuition at Case, as is true of many schools, goes up every year and merit scholarships usually do not (unless you are one of the handful of students qwho gets full-tuition scholarships, I've never met anyone who has one)

hardworker · 08-12-2009, 01:09 PM

I definietly won't qualify for need-based aid, I was looking for merit aid.

I guess this leads me to another question since I am not too familar with how selective Case is....what are my chances of getting in?

casegirl · 08-12-2009, 04:45 PM

I can't imagine why you wouldn't get it with some sort of scholarship, just can't tell exactly how much it would be.

Dad'o'2 · 08-14-2009, 08:16 AM

From the general bulletin 2006-2009 (may be a little old)

I get the impression that merit aid is primarily numbers-based. Your class rank is good, but unfortunately your ACT is probably a little low.

Best wishes.

Quote:

Academic Awards Program

The following academic awards, honoring distinguished faculty, alumni, and benefactors of the university, are offered to qualified applicants for admission as freshmen. Transfer students are ineligible. These awards are renewable for each of the four years of undergraduate study, provided high academic achievement is maintained.

Three full-tuition Albert W. Smith Scholarships for freshmen accepted in engineering, science, or mathematics.

Two full-tuition Treuhaft Scholarships for freshmen accepted in engineering, science, or mathematics.

Up to five $3,500 Materials Science and Engineering Scholarships for entering freshmen who are interested in majoring in materials science and engineering.
Four full-tuition Andrew Squire Scholarships for freshmen accepted in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, management and accountancy.
Two full-tuition Adelbert Alumni Scholarships for freshmen accepted in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, management and accountancy.

One $ 18,000 Curtis Lee Smith Scholarship every four years for a first-year student accepted in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, management or accountancy.

One $18,000 Elizabeth Walker Scholarship every four years for a firt-year stuent accepted in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, management, or accountancy.

A Trustee’s Scholarship for freshmen entering the College of Arts and Sciences or the Case School of Engineering who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and have composite SAT scores of at least 1500, or a composite ACT score of at least 35. (Value for freshmen entering in 2006 is $25,700.) The university may establish annual limits on the number of Trustee’s Scholarships to be offered.

A President’s Scholarship for first-year student entering the College of Arts and Sciences or the Case School of Engineering who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class and have composite SAT scores of at least 1400, or a composite ACT score of at least 33. (Value for freshmen entering in 2006 is $ 20,800.) The university may establish annual limits on the number of resident’s Scholarships to be offered.

A Provost’s Scholarship for first-year students entering the College of Arts and Sciences or the Case School of Engineering who rank in the top 15 percent of their high school graduating class and have composite SAT scores of at least 1300, or a composite ACT score of at least 31. . (Value for freshmen entering in 2006 is $15,700.) The university may establish annual limits on the number of Provost’s Scholarships to be offered.

Up to sixteen Provost’s Special Scholarships for first-year students entering the College of Arts and Sciences or the Case School of Engineering who demonstrate superior academic performance (rank in the top 15 percent of high school graduating class and have composite SAT scores of at least 1,200 or composite ACT scores of at least 28), and who have encountered economic or educational obstacles that affected their college preparation. Applicants from inner-city and remote rural schools, including Indian Reservations, and members of underrepresented minority groups, are encouraged to apply. Students with special talents and significant extracurricular and community activities are encouraged to apply as well. (Value for freshmen entering in 2006 is $18,600.)

The dollar value of the Trustee’s, President’s, and Provost’s Scholarships each year will be the prevailing dollar value of the scholarship at year of entry at the university, minus the value of any gift assistance from a state entity designed to offset the tuition difference between private and publicly assisted colleges in that state. The Ohio Student Choice Grant is an example of such a grant.

casegirl · 08-25-2009, 11:51 PM

Dad'o'2: Thanks for the reference, people ask this all the time, I didn't actually know there were specific score cutoffs.

aphoticmelody · 08-26-2009, 09:22 AM

I didn't know about the score cutoffs either, but as a student entering in Fall 2007 with a 34 ACT/1520 SAT (minus the writing), I only got a Provost's scholarship. Lesson? Apply early!!!

Dad'o'2 · 08-27-2009, 07:53 AM

Were you in the top 10% of your HS class?

aphoticmelody · 08-28-2009, 10:01 AM

Yes, I want to say I was top 7% but it was so long ago I don't remember...

Dad'o'2 · 08-28-2009, 01:43 PM

You may be right about applying early, then.