Class of 2013 Results: Celebrate, Discuss, Support Here

[heyalb]

Thank you for the offer, and I am proud of my Son, but no, that's not my style.

younghoss, I'd give you a merit award for having a lot of class.

[dbwes]

DD, DH = Dear (or Darling) Daughter, Dear Husband

[afadad]

When applying to college, keep in mind diversity. Yes; essays, grades, test scores, etc... are important. But something most people don't realize is that ALL colleges/Universities practice some form or another of diversity. And we're not talking about just race and/or sex. Any public institution that receives state or federal funding promotes diversity to justify their funding. Private institutions promote diversity to for marketing purposes.

The point is; the largest percentage of college bound students go to or apply to schools that are within a 100-200 mile distance from their house. 2 students with identical or even some disparaging differences in their application: One from New York and One from Idaho: Both apply to the same university- Harvard, Penn, U of Maryland, etc...: The school has 5000 students: They have 125 students from New York and 3 students from Idaho: The applicant from Idaho has an immediate better chance to get accepted to the school than the New York applicant. This is one area that many applicants don't look at. Maybe it's because they are hell bent on a particular school or staying somewhat close to home. BUT, if a student is willing to do a little research, and apply to schools that have very few students from their state, they can increase their odds immensely for getting accepted and for getting financial aid/scholarships. And while the Ivy's and prestigious schools have a lot more people applying, you odds definitely go up if you come from a state without a large population there. So definitely apply. For those that live in the really populated states, look at the smaller name colleges. Look at their profile. Find out how your state matches up in student population. For those who will only consider a local school or a particular school,,,,,,, well, you're on your own.

[missypie]

My son is a pretty compliant guy and didn't have his heart set on any particular school. He has Asperger's Syndrome, so we concluded that the school should be on the small side. He said he didn't want to be more than 3-4 hours from home. We were willing to consider schools that were affiliated with a religious denominatation, but not those in the category of "conservative Christian college." We didn't consider schools that were extremely Greek because Son would never be part of that world.

So...the Universe had been narrowed. Son took the SAT in December and March of his junior year. Armed with all this info, I went on sites like College Board and Princeton Review and started looking at schools that met the size and distance requirements. I looked for places that were a bit selective, but where Son's SAT scores were at or above the top 25% of applicants. I looked at the total price of the school and ruled out those above $35,000 per year (that was over a year ago and prices have gone up since then but I didn't look at any of the $50,000 per year schools.)

I went on the web sites of the schools that made the first cut. Some (check out Baylor, for example) have very handy merit aid calculators, where you put in your scores and rank and it tells you the approximate amount of merit aid you can expect. It's not exact, but it can give you a ballpark of what to expect. We visited schools.

Son applied to 8 schools; he was admitted to 8 with merit aid at all. There was a reach school for which I think he would have been well suited, that he perhaps could have gotten into with a great essay. But I knew he wouldn't get merit aid there so I didn't even have him visit. We could not pay full price out of pocket, so why have him fall in love with the school?

If your child is willing to let you be as pragmatic as I have been, just find the schools where your child is at or near the top of the heap in one or more aspects. That is the path to merit aid.

[NorthMinnesota]

Just about spit my water on the screen! LOL! Don't know why those posts surprise me!!!

[gadad]

"If your child is willing to let you be as pragmatic as I have been, just find the schools where your child is at or near the top of the heap in one or more aspects. That is the path to merit aid."

And therein lies the mixed blessing of merit aid. It can be a wonderful thing, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's a reward for good performance. It's a way of raising the overall student profile of a school by bringing in some students that the school couldn't otherwise hope to get. A student on a full ride is not at the school to be stimulated by extraordinary peers - s/he is there to be extraordinary and provide stimulation for the other students.

Unless you're in the twilight zone of having too high an income for need-based aid but too low an income to be price-insensitive, never rule out certain schools based on cost. Get admitted, get the aid package, and then see what's what. At the very least, you'll have a full range of options when it comes time to deciding on that merit offer. Would you turn down the full-ride somewhere else to take a once in a lifetime spot among a world-class peer group at top college or university if the top school was going to cost you $50,000 a year? Probably not. But what if the top school and once in a lifetime opportunity turns out to cost you only $5,000 a year? That's a much different question.

[MiamiDAP]

A lot of Honors programs have Merit $$ associated with them. If a kid qualify to be in Honors, then it will be some merit $, there are a lot of other "perks" for Honors, well worth it.

[Rachacha]

I don't feel comfortable sharing specific amounts until my senior D has made her final choice, but her three merit offers so far have been from CTCL (Colleges That Change Lives) schools, she will probably get a merit offer from the fourth that she applied to. I highly recommend the book and the list of schools, particularly in these hard times. There is going to be a CTCL college fair tour soon, check to see if they are coming to your city!

CTCL Events | Colleges That Change Lives

[missypie]

Unless you're in the twilight zone of having too high an income for need-based aid but too low an income to be price-insensitive, never rule out certain schools based on cost.

We are in precisely that zone and most of the people I work with are, too. Perhaps we could be price-insensitive if Son was an Only, but with two more kids coming behind him in fairly quick succession, we cannot pay full price for a private school.

[missypie]

Just about spit my water on the screen! LOL! Don't know why those posts surprise me!!!

What about my post caused you to almost spit your water on the screen?

[jym626]

Not to be picky, afadad (well, I guess I am being picky) -- and congrats on the AFA $$$, but I think the Tulane merit award was probably 24K, not 25K. That said, we are greatly enjoying the full tuition scholarship plus the NMS merit $$ from there. This year alone its worth about $37,500, and will go up with any increase in tuition (the tuition part, not the NM mart). YAY for merit scholarships!!

[NorthMinnesota]

Oh missypie...not your post!!!! There was some porn spam that must have been deleted!!! That was why I almost spit!!!! LOL! Sorry!

[cpq1xtbu]

We, too, cast our net broadly, as we are a full-pay family, a little concerned about our advancing age and diminishing retirement funds and home equity. My son was not sure about the size of the school, nor the location. At times, he wanted to be far away and other times he wanted to be nearby. So we tried to cover all of the bases--which was time consuming and expensive, but has paid off. I think DS applied to many of the same schools as missypie's son. My son has received merit money from 8 schools which have accepted him and which offer merit money. He has received from near 1/2 to 3/4 tuition from each school, and 4 invitations to "presidential" scholarship weekends, either for full rides or in one case, full tuition.

We know that at one of the schools that offered 3/4 tuition he did not advance to the full ride scholarship round. And we heard yesterday that he also did not qualify as a scholarship finalist at one of the highly selective schools to which he applied. I think there's one more scholarship app out there that we are waiting to hear back on from a highly selective school. I'd be surprised if he got that one.

Once he makes decision, I'll post his stats, the schools and the merit money so that next year's crop will have that info.

[cpq1xtbu]

Rachacha,
3 of my son's schools are CTCLs in the south.

MiamiDAP -- My son was admitted to honors programs at 3 schools which offered him merit money.

[Anon_Person_1]

I'm not a parent, but I would like to 'pay it forward' for all the advice I've received re: merit scholarships...

awards: University of Pittsburgh-full tuition, no invite for interview for full ride
University of Miami- 3/4s tuition and invite to singers (highest possible scholarship received on acceptance; next stage TBD)

stats:
SAT: 2250 (800 CR/720 M/730 W)
SAT II: 800 (USH), 750 (Lit), 720 (Chem), 690 (History), 670 (Biology-M)
APs: USH-5, Lit-5, and three more senior year
NMF, multiple awards ranging from regional to national (no intel, though!)
3 strong positions of leadership in school
(I didn't include GPA because it varies a lot between schools; i didn't include essays because it is so subjective)
*from NY*