College182

Hi all! Does anyone have more insight into SMU merit based scholarships?

SMU: Financial Aid - Scholarships

I am interested in all of them, but particularly the Nancy Ann and Ray L. Hunt Leadership Scholarship. Does anyone know how selective these scholarships are? I'm not all that familiar with the SMU applicant pool, but the minimum GPA and SAT / ACT requirements listed on the site seem somewhat low... I was wondering if this is because so much of the emphasis is placed on other factors (i.e. essays, recs., etc)?

To give you an idea, here are my stats:

GPA: 3.79 UW / 3.96 W (From competitive college-prep school)
SAT: 1390 / 2070 (Retook in October)
ACT: 31

LEADERSHIP EC'S: Co-Chair of Community Service Council (redesigned school community service program, coordinated service for various organizations, etc), Head Boy for House System (our school implemented a Harry-Potter esque House system and I was elected Head Boy of one of the Houses), Peer Leader (mentor for incoming freshman class).

I'm just wondering if I have a shot at some sort of merit scholarship.


I'd appreciate any insight on this people have!

SimpleLife

Hi College182.
I'm going to preface my response to your question with the following disclaimer: the whole bulk of my experience with SMU revolves around only one child who applied there and is now attending as a freshman. So, I'm not exactly well-qualified to answer, but possibly as well-qualified as any other parent of one SMU student.

I would say that you might well have a shot at some sort of merit scholarship or scholarships. SMU gives out a lot of merit scholarships, all worth a variety of values. You might qualify for one or more than one of them. I might not have all the names right, but there are, for example, the Mustang Scholars award, the Distinguished Scholar award, the Meadows Scholar award, the Hilltop Scholars award, etc, etc, etc. There are lots of different awards, from lots of different groups, for lots of different amounts of money.

I would say that it is very unlikely that you would qualify for the Hunt Scholarship, based on the stats you listed. I say this because my son's stats were considerably higher than yours; his EC's were more numerous and required more time and intense involvement than those you listed; he was performing at the all-state level in a few EC's. And yet, he was not awarded the Hunt Scholarship.

He WAS, however, awarded a number of other scholarships that added up to a very large amount of money. We were surprised to learn, along the way, that the scholarships are awarded piecemeal from SMU ... they just kept trickling in over the months, almost all the way up until it was time to commit to a school (ie. May1)!

With your stats, I would not be surprised if you got SOMETHING. I have no idea WHICH awards or how much. But probably not the Hunt.

AzureIsland

Hi,all
I am an international student and can not decide whether to apply to SMU due to the money matters

Here are my stats:
SAT superscored 1460/2160
GPA: appx 3.8
normal ECs

Any one with similar stats can provide more information about scholarships?
Presidential Scholars and Nancy Ann and Ray L. Hunt Leadership Scholarship seem very hard to get. How about other scholarships, will the total amount of them exceeds 20k?

Thanks~

SimpleLife

The total amount of them might exceed $20k.

I agree with you that the Presidential and Hunt scholarships are probably not in your range. But SMU gives out several scholarships that add up. My son received notification of his one after the other. He got notification of one with his acceptance, then another a month later, another a month after that, and so on. I'm assuming he was receiving them as each scholarship committee reveiwed their candidates and made selections -- all at different times leading up to May 1.

His stats were a bit higher than yours, and his ECs were standouts as opposed to "normal," but he also got considerably more than the $20k you're looking for.

I would say definitely go for it! It doesn't cost that much to apply, and if you think SMU is a good fit for you (and vice versa), then it's worth applying.

My son loves SMU. So do I!

violetsky

I, too, was interested in finding out about the Hunt and other scholarships, and I just want to suggest you look up "our current Hunt Scholars" or "This Year's Presidential Scholars." (I don't know the exact phrase for you to search; I just made those up) If you find these, then read about all these students who did win; it will blow your mind how excellent they are. Once I read them, I felt pretty insignificant and realized that applying was not wise. Btw, my stats are higher than yours. I'm hoping for some merit scholarships, but that's all I can reasonable hope for.

violetsky

We just got a letter today stating my D's application was nominated for review for scholarships, and that would have to mean merit scholarships because we haven't yet sent in a FAFSA or CSS/Profile yet (used to determine financial need).

They also stated that they would begin to inform scholarship winners in mid-January. I sure hope we get one!

SimpleLife

violetsky,
Have you checked to be sure that SMU isn't one of those schools that requires the FAFSA or CSS Profile before they'll award merit scholarships? My son, who's a freshman at SMU on merit scholarships, applied to so many different schools last year that I can't keep them straight right now. I just remember that there were some schools he applied to that REQUIRED the FAFSA or CSS Profile before considering applicants for merit aid. I am aware that those documents are for need-based aid, but there were still several schools that required you to submit them anyway before you'd be eligible for merit aid. You can check the SMU website. It's shouldn't be too late to file one if you have to. (Off the top of my head, I thought SMU WAS one of those schools that required them. I could be wrong.)

SimpleLife

Oh, and btw, violetsy, on your recommendation, I did look up the current SMU Presidential Scholars. You were right! They are impressive! Almost every one of them had two or three outstanding, cream-of-the-crop EC's! Dive team captain, AND Class President, AND all-state musician??? I'm just winging it and generalizing ... that probably wasn't one person's resume specifically, but one Pres Scholar after the next had EC's like that! I was floored. I don't think someone at my son's huge school could do all of those things -- don't think somebody could qualify for every one of them given all the competition at the school, but more to the point, I don't think it would even be possible scheduling-wise.

My son (the hs junior) is still going to apply for that scholarship. He doesn't have as many EC's as most of them, but his stats are as good or better and one of his EC's is quite selective and at the all-state level. It can't hurt him to apply, I guess.

KansasGirl

Technically you can't apply for the Presidents - they just consider all apps for this. The Hunt does have a separate application. We were told CSS or FAFSA is not needed for merit ... and we've heard about merit - and haven't filled it out - so I would believe that to be true.

SimpleLife

Thanks, on both counts, KansasGirl! Appreciate the info.

Of course, we're not quite "there" yet, seeing as son is just a junior ... but another son did go through the whole thing last year.

KansasGirl

Yes, I always read your SMU posts, always helpful. Thanks.

SimpleLife

Oh. That's nice. I'm glad you've found them helpful!

Hey ... I just had a flashback, looking at your name! I think we may have communicated last year while my other son was applying!

Anyway, I hope the ol' college search process is going well for you and yours, KansasGirl. Good luck in everything!

violetsky

SimpleLife, I concur with KansasGirl. Only the Hunt requires a special application beyond just applying for admission to SMU. The scholarship committee has enough information from the regular app to make merit decisions. Good luck to all who need one!

SB27

We received the same letter for our D.
What is the "basic offer"? A small per semester number?
Anyone have a clue as to how they determine who gets what?
Thanks.

violetsky

^^SB27, read all the posts from last year from people who got merit scholarships. There are lots of posts about it. Read my thread "how to access all the SMU threads" on how to get to there. There is quite a bit of discussion. $7500 was a common offer last year.