Appealing Merit Aid Awards

Archive Ask The Dean Archive
1

<p>Question: My son has received acceptance to a number of schools (early action). All but one have offered him scholarship dollars. They are still quite expensive. Is it appropriate to ask if they can improve on the offer? If so, how/when do you ask? Thank you</p>

<p>WHAT DID “THE DEAN” SAY?</p>

<p>See: <a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/appealing-merit-aid-awards/”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/appealing-merit-aid-awards/&lt;/a&gt; </p>

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<p>Parke Muth a former top admission official seems to disagree:</p>

<p>“Most importantly, schools do all they can to enroll students in the top 10% of their class. This isn’t because they have done studies to demonstrate that anyone in the top 15-20 percent would not do as well. Instead, the 10% figure is measure as a rubric on the US News ranking; therefore, schools turn down far more ‘interesting’ students (based on life experiences and activities for example), so that the ranking will rise.”</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.quora.com/To-what-extent-does-class-rank-matter-in-college-applications”>http://www.quora.com/To-what-extent-does-class-rank-matter-in-college-applications&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I agree with Mr. Muth. Based on Naviance data at our son’s nationally recognized public high school, if a student is not hooked, and not an athlete, the student almost always has to be in the top 10% to get admitted to a top 20 college. </p>

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<p>Sorry about cross posting but my last post was in reference to the recent Dean’s topic:</p>

<p>“Is Second Decile Rank a Deal-Breaker at the Most Selective Colleges?”</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/second-decile-rank-deal-breaker-selective-colleges/”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/second-decile-rank-deal-breaker-selective-colleges/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;