Carolina Scholarship

Colleges & Universities University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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<p>crazy88 - I don’t think anyone is condemning you for being indecisive…that’s only natural. But your other posts are available for all to see…so any comments about backups are there. </p>

<p>However, I don’t think this is the main issue. The issue is you expressed a strong interest in engineering and if engineering (other than biomedical or environmental) is truly a passion, UNC-CH would be a mistake. I don’t think anyone can assume you knew that UNC-CH didn’t offer engineering because you seemed to have a lot of questions about the scholarship program. Perhaps you DID know, but it wasn’t obvious from your posts. I think this is why eadad included, with his comments, an advance apology should there be any misunderstanding. </p>

<p>Also, of course, Admissions will not be upset if you attend another school. I don’t think anyone suggested that, so that should not be a worry. My d turned down full rides or near full rides at three good schools to attend UNC-CH. But it does, and it should, give one pause when turning down scholarships that are not re-awarded to others. It bothered our family greatly and that part of the process was a somber one for my d and for us. But, in the end, there is nothing that can be done. Again, I read nothing in any post that suggested Admissions would have an issue with your choice.</p>

<p>Please try to remember this. The only reason we, parents, bother to post is because we’ve been through this process with our own kids, we know the difficulty and confusion from first hand experience and we want to help. Others helped us and our kids, and we are now in the position to give back. Personally, I vowed I would spend one year posting to ‘pay it back’ for the year of invaluable advice I received. One of the most helpful to our family has been eadad; so I can definitely vouch for his good intentions.</p>

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<p>Cloying, interesting comments about your Robertson experience. I have no idea if the gentleman you are referring to is one and the same, but my daughter had a similar negative experience with her male Robertson phone interviewer who came across as in a hurry, brusque and somewhat arrogant, particularly when she couldn’t come up with the name of a faculty member she wanted to “work” with. This was in sharp contrast to her phone interviewer for the Belk Scholarship who took several minutes to put her at ease, introduce her to the other individuals listening in on the conversation who would also be asking questions, and who emphasized that this was to be a conversation, not an inquisition.</p>

<p>I understand others had more positive interview experiences, but this was how my daughter felt about hers.</p>

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<p>Cloying and anyone else interested in giving feedback,
My son received the Colonel Robertson scholarship from Carolina which is a full ride. Through the process of several scholarship interviews over the past several months, he has shifted in his thinking of what he wants to major in (moved from a math and some type of humanities double major to a math and computer science double major). He is in the process of evaluating now those departments of the schools to which he received scholarships and evaluating the scholars programs to which he has been invited. I’m interested in any further feedback on comp sci and math at UNC (cloying, you said math was a maybe not at UNC). Additionally, I believe although he receives a full ride to Carolina through his scholarship (he is OOS), he is not a part of the scholars program which has some additional benefits. Any insight to offer there?
Thanks!
Cindy</p>

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<p>crazy88 - Parents and students both come to these boards for support and guidance. EADad gave you some very useful feedback and responded directly to your questions about the schools you are considering. The post that you found so offensive was simply honest and direct. I mostly lurk on CC, but I feel compelled to respond to what I think was an inappropriate rant on your part. My son is a junior and just beginning this process. I hope the tone of your post isn’t the norm on these boards.</p>

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<p>Cindyhawks: Congratulations to your son. I believe the scholarship your son was awarded was from the Col Robinson (not Robertson) endowment made around 2005.<br>
<a href=“http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep05/meritdrive091505.htm[/url]”>http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep05/meritdrive091505.htm&lt;/a&gt; I do know it’s a full freight scholarship for out-of-state students, though I don’t know about any “added benefits.”</p>

<p>I can’t help you with the math/computer science departments, either, but you might learn more information about those departments from calling or meeting with the department folks directly, or at least hearing from students who actually (currently) attend UNC.</p>

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<p>crazy88</p>

<p>As I said in my post, if I was wrong, please accept my apology in advance. I don’t intend to get into any prolonged discussion. After reading your post on this thread it made me ask a few questions, since most people on the UNC (or other school) threads are very knowledgeable about scholarship opportunities etc. I decided to do a search to find out more about you and what other schools you were looking at. </p>

<p>That said, I did find a thread called <em>backups</em> in which you list the following schools as your “backups”: (this is copied from your post)</p>

<p>“Cornell Engineering (likely)
UNC - Chapel Hill (OOS) - Robertson, Honors (potentially)
University of Missouri - Columbia (Walter Williams Scholar)
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Institute of Technology)”</p>

<p>After reading that I was prompted to form my opinion. In my prior post I really did try to give you objective information and answer the questions you raised regarding the differences between three schools you were asking about. The three schools were so totally different in their cultures that it raised the questions I had regarding your motives for application which prompted digging deeper.</p>

<p>To call UNC and the Robertson a “backup” is what really prompted me to write what I wrote and reach the the opinion that I came to about your modus operandi.</p>

<p>I have been on UNC boards for four years now and have seen the heartbreak and angst from students and parents who were unable to attend because of financial reasons, and for you to appear to be so cavalier about winning the most prestigious award that UNC gives (Robertson and Morehead aside since they are privately funded) really set me off.</p>

<p>As I also said, I am sure that my tone surprised many people on CC who have seen me, PM ed me in the past because in all honesty, I have NEVER called anyone out, nor chastised them in any way, trying always to be nothing but supportive and helpful. </p>

<p>Your response to my comments calls to mind a favorite quotation: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”</p>

<p>William Shakespeare</p>

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<p>eadad: I agree that you’ve always been supportive and helpful in your posts here on CC.</p>

<p>Thanks for the added information/back story here, though. Wow. I’m flabbergasted. Really. But I guess, at my advanced age, nothing should surprise me anymore. :wink: (And–for what it’s worth-- I agree with the “doth protest too much” quote).</p>

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<p>cloying, hmmm, i thought tony brown was great! i sat next to him at dinner…cool guy. idk…but you’re right…so many schmoozers got it. ugh!! </p>

<p>ps. can u comment on my fbook so i know who u are…lol if u want to that is…</p>

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<p>ooh psssh did this girl really put unc: honors, robertson on her list. wow talk about not knowing how hard something like that is to get. harder than any ivy admit!! somebody needs a realllittty check. :stuck_out_tongue: </p>

<p>ps. props to eadad!!</p>

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<p>GetOuttaBuffalo: I know you had already received the Pogue, but you had stated you were up for the Robertson as well; how did you do?</p>

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<p>If my previous post comes across as “piling on” with negatives about the Robertson, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for it to come across that way. The Robertson Scholars program is a fantastic program, and conducting phone interviews is difficult – for both the interviewers and the interviewees. All interviewers are different and all students respond differently to different styles of interviewers. My child obviously had difficulty responding to this particular style. Other interviewees obviously handled the interview style a lot better, and thus advanced in the scholarship process. That’s the way it works, and that’s what helps them select from similarly qualified individuals.</p>

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<p>Jack,
Yes indeed it was the Col. Robinson award, a typo on my part in my haste. Thanks for the congratulations. We are very thrilled for the opportunity available to him. As you suggest, he is currently lining up some phone conversations with those departments, as well as those from the other schools from which he has offers. I have lurked around on CC quite a bit since my older daughter went through this process, and I find your comments as well as others very helpful. Any other thoughts you have in the future will be appreciated as well as any others that might have opinions or insight.</p>

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<p>cloying</p>

<p>You were very fortunate to spend time with Peter Kaufman. He is widely regarded as one of UNC’s “best of the best.” My son has taken several classes with him, and in fact became interested in one of his majors based on his experience in an Honors class freshman year with him. He is currently a TA for him this semester and is always speaking high praises of Dr. Kaufman.</p>

<p>This is from a UNC archive:</p>

<p>"Peter Kaufman, an award-winning teacher and professor of religious studies, will discuss memory Dec. 20 as the featured speaker at the mid-winter commencement ceremony…</p>

<p>…Kaufman will continue a Carolina tradition of faculty speakers at December commencement. He was nominated to speak by the senior class marshals, and a selection committee endorsed that choice, said Richard Edwards, interim provost.</p>

<p>Kaufman came to Carolina in 1978. He has been honored several times with a variety of campuswide teaching awards. Those honors include twice being cited with the Tanner Faculty Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and one of last year’s Undergraduate Teaching Awards, based upon students’ nominations and evaluations.</p>

<p>Since 1991, Kaufman has been faculty coordinator of the University’s Johnston Scholars Program, a role that involves supervising academic advising, mentoring as well as curriculum and extracurricular activities for more than 240 top undergraduates. Kaufman also serves as faculty coordinator for the Carolina Scholars Program. He also has chaired and served on several campus-wide committees dealing with topics such as the status of minorities and the disadvantaged.</p>

<p>Off campus, Kaufman is coordinator of the Collegium on Religion in American Intellectual Life, based at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park and sponsored by the Lilly Foundation.</p>

<p>Kaufman has written numerous scholarly articles and books, the latter of which include Prayer, Despair, and Drama: Elizabethan Introspection, published in 1996 by the University of Illinois Press, and Church, Book, and Bishop: Conflict and Authority in Early Latin Christianity, which came out in 1996 from Harper Collins Westview. His other books include Redeeming Politics (1990) and The Polytyque Churche: Religion and Early Tudor Political Culture, 1485-1516 (1986).</p>

<p>A native of Bridgeport, Conn., Kaufman earned a doctorate and master’s degrees from University of Chicago as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the Chicago Theological Seminary and Trinity College, respectively."</p>

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<p>eadad - Yes! All the Carolina Scholars at Scholarship Day spoke so highly of him, I was so excited that we got to go to his house and eat some grub! He was a very kind man and reminds me a lot of one of the psych professors I had last year.</p>

<p>He described to all the Robertson Finalists at his house exactly how the selection works for the Carolina Scholars, I found it very interesting. He also said that they basically predict who will get the Scholarship before the day, which surprised me. I’ll definitely be telling prospective applicants that next season, because that to me means that your essays are so incredibly essential.</p>

<p>Thanks for the blurb, too! That night, he shared with us that only twice had he ever been tempted to leave Carolina. I can’t remember what the first school was, but he said a very nice offer from Swarthmore brought him there briefly. He came back, he said, feeling assured that the Carolina students had more interesting discussions than the Swatties. Though he did go on to say that Duke kids do the reading more often than Carolina kids. :(</p>

<p>GetOuttaBuffalo - I did not like that man. I didn’t appreciate how he kept saying, this was our chance to test out the Robertson, but when I asked him questions that sought out to identify any weaknesses of the Scholarship Program, he waved them all off. “What’s been the main difficulty with implementing this scholarship?” “We’ve had plenty of problems.” As if that’s supposed to answer my question.</p>

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<p>lol cloying - btw, how were u selected for the carolina? im a pogue so we’ll be in the same scholars group. i believe we have speakers and classes and stuff together – yay!</p>

<p>jack, i was a robertson finalist, spend 4 days at duke and unc…it was WONDERFUL! unfortunately, i was not selected as a scholar. however, i already have a full ride and i met so many great kids that weekend -im even rooming with a robertson next year! :smiley: im just blessed to have had that opportunity. i didnt even APPLY for it, so i was pulled out of the application pool. plus, i can still take a class at duke each semester if i want and i even made friends who are going there next year too. :slight_smile: its all good.</p>

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<p>GetOuttaBuffalo: The Robertson is really such an outstanding scholarship program, for sure, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the finalist weekend–meeting the current scholars and other finalists, etc. I think they all go to a lot of effort to make that a very special 4 days for everybody. It’s refreshing to hear someone sound so positive about it all, even if the final outcome was not what you might have wanted. </p>

<p>Congratulations again on the Pogue! And all the best to you at Carolina, where I’m sure you’ll do well and have a terrific 4 years.</p>

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<p>I was too quick to draw conclusions, please accept my apologies. And I did post in the back-up thread, however, I overlooked the implication. I simply included UNC because I had already been accepted there. I was merely listing the schools which were options for me to go to. </p>

<p>I appreciate everyone’s helpful comments, and please do accept my sincere apology.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>P.S. Is that quote from Hamlet?</p>

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<p>crazy88: It is Hamlet (from his mother, methinks). ;)</p>

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<p>I am also a Carolina Scholar, and because of the huge grant (im OOS) it seems I’ll probably be going to Carolina. It is weird for me, though, because the school that I was shooting for for over a year as my sort of dream school, Dartmouth, also accepted me- albeit with no financial aid. It’s hard for me to give that up because it’s something that I’ve been stiriving for for so long. It’s also probably pretty strange- I dont know if I could have narrowed it down to two more different schools! but the fact is that I like both of them equally in their own rights… yes they are almost diametrically opposite but I feel like they each do what they do so well, and I have such diverse interests that it doesn’t make a difference to me. And although crazy88 refuted what eadad posted about UNC being a safety that wasnt researched much, I sympathize with eadad’s post because for me that was pretty much exactly what happened. I applied to UNC on a whim, because it was a cheap public school that I figured I’d have a good shot of getting into- I didn’t know much about it and i didn’t figure it would change anything, just give another “possible” option. Now this prestigious award has fallen into my lap and I’m trying to really understand that UNC is just as good as any other school I applied to- and although I might not like to admit it I’m trying to convince myself that I won’t lose anything by denying the “Ivy advantage.” After all my troubles of getting in to the Ivy, it’s a quite difficult thing to do!</p>

<p>(although I have to admit… Carolina blue is much better than green!)</p>

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<p>croatia</p>

<p>I sent you a PM</p>