<p>Has anyone here challenged a Mizzou scholarship decision? Or scholarship decisions in general?</p>
<p>I’m trying to determine if we’re wasting our time or not. Would like to think that S qualifies for the Curator’s scholarship ($3500/year) rather than the $2 Excellence scholarship he recieved. (Either beats a stick-in-the-eye, obviously, but…)</p>
<p>S has 34 ACT composite. Curator’s wants top 10%. S goes to boarding school where they do not rank, so Mizzou uses the GPA as a proxy. Son’s unweighted GPA is 3.7 but he carried the toughest load of any boy in the school. </p>
<p>My argument assumes that a 3.7 at my son’s highly ranked boarding school is just not the same as a 3.7 from every public high school in the state of Missouri.</p>
<p>I think you should appeal, but it is a bureaucracy, it’s big, and you may not get anywhere. Also, I just looked at the MU Admissions page, and it indicates that the required rank is top 5%, not 10%, which will make your appeal more difficult. At most of the good-reputation publics in the St. Louis or KC area (i.e., well-to-do suburban schools), including those with a lot of AP courses or other rigorous classes, 3.7 might not be top 5%. </p>
<p>The Bright Flight has gone up to 3K per year, starting next year, and your son easily qualifies for that, and he gets that in addition to either the Curator’s or the Excellence.</p>
Would his GPA put him in the top 5% though? If the answer is yes, I think you should ask your HS to supply his rank for the purpose of this scholarship.</p>
<p>You can discuss this, and I have discussed this with some colleges. Even though admissions is aware of this, it does not matter at many schools. Many schools have a chart, and whether a kid goes to a school where a C is really a C, or one with huge grade inflation, the same chart is used. My son was left out of merit scholarships at 2 schools that use these charts. Needless to say that my son does not go to those 2 schools bc we could not afford to send him. One of the schools gaps 45% for FA, and the other was an OOS public so there was no FA offered. I have learned that if I am interested in my younger son getting merit aid, I will need to inquire about how scholarships are awarded. If they go by a strict chart, then it might not pay to apply. I will add that my older son applied to one school that also had a chart. My son missed the merit cut off by .1 for gpa according to the online chart (by even more if one eliminates fluff classes). He was still offered that merit award, so you never know if there is a bit of flexibility. At this school an alumni committee rather than admissions determine who gets the merit award. I don’t know whether that made the difference.</p>
<p>Thank you for the feedback, and taking the trouble to check my facts. Thanks for the info on Bright Flight, midmo. I didn’t realize it went up next year.</p>
<p>I have spoken with Admissions and they’ve recommended I appeal, although of course they won’t indicate whether it will do any good or not.</p>
<p>I’ve had general discussions with S’ school before about the rankings thing – they seem firmly against divulging any hint of a student’s ranking, but I have not asked them whether they would do it for a particular student. Something to try, though.</p>
<p>We’re hopeful that Mizzou is the safety school and that S’ top choice(s) in other states come through with merit, but we have to act like Mizzou is the only choice and play the game…</p>
<p>Canyon, even if your son’s school doesn’t rank, they know what the rank is. If he is in the top 10%, the GC should notify Mizzou of that fact. D’s school doesn’t rank etiher. But they will, if asked, list a girl as being in the first or second decile. Nothing lower is revealed, as that is generally not helpful for admissions.</p>
<p>A friends son that goes to Mizzou was turned down for a scholarship last year due to his class rank. We are in a highly competitive 5A school and it is very difficult to be in the top 10%. He got a letter of support from his counselor and included a letter of appeal asking that he be reconsidered. They didn’t give him the total $2k but did give him some scholarship. I think it would be worth challenging.</p>
<p>texas, That is interesting. I never thought of that. My kids go to a high school where it is very difficult to be in the top 10% as well. I will keep this in mind. I thought that if admissions read and considered the profile that a high schools sends out that would be enough. I guess it could be worthwhile to have the gc include a letter of support and letter of appeal. This creates more work for the already overworked GCs. Honestly, the hs profile should have been entirely considered to begin with. If it had been considered equally to the GCs appeal, then the GC would not have had to go through the extra work for this student (multiplied by how many others might request and deserve reconsideration).</p>
<p>Agreed, but the majority of the leg work was done by the student himself. He did get a letter from the GC but it is often requested due to the competition in our school. The letter alone didn’t do it but his persistance to have them look at the whole picture, good SAT’s, GPA’s and EC’s.</p>
<p>Good for him. My problem with this, is that the admissions office should have recognized that this student was worthy of the merit award before extra letters and pleadings were involved. The high school’s profile, along with the student’s application should have been enough. This should not be a matter of those applicants making enough noise about merit aid, end up receiving it. JMO. Either one is eligible, or not eligible based on the criteria that the school sets. The problem is that sometimes the school sets criteria that favor a certain pool of applicants, and a school can do that. An applicant can also vote with his/her feet and attend another school.</p>
<p>Seems somewhat unrealistic to expect Mizzou to make exceptions to its scholarship criteria. Probably more likely at a smaller, private school than at a Flagship U. Also seems a bit unfair to make sweeping statements suggesting that a given gpa from a highly ranked boarding school is just not the same as a given gpa from every public high school in the state of Missouri. His gpa is what it is and, in many schools–public and private–3.7 wouldn’t make the cutoff. </p>
<p>Not sure I like the idea of a public institution penalizing public school students in favor certain boarding schools. H.S. profiles are written from a somewhat biased point of view and admissions people are expected to filter out the bias. Requiring a certain gpa is one means of leveling the playing field, which IMO is what public institutions should strive to accomplish. The ‘squeaky wheel’ shouldn’t get the grease in this situation! Not trying to ruffle feathers, but I’d be curious if others think my point is a valid one.</p>
<p>Beil, I agree to a degree with you, but I do not think that a 3.7 is the same across the board. There are many high schools who have huge grade inflation, and many who do not have any grade inflation. This is why some schools look so closely at standardized tests and view those as leveling the playing field, and of course other schools have done away with giving standardized tests much importance in admissions. Some do look at them for merit aid, and some do not. I do think that profiles are important. They let admissions know if one is attending a school where only 30% of graduates are continuing to college, or whether 98% of students are going onto 4 year colleges. Fluff in profiles are fluff, but facts about a high school are facts. It is the job of an admission office to consider all of the facts, and I guess, disregard the fluff.</p>
<p>I go to one of the most competitive high schools in our state and 3.7 would put him in the bottom of the top quartile. Believe me, there is no grade inflation, just a LOT of overachievers. Also, don’t go back and ask for more money unless he would definitely go there for the bigger scholarship. To “act like Mizzou is his top choice and play the game” is dishonest. I wouldn’t want my parents to lie on my behalf.</p>
<p>"“A gift which encourages enrollment. For many students it is necessary for the school to be affordable.”</p>
<p>I agree but I don’t understand “challenging” a gift. I understand a larger gift is preferable, but since no gift was also possible, I don’t think a gift should be questioned.</p>
<p>dntw8up, I agree with you, but as you can see from the quote below, someone was somewhat successful in getting some scholarship by challenging. In this case, if the student received half (1k x 4 years, that is $4,000). I don’t think that the one who challenges should be rewarded with more money, but as you can see it sometimes works.
<p>It sure would be nice if the OP’s son’s school would provide some inkling of the decile. That would solve the problem. Otherwise he’s at a disadvantage when rank is a criterion for merit scholarships, as it often is at larger schools.</p>
<p>Having said that, if I were in your shoes, I would not appeal. Mizzou is pretty clear about the qualifications for merit scholarships. With the same GPA, my S is not in the top 5% of his class, also in a challenging, small school. I share Beil1958’s discomfort with the OP’s assumptions, though I admit I’ve said the same thing about my S (if he had gone to X school, or if the grading scale was different in our school system, he would have had a higher GPA).</p>
<p>Note that Mizzou is flexible on admission to the Honors College. If you have one of the two criteria (top 10%/1280 SAT) they’ll consider you if you write an extra essay. No money attached, however. The fact that they are flexible with Honors but don’t offer the same option for scholarships seems like a sign that their scholarship requirements are firm.</p>
<p>Does his school have a Valedictorian? I can’t believe with computers these days, they would not know everyone’s GPA and be able to say where everyone stands.</p>