It’s so weird to me that they’re not distinguishing at all between grad and undergrad (and trying to get the grad packages out earlier). It has ramifications all down the line for other schools (and their waitlists) too, as has been pointed out here, since it means people who’d otherwise commit somewhere are waiting until the last second just because of MSM (that’s my kid). I wish he at least had some idea of whether he’s likely to get more than the scholarship offer!
100% agree and I’m in the same shoes, we cannot decide until we know if they’ll be able to get any more but we can’t even do that until that financial aid package is even received. I HATE waiting until the last minute.
Congrats! Amazing program!
Out of curiosity, was that the school where the professor worked with your son to prep him for the process?
I have a soph trombone player (still deciding jazz or classical) and we are looking for welcoming studios.
I emailed them asking about the appeal and they sent me the form, so I guess just email or call them.
1 Like
Awesome! Best of luck! We are still here waiting on the FA package to arrive. I’ve been refreshing our email all day long hoping it would come in today.
1 Like
Good luck to you too! It’s really annoying that they can’t get the packages out sooner.
1 Like
DS got full FA package from MSM today (for MM)….it was indeed just the scholarship he already knew about plus loans and work study. I’m not sure why it took so long after the initial scholarship offer.
Yes it is! The jazz dept at IU is pretty special in our book.
1 Like
ugh yay for having it but it seems like such a waste of time for JUST that
I agree that the free flow of information about merit awards, needs-based support, the appeals processes and decisions is very helpful. Part of me though, feels a little sad that the situation in the U.S. is such that the decisions around post-secondary education are forced into the same frame as haggling over a car purchase. I mean, to one degree or another, we are all in the same boat, I imagine; and the economic realities are what they are. But I’ll be glad after May 1, when it’s back to “Ars gratia artis.”
At DD’s top pick, we decided to appeal the merit award even though the school’s financial aid manual explicitly states that foreign currency exchange rates and competitive merit offers are not bases for consideration of adjustment. However, the first thing that the appeals form asks for is competitive awards from other schools. (Go figure…) Even just being able to glean those sorts of anecdotes from a community like this is helpful.
Anyway if you’re U.S. based, at least count yourselves lucky in that the $ cost is what it is. We’re Canadian; so our outlay is 1.38x.
It does make you wonder if some of these schools put wording like that to discourage appeals. Most people would read it and just move right along and not bother, but then you have people like us that go “well it can’t hurt”
1 Like
I suppose it is a bit of self-defense on the part of the FA offices to avoid reflexive appeals.
It would be interesting to try to extract from this thread and from the other acceptance thread (and possibly even from prior years’ threads) estimates of the appeals success rates. My guess about NEC, the only school at which we appealed, is < 10% chance; but it would be interesting to have more data-driven estimates.
I would love something like that! I think it would totally be helpful for others to see that will be in our shoes soon too
We would never have appealed. We did, however, have two department chairs offer to get more money if our student wanted to go to their schools. It still would not have been enough, but was nice affirmation. Just want to say that although the undergrad choice seems crucial now, grad students at excellent schools come from all kinds of backgrounds. Avoiding loans is paramount for musicians!
4 Likes
This is a great prompt for a self-directed project. I teach programming in high school so my teacher sense just kicked in. If any of the current or future musicians who is also interested in data analysis, this is a good project to do. There may not be a lot of information available here on CC; however, there are other places online where such information could be found, such as reddit. One can also send surveys to current music school students for anonymous responses. Self-reported data is not the most reliable but it’s acceptable when the sample size is large enough.
2 Likes
Well, it’s a wrap. NEC just came through on the merit appeal which puts us in the range of competitive schools’ offers.
So, DD will be in '30 class BM Violin Performance at NEC.
To this sentimental dad, it seems like just yesterday, that 3 year-old was heading into her first Suzuki class… Oy.
17 Likes
Wooohoo congrats!!!
Awaiting more info from Frost (though admissions responded saying no appeals and they chose him because of his exceptional talent, he then reached out to the professors, who seems to be trying to assist more, but who knows!)
First appeal from Jacobs took us from an offer of 20k to 23k, which isn’t quite enough. Will attempt one more time hoping we get lucky as it gets closer.
Had one other school that said name your price, but he knew he wasn’t going to go there so he already declined the admission. Didn’t feel right using that offer as a comparison in appeals.
2 Likes
So when you appealed, did you ask for a specific dollar amount more for appeal?
It is a bit confusing when people mention full ride scholarship. Are they referring to tuition only or including room and food? I would love to hear from those of you who mentioned full ride, exactly what you are referring to.