I see the following information on the Clemson scholarship webpage:
“Domestic out-of-state students with at least a 1340 (EBRW+M) on the SAT or a 29 on the ACT composite and who are ranked*** in the top 10%* of their high school class will be considered for a renewable merit scholarship.”
[considered, not offered]
and
“All recruiting scholarship opportunities are listed on this page and subject to change.”
In terms of amounts of scholarships, my in-state S17 was offered more merit scholarship $ from Clemson than my S19 for the same scholarship category even though S19 is ranked higher at the same hs and has higher test scores. My two S19s have applied to three SC state schools (I’ll call them the top 3) and all, by reading these boards, seem to offer generous scholarships of in-state tuition to out of state residents and I’m sure not coincidentally applications by out-of state residents are increasing every year. My kids: “Why do all those Northerners have to love SC so much?” My kids don’t have the option of getting in-state tuition at a lot of out-of-state schools. So you’re welcome for our taxes funding those scholarships (sort of a joke, since SC colleges seem to receive less and less state funding each year).
As for Clemson, as we are fond of saying, as soon as the final second ticked off the clock in the National Championship games for 2016 and then again for 2018 the competition for acceptance and therefore criteria for scholarship $ started to climb and climb. Many are paying the price of not being able to attend their dream school because of Clemson’s football glory!
@genesmasher - I agree with your comments, but something scares me even more. There is no incentive to challenge yourself in areas where you are not strong or to try subjects that you are not sure how you are going to do in the class. Why try a risky class when you know a C might stop you from being accepted or getting scholarship money. I might as well stay in my comfort zone and take the typical classes every other college bound student takes. Why try robotics or try a really advanced math class when the risk (no merit, not accepted) exceeds the reward (learning a valuable skill set). This could also lead to “teacher shopping” where parents ask for their child to be moved from a “harder” teacher to an “easier” teacher. In the end, it really hurts the child, but the short term benefit could be worth it.
This really applies to numbers schools such as Clemson and Penn State. If a college really reads essays and gets to understand the applicants, this may not matter as much.
If it makes you feel any better, other state flagships are doing this, as well. Just some I know of…UMass, URI, Ohio State, UMaryland. I see very similar frustrations expressed in their forums.
And actually, looking back, I guess this has been happening at least as far back as the 80’s. Back in 1980, I was able to get my OOS tuition waived based on a number of criteria, including class rank, ACT, etc.
@“one+two” You did just hit the one thing I can speak to. My OOS (IL) son was accepted into both Clemson and Ohio State Engineering programs. He received TWO merit scholarships to OSU and NONE to Clemson. Non ranking HS. Clemson’s response was that they use a methodology to calculate rank. Fine. But rank and only rank is what kept him from receiving any merit from Clemson. Those of us who move to areas for the challenging, competitive HSs are actually now putting kids at a disadvantage when Rank is such a large factor for some colleges.
One other thing I would note (and I have mentioned this before) with regard to the OOS “value play” of Clemson is the very generous amount of college credits they give for AP classes. My daughter went to Clemson with 35 college credits so she was going in as sophomore. That allowed her to pick her classes, dorm selection, football tickets etc with the status of a sophomore. It also give her the flexibility of double major and or graduating in 3 years and starting graduate school a year early. Obviously that is a “big” savings and adds quite a bit of OOS value.
@Baxter126 - I agree with your post above. I was not saying that those who didn’t think my kids had a good shot to get in were rude but the WAY that some people phrased their opinions was. Some people were just REALLY snarky… like “you don’t belong here” (and yes, I was actually told that). It’s those mean comments that I feel we can do better than. That’s all I’m saying. I just want everyone to be kind when kids are dealing with disappointment which, to them, feels enormous.
@genesmasher - my cousin’s husband is a recent VT grad. He got a fantastic eduction and an amazing job after graduation. He’s still very young but he’s designing nuclear submarines!! I think VT is an exceptional school and so is Clemson so the good news is, your son has terrific options! Best of luck to both of you!
@“one+two” - as a graduate of the 2016 and 2018 NCAA Champion Villanova, I completely agree! The number of applications has skyrocketed in the past 3-5 years and getting in 'Nova now is WAY harder than it used to be because so many people want the chance to experience the thrill of a deep tournament run. And I totally get it. I was there during the Rollie years and we were a powerhouse every year. It was a HUGE part of my college experience and I will never forget those memories. I don’t blame kids for wanting to go to Clemson or Notre Dame or Alabama for the football or wanting to go to Villanova or Duke or UNC for the basketball. They are all great school that have the added benefit of big time sports programs. Best of both worlds!!!
@4n2yrs@carolinamom2boys@loulou2 Yes, yes thanks guys for rubbing it in with VT I am already sitting here biting my nails waiting and hoping for them to start pulling kids off the wait list. Just another excruciating month to go, LOL. So happy/jealous for everyone who got in! We made a stupid mistake and applied to CoE which is super competitive. Didn’t help at all that this is the first year when they dropped a second major choice - so you are either in or out I did manage to convince them to change son’s major to Building Construction (College of Architecture), but only after the decisions were announced. Oh well, “all for the best” as my wife loves saying, he still has good options even if VT fails to see the light
[ Sorry for polluting Clemson thread with irrelevant rambling ]
@4n2yrs@genesmasher I have to say we did LOVE LOVE LOVE Clemson too (plus a huge PSU fan) and would have been probably our D17 first choice, but wasn’t in the cards. There are no wrong decisions as all the schools discussed here are great options. And I’m so happy for the triplets - a great ending!
@burghdad Wow that is great. I never looked up the AP credits allocation page. Clemson even gives credit for 3s on the tests. Passing AP German AP = 8 credits. That goes in the Clemson plus column.
@genesmasher I know Clemson being more rural than your son’s other choices was something you remarked about. If you have time and not visited before, you may want to drive into Greenville. It’s about 35 minutes from Clemson. They do have a shuttle that does take students into Greenville. There is a minor league baseball team, several concert venues, great restaurants and some beautiful parks.
@carolinamom2boys Great, thanks for the suggestion! We were planning to do exactly that when we visit next month - explore surrounding area to get a better feel for what’s available and how accessible. I also may be overestimating his desire to venture outside of campus often, so this may not be an issue. We’ll certainly have a discussion with all pros and cons on the table, come decision time. It’s nice to have options!
@goinnuts Plus it takes care of some of the gen ed requirements and thus frees them to get the classes they need for the double major or out in three.
@ny1517 My OOS daughter’s school ranks but doesn’t give it out unless it is needed for scholarships or service academy applications. I asked the GC what hers was and it was top 8% so I asked him to include it in his GC recommendation. Whether he did or not I don’t know but she got Merit money.
UPDATE: Just got an email from David Kuskowski (the director of undergraduate admissions) saying that he switched my admission from the Summer of 2019 to the Fall of 2019! I no longer have to do the TTSB program which saves me around $12,000. This is tremendous and it is amazing to see how caring Clemson’s admissions office is. If there is any students out there who were in the same situation as I was in, don’t listen to certain haters on here antagonizing you or trying to make you feel bad, dreams do come true. Go Tigers!
Is Clemson rolling admissions? Ie, can you still apply (asking for a friend not on CC), and are there still merit opportunities? Website seems to have 5/1 application due date. Friend trying to decide whether to put in late application, or apply for January (or even summer, based on above, indicating they want some to start summer).
@sunnyschool It used to not be rolling admissions, as applicants who applied before December 1st were notified the second week of February. Anything after that is considered to be rolling admissions. I’m pretty sure you can still apply. I looked up to see if there was any deadline, it doesn’t seem like there is.
I am already sitting here biting my nails waiting and hoping for them to start pulling kids off the wait list. Just another excruciating month to go, LOL. So happy/jealous for everyone who got in! We made a stupid mistake and applied to CoE which is super competitive. Didn’t help at all that this is the first year when they dropped a second major choice - so you are either in or out 
I did manage to convince them to change son’s major to Building Construction (College of Architecture), but only after the decisions were announced. Oh well, “all for the best” as my wife loves saying, he still has good options even if VT fails to see the light 