<p>I have the idea that Curmudgeon is considered to have had a great experience on the merit aid front and has passed along wisdom. I’ve searched for that, but between not knowing what I was looking for AND not being sure that my “facts” are actually correct, I’ve come up with nothing. Would anyone be kind enough to let me know if there is some truth to this and how I may search specifically? If I’m totally off base, please feel free to tell me that I’m delusional.</p>
<p>"great experience on the merit aid "</p>
<p>In what way?</p>
<p>"great experience on the merit aid "</p>
<p>In what way?"</p>
<p>If I knew, would I be asking?</p>
<p>I know Curmudgeon is definitely an expert on Merit Aid, and his D did have a “great experience on the merit aid front” in that she got, I believe, a complete or close to complete ride with all kinds of perks from a very good school, Rhodes. I know Curm and CurmD researched many merit aid schools and put a lot of time into the process, and that she had several good offers to weigh.</p>
<p>I looked myself and can’t find a thread to show this; it was an ongoing process throughout the year she applied, but maybe others can find some of the main discussion of it, and of course Curmudgeon himself could give you more of the details.</p>
<p>just pm curm. he can point you to past posts</p>
<p>Here are a couple of cur classics on merit aid:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/219357-usnews-top-100-liberal-arts-college-merit-v-need-only.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/219357-usnews-top-100-liberal-arts-college-merit-v-need-only.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/219347-usnews-top-100-doctoral-colleges-merit-v-need-only.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/219347-usnews-top-100-doctoral-colleges-merit-v-need-only.html</a></p>
<p>Entomom, thank you for taking the time to help me with this. Much appreciated!</p>
<p>Curmudgeon on Merit Aid</p>
<p>Thought this was the title of a new book. I’d buy it!</p>
<p>zoosermom,
You’re welcome! I forgot, here’s the ‘Mother’ of all merit aid threads (beware, it’s long and sometimes contentious):</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/313156-your-kid-takes-top-scholarship-instead-top-school-whats-next.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/313156-your-kid-takes-top-scholarship-instead-top-school-whats-next.html</a></p>
<p>Sometimes contentious? :eek: I remember being lashed to the anthill wearing a honey hat. </p>
<p>Here’s one I like. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=8999031[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=8999031</a></p>
<p>and a timely one <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/129504-equal-stress-opportunity-its-merit-award-season.html?highlight=equal+stress[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/129504-equal-stress-opportunity-its-merit-award-season.html?highlight=equal+stress</a></p>
<p>and a little one <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/130616-merit-appears-more-than-money.html?highlight=merit+appears[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/130616-merit-appears-more-than-money.html?highlight=merit+appears</a></p>
<p>This wasn’t one I started but it’s got a lot of meat <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/145636-how-many-schools-should-we-add-our-list-quest-merit-aid.html?highlight=good+merit+aid[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/145636-how-many-schools-should-we-add-our-list-quest-merit-aid.html?highlight=good+merit+aid</a></p>
<p>Ha! Contrarian pov’s must be punished severely here on CC ;).</p>
<p>OMG! 101 posts on that first link! I’m supposed to be doing “CME Online”!!!</p>
<p>No one said getting merit money was <em>easy</em>, Shrinkrap… :)</p>
<p>119 actually :)</p>
<p>and sadly it’s pages of posts, not posts. It appears there are 1773 posts. </p>
<p>I’ve been reading some of the 100 Liberal Arts thread. There’s some viable stuff there. I hope y’all find something you can use. Good luck.</p>
<p>I thought this might be interesting to some of y’all. real time diary of the '10ers on merit awards. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/129938-master-list-merit-awards.html?highlight=master+list+merit[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/129938-master-list-merit-awards.html?highlight=master+list+merit</a></p>
<p>Youse guys oughta read the pinned thread in the Parents Forum:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html</a></p>
<p>Moderator Note: I have moved this thread to the main Parent Forum; as it is clearly college-related and will have valuable information, of interest to many. Sorry if there is any temporary confusion.</p>
<p>Zoosermom, the bottom line is that Curmudgeon’s daughter turned down Yale for a full ride at Rhodes. If you check the US News rankings, you will see that Rhodes is not listed as a top 10 LAC. Rhodes is an excellent college, of course, but its not Yale, and its not Amherst (another college that I believe Mudgette may have been accepted to and turned down).</p>
<p>If your kid has the stats and qualifications to get accepted to a top 10, then significant merit aid will probably be available at schools that are not so highly ranked. The hard part is giving up on the “dream school” concept in favor of the “affordable school” idea – though I think that Mudgette got doubly lucky because Rhodes also happened to be her idea of an ideal college campus.</p>
<p>But my point is that the first step of the merit-search is to look at your kid’s safeties – that may be different than another kid’s safeties. Even my kid with far less impressive stats got reasonable merit offers from safeties like Fordham & Northeastern – I’m sure she would have done even better by looking for something even “safer” than those schools, where her stats were strong but certainly not unusual.</p>
<p>“Mudgette” – absolutely love it!!</p>