<p>I figured that out. There are smaller scholarships that target students with very specific talents (music and debate in Emory’s case), who are from specific areas in the U.S (Jenkins, okay that one is a full scholarship. And also, students eligible for that one had to have submitted a separate or additional essay), or are NM finalists that chose Emory as a top choice (don’t think we have many to be honest, but not sure. Don’t know why schools are obsessed over students who were able to take a multiple choice test really well early as opposed to when they were ready to go off to college. I’m sure many of these folks got the same SATs or slightly lower as denied and accepted scholars applicants, but they are more valued because they did well on the PSAT. No wonder why some parents make their child study for it). Here they are. I think students qualifying for these are notified a little later:<a href=“Types of Financial Aid | Emory University | Atlanta GA”>http://apply.emory.edu/apply/meritbased.php</a>
It’s all the scholarships below the big 2 (or 3 counting the Mays Scholarship). Just like schools like MIT and Harvard recruit math olympiad winners actively, Emory uses its money to attract strong musicians and debaters (because we have Barkley Forum which is amazing. Need to keep the caliber of that program alive, so will recruit students to do so). We also have a very strong performing arts and music scene, especially considering the fact that we do not contain a music school or conservatory. Not really surprised that they’d want to throw money at extremely talented young musicians that aren’t necessarily interested in a conservatory environment who may want to come to a place like Emory and perhaps double major in music with something else. </p>
<p>In addition, to maybe get an idea of how they could have selected finalists, take a look at this exhaustive lists of names and descriptions they gave to the scholarships in the days of the semifinalists (just last year) that is available on the Emory College website but not the admissions website: <a href=“Welcome to Emory College.”>Welcome to Emory College.;
<p>My guess is that they wanted to select less students, but within the scope of these descriptions, thus resulting in a very diverse pool of finalists. For example, many seem to target those with liberal arts oriented interests or who have a aridiculous track record of research/inquiry already (thus the new Woodruff Research Scholarship which also gives stundents a research grant as soon as they get here). The selection of finalists is a smattering of selecting students who would be in the 75%, but is also a cherrypicking of different interests and talents according to this breakdown. I mean the latter in a good way because it would not make much sense to just select every high caiber student and they all be pre-med or pre-business. Amazing things have come out of students who don’t fall into those two categories. Many of our McMullan and Britain award winners chosen before graduation are humanities and social science majors, so it’s clear Emory has a track record of admitting great students with those interests. Plus these students tend to shape the intellectual vitality of the campus more to be frank (based upon my experience). I don’t blame them for targeting more these folks than normal. I wouldn’t mind having more pure (as opposed to joint) math and CS (or just those interested in quantitative issues) though. They and the chemistry majors are among the more interesting of those doing STEM at Emory. However, the CS and math dept. have severe limitations that won’t attract hordes or ridiculous (as in extraordinarily good, even within the context of an elite student body) math students. </p>