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<p>Yeah, mom2ck is right. We really weren’t surprised. This son has older siblings who have been through the process. Our own experience, and anecdotal evidence from that experience, our friends’ experiences, and reading stuff like the posts here on CC, has taught us that selective colleges seem to award their largest, most elite scholarships to URMs, less-represented states, or those with other more significant hooks than the “run-of-the-mill” excellent stats, leadership, all-state EC’s, etc.</p>
<p>Elite-type colleges know that enough kids with amazing stats will enroll without the huge merit awards. They tend to use their highest-dollar merit awards to lure the kids who will round out their incoming classes with more diversity – whether that diversity is in the form of race, gender, less-represented states, super-extraordinary talent (even if it’s outside of academics or their projected major – just something “neat”), etc. The colleges’ goal is to get a really diverse, well-rounded class – not a mere individual with outstanding attributes.</p>
<p>If you read the “accepted students” or “scholarships” posts for the better known, very selective colleges that offer a handful of full-tuition scholarships (like Wash U, Vanderbilt, USC, etc), a remarkable number of those who are selected for their major scholarships each year have well-above average, but not necessarily amazing, stats. They’re often in the 2000-2250 range, say, on the SAT. Or the 31-34 range on the ACT. GPAs might be in the 3.7 to 4.0 range. Their resumes, on CC, don’t necessarily look a lot more impressive than several other kids who applied and didn’t get the awards, but they often seem to be URM’s or from under-represented states, etc. In engineering, female applicants tend to get more (and higher) awards. They’re under-represented. Statistically, in our experience, URMs and other similar hooks, are kind of “over-represented” as scholarship recipients. Their resumes are very, very good. They are very deserving of the awards. (I do not want to start another annoying “affirmative action” thread. And I do NOT intend to imply, nor do I think, that those kids who are chosen are not deserving. I fully acknowledge each school’s capability, knowledge, and right to choose their own recipients.) But often times, to us, the kids who are chosen don’t really look any better on paper than a whole lot of other students who DIDN’T get the awards.</p>
<p>Not only that, but I think that colleges pretty much consider 2000-2250 SATs “good enough,” and 3.6-3.8 gpas “good enough” to flourish, succeed, and improve their campuses via the scholarship recipient’s involvement (which is the whole purpose of luring them with the awards). Someone who can pull in a perfect SAT, a 4.0 unweighted, valedictorian, all 5’s on AP’s, and 5-800’s on SAT subject tests, is obviously a very smart, capable student. That student might also have a bunch of interesting EC’s, talents, service, and leadership. But, I’m not sure that college scholarship committees give a whole lot more weight to the stellar, objective stats (the numbers), than they do to the well-above-average, objective stats. Well-above average is plenty “good enough,” I’m thinking. (These are all just guesses. I don’t claim to “know” any of this. My family’s thoughts on this stuff are simply from our own experiences and observations of others’ experiences. 
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<p>And finally, if you read the “accepted students” threads on colleges like Wash U, Vanderbilt, and Rice, you’ll see that students with stats similar to my son’s (and your son’s), aren’t even accepted sometimes, much less awarded major scholarships! Really. Stats like our sons’ are no guarantee of anything … well, except for the schools who DO guarantee admission and scholarships for certain stats! But the schools that do that are not typically the elite-type schools that you’re asking about.</p>
<p>Each time my kids found out they were accepted to one of those schools, they felt honored. There were always several kids, on each school’s threads, who looked a heck of a lot like my kids on paper … and yet, they were not accepted!</p>
<p>We think it’s helpful to go into the process knowing this. That way, your kids can compile really diversified, well-balanced college lists that will hopefully account for all outcomes. Plus, with this in mind, any rejections or waitlists that might come your kids’ way won’t feel too painful. A rejection, pass-over on scholarships, or waitlist is not really a statement of a student’s worth.</p>