How Competitive is Merit Aid at Grinnell

unusedname7
Sun, 30 Sep 2018 23:15:03 +0000

I was wondering if anyone has an idea about how competitive Grinnell’s larger merit scholarships are.

I have excellent test scores (1590 sat and am a national merit semi-finalist), but Grinnell’s student body is pretty strong in that regard and I read an article recently (from 3 years ago) about Grinnell decreasing the amount of merit aid it offers: https://hechingerreport.org/grinnell-shows-what-it-takes-for-an-elite-private-college-to-be-socioeconomically-diverse/

I fully support and applaud Grinnell’s commitment to making their education affordable to low income students, but I’m a student who’s unlikely to qualify for need based aid.

I have a broad range of extracurriculars (cross country, acappella, theater, orchestra, some research and volunteering), but nothing exceptional.

The common data set from 2016-2017 looks promising (16% of first years without financial need received aid; average was $17,000)

Can anyone share their specific experiences?

Thanks so much!