I am wondering how to realistically evaluate a student’s chances at winning non automatic merit.
For instance, on this page there are some automatic awards listed and some non automatic awards listed. How would you know whether or not a student is a good candidate for the Chancellor’s Scholarship or the Silas Hunt Scholarship?
Just trying to understand how to figure out if a student has a reasonable chance or if it is a long shot so we can narrow down the number of schools on the college list.
Some schools give merit for certain stats, and a few more competitive awards.
In the links above it spells out some of the criteria they might use: NMF, top applicants, first generation, URM, community involvement, etc.
If the school is affordable with the lower merit award based primarily on stats, it can stay on the list. If the child ends up getting a higher award, it’s icing on the cake.
As long as you have some automatic merit schools on the list, or local schools that are affordable, then you can add a few competitive merit schools to the mix.
From a quick look the Chancellor’s scholarship looks more stats driven. You can ask the school of what’s a typical SAT/ACT score and gpa to be in the run for the award. Obviously not guarantee but they you ll get an idea.
For the Silas Hunt:
“Awarded to students from underrepresented communities who have demonstrated outstanding academic leadership qualities and potential.”
Ds is URM, but the phrase, “outstanding academic leadership qualities and potential,” seems really subjective and vague to me. That’s the part I have trouble knowing how to evaluate.
It’s good to know that it is okay to email the schools and ask for a general range of stats for specific scholarships. That’s something I can have ds work on.
He did get into a competitive diversity summer camp at a higher ranked school and is waiting to hear from a few others. So I think he is in the running for some of these competitive scholarships at state schools, but I don’t want to be unrealistic.
look at the actual # of competitive awards that are offered. if its 5 and there are 30000 applicants to the college then the chances of getting one are very, very low.
Honestly, I found it most helpful to stalk scholarship threads on their various school CC forums. Most of the kids post their stats/ECs. With S19 we have a mix of schools on the list - automatic merit schools and then schools with competitive merit where his stats are just as strong as those kids that received it this year. Some schools are tough because there isn’t always a strong pattern - must come down to essays, LORs (for example UMD- College Park’s full rides. The honors kids that DON’T get them are just as strong as those that do.)
I’ve been looking at the school forums on CC, but a few of the schools ds is looking at aren’t popular enough to have heavy traffic so there’s not much there about scholarships. We thankfully have a couple that are a good fit academically and financially. I guess we will roll the dice with the others if we can’t get more specific info from the schools.
It helps that ds is not being at all picky about where he goes. His only request is that they have a football team… Dd is next in line and is a bit more picky, but hopefully, I’ll be more savvy next time.
@jazzymomof7 similar situation here as S19 is flexible while S20 is picky about everything. If dealing with lesser known schools, then it is always helpful to see where your student falls — need top 25% or higher to even have a shot. Some schools list what type of stats get you competitive merit but if not, maybe a question for a tour or a thoughtfully worded email to admissions counselor? You could always post in the scholarship forum - maybe someone out there on CC knows? Good luck to you and your kiddos!
The problem with assessing reach/match for competitive merit is that there is much less information available on merit scholarship awards than for college admission (note: automatic for stats or NM status scholarships are usually safety for those who qualify – exceptions would be if they are “automatic for those who are admitted” and admission is not automatic or safety).
In general, if there is insufficient information (such as the number of scholarships awarded, the academic and other credentials of those awarded the scholarships, etc.), treat large competitive merit scholarships as reaches if admission to the school is safety, likely, or match, and as extreme reaches if admission to the school is already a reach.