<p>My son applied to all of the colleges above, and since he applied early action to the first 4, he’s heard back with acceptances for them all with the following honors/merit aid:
UMass Lowell - Chancellor’s Scholarship - Honors College, Full ride (tuition, fees, room, and board for 4 years)
UMass Amherst - Honors College, Dean’s Scholarship (Can’t tell if it’s 2K per year or per semester)
WPI - Presidential Scholarship - 15K/year
Northeastern - University Honors Program - Dean’s Scholarship 18K/year
These offers are all wonderful since we are full pay, but Brandeis is his first choice and he won’t hear from them or BU until March. Does anyone know how merit aid at BU or Brandeis compares with these other schools? Based on these offers, can anyone make a guess at what Brandeis might offer? Here are his stats:
SAT 2270 (CR 780, M 770, W 720)
SAT II Biology (M) 710, Math I 740, Math II 800
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.39 weighted
Solid ECs in theater, music, and swimming - has been doing all of them for a minimum of 4 years.
Thanks!</p>
I don’t know about Brandeis but BU offers very little in scholarship $$.
I can’t help you with your main question but I can tell you that the UMass Amherst scholarship is per year. My D got the same scholarship, we were confused too, so we called. They pay it out per semester but it is $2k per year (so $1k per semester).
Update - he got in to both BU and Brandeis. We won’t hear about Brandeis merit for about a week, but BU didn’t offer a cent. I’m a bit surprised given the stats of some BU kids who did get money, especially since some of these kids were waitlisted or rejected at Northeastern. Northeastern has been very generous, and he just got a letter telling him he’s also been named a presidential global scholar and awarded another 6K for an internship.
A few years ago, BU surprisingly admitted to the Boston Globe that rather than reject some kids, they simply accept them but give them not a penny in fin. aid, thinking if they want to attend badly enough, they will pay through the nose for it!! Rather cynical approach.
Final update. Brandeis came through in a big way - Justice Brandeis Scholar - 17,500 per year for 4 years. Northeastern sweetened the pot by adding 6K to use for internships on top of the 18K per year. Northeastern, however, is out based on a recent visit. Brandeis is the likely choice, though the free ride at UMass Lowell is keeping it on the table, despite the fact that we told our son that we’ve got him covered and the money does not need to be a major consideration.