How hard is it to get a scholarship?

mamag2855
Wed, 01 Jun 2016 20:28:05 +0000

I have 2 daughters who are Richmond Science Scholars.The Richmond Scholarships are divided into different interest areas, science(must major in science or math), leadership/service/all around strong applicant (can major in anything), arts (music, theater, dance, visual arts). It is possible to receive an arts scholarship, and minor in the arts, or have double major outside of the arts.

From my limited perspective, whatever the scholarship interest area is, the scholars have truly excelled in that particular area (state and national science competitions/lab research/internships for science scholars, competitions/performances/awards/portfolios for the arts students, very active leadership roles in school/community, service projects with an exceptional impact, for awards more focused on leadership/service. Having a hook can give applicants an extra boost as well.

You definitely have strong stats for being admitted, but I am not sure whether they are high enough to receive one of the larger 45 Richmond Scholar awards given each year to freshman students. The 75%ile ACT was 33 for admitted students last year and the 75%ile u/w GPA was a 3.97 (out of 4). Scholars are likely to have scores at or above that threshold, along with exceptional talent in one or more areas.

The scholarships are also open to international students and there is stiff competition each year. No separate application is required to be considered for the Richmond Scholars program, students are first selected as semi-finalists based on their admissions applications, then they are invited to submit additional materials and are permitted to apply in up to 2 different interest areas. After reviewing the supplemental materials, a finalist round and interviews follow. In 2014, approximately 5500 applications were received prior to the Dec. 1 application date for scholar consideration, only 8% of these were chosen as semi-finalists (approx. 400). Here is a link for some more details posted back on the admissions blog back in 2014: http://admissionblog.richmond.edu/?assetid=f942af13ac1c041919d8b871b5a18aba

UR does also offer some $15K presidential scholarships, and some departmental scholarships, and they do meet 100% of demonstrated need for admitted students (as determined by UR; they are a CSS Profile school). They have need blind admissions for US students, need aware for internationals.