Marquis Fellowship

captainclueless
Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:48:34 +0000

In response to the disappointments regarding scholarship decisions…

Lafayette receives a GREAT number of talented, passionate, and unique applicants who would all shine at our school in different ways. (We received 7,777 applications this year!) Unfortunately, as was pointed out, financial aid (whether need or merit-based) is a finite resource. We give out approximately $40,000,000 in aid each year, which, as you might imagine, can drain very quickly.

First, to point out the obvious–individual merit plays a primary role in making scholarship decisions. However, many factors go into scholarship decisions that are beyond the individual merits of each applicant. As one of the admissions directors once said to me, “it is a matter of splitting atoms when making some of these decisions.” Many high school students (and their parents) put an incredible amount of stress on themselves with regards to the college admissions process. Many see their acceptances/rejections as some sort of definitive or concrete way to gauge how successful they were in high school. In conversations like these, I like to quote/paraphrase something that one of our admissions directors says during his info sessions:

“Never judge your own self worth or value based on the colleges that do and do not offer you admission or a scholarship. That, my friends, is insane.”

@justcurious96—To share my experience with you, I too was an accepted ED applicant who did not receive a scholarship. My parents and I were a bit surprised and disappointed with the result. In response, my father called the admissions office to kindly ask for an explanation (against my wishes), and they indicated that they had considered me vs. another applicant, and decided on that other person. Admittedly, this bothered me for a little while. After working as a very active ambassador and being exposed to the work of the admissions directors, I have gotten a taste of just how much goes into the decision-making processes, and how many factors are out of our control. Since the start of my time at Lafayette, I’m proud to say that I’ve made a name for myself here, and I have had a great experience. Many terrific people are not Marquis Scholars (such as our current Student Government President). Those who are Marquis Scholars (many of my friends) are also some of the most down-to-earth people I know.

My main point here is that no one should feel offended or deeply upset about not receiving a scholarship. In no way does such a decision indicate that the admissions directors perceive you in a negative way. And remember, simply be accepted is an accomplishment. For (less than) every 3 of you, 7 were denied admission altogether…some of whom were probably extremely disappointed.

I hope that this helps to ease some of the feelings associated with the negative decision outcomes!

Taylor