<p>I just reread the merit award letter, now that the excitement has subsided, and I need to fine tune my report of the award so I don’t get called to appear on Oprah for misrepresenting anything The award was $60,000 over 4 yrs (not 62,000) and the Presidential Scholar thing is “among” the highest given, not “the” highest. Obviously not a whole lot of difference but for some fact oriented types this may make a difference. Of course for us it seemed like the most stupendous award anyone could hope to receive and we’re thrilled.</p>
<p>Congrats to all of you who have received awards as well.</p>
<p>I always enjoy checking in on this thread and hearing the good news from everyone. A special congrats to Andi, Lultztee, and Kawkittens and family!</p>
<p>D was offered an academic scholarship of $16K over four years at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Merit associated with students’ art is later, up to full tuition.</p>
<p>Lots of photographing, ordering slides and art creation at our house. Scholastic portfolio entries due Friday, MICA slides due the 15th and Cooper Union hometest due 2/22.</p>
<p>m&sdad
Congrats to your D and good luck in the portfolio process…LOL its the art student equivalent of music student auditions…but not as many people know about it!</p>
<p>There’s “good” news and “bad” news in connection with son’s applications . </p>
<p>Just kidding. This is an exaggeration, but it seemed to fit the bill when two envelopes landed on our doorstep today. We were expecting to hear from Brandeis and were hoping that merit money would come through, since the Jewish presence is so strong on campus. We at least thought they’d throw us a small dog bone! Although son was accepted, merit money was not to be. They enclosed a letter offering a $2,000 loan. </p>
<p>Out of the blue, the mailman delivered an overnight fedex from URochester, which we were not expecting. It was a guarantee of $40,000 over four years plus the chance to fly to campus and interview for a full-tuition Renaissance Scholarship. (Actually, the weekend interview sounds like fun. Fifty applicants will participate in all kinds of activities and live in the dorms.)</p>
<p>Son is ** very ** lucky but this process still baffles me. Brandeis and U Rochester are not all that different in US News rankings, although Brandeis has a more desirable location and its admissions figures are more selective. But virtually the same application to two similar institutions gets a large merit package at one school and nothing at the other. Go figure??!! </p>
<p>So Brandeis is officially off the final “list”, while Chicago and Rochester are definitely on.</p>
<p>Brandeis had told us they’d be sending out information in early February. Rochester had told us that we wouldn’t hear from them till mid-March. Plus, son felt he had “blown” his interview at UR, so that the likelihood of a scholarship was reduced. Just shows you kids don’t know everything! :D</p>
<p>Cami great news for UR! Have to agree it really IS puzzling about the Brandeis aid. Do you think it could have anything to do with the law of supply and demand at Brandeis? Your s’s qualifications sound outstanding.</p>
<p>I wonder if Brandeis’ merit aid is linked to need. They’re the only school I saw that made you fill out FAFSA for merit sholarships. My daughter did the blue ribbon app. She has extremely high stats and is president of our synagogue youth group. She was accepted ED to her first choice school the day before FAFSA was due (I probably would have had to pull an all nighter to get it done). She withdrew her app, so we’ll never know…</p>
<p>audiophile, from the kids I know who have gotten a lot of money from Brandeis, I would say you are on target, but the kids are also very accomplished and deserving in terms of very high stats, incredible awards, and ecs. I know 3 who got huge financial awards. One of the 3 may also have been considered a URM at Brandeis, although I am not positive. The other 2 students were not URMs.</p>
<p>D#1 received a full-tuition scholarship at Brandeis when she applied. We did not qualify for financial aid, so the offer was indeed “merit” money.</p>
<p>northeastmom, when one refers to URM at Brandeis, it’s not URM as at other schools. Asians are URMs (LISTEN UP ASIAN STUDENTS OUT THERE!!!). On the Brandeis boards are 3 students with substantial merit aid, none with earth-shattering statistics, 2 Asian, 1 Hispanic.</p>
<p>Just learned that my D was accepted to Brandeis with no merit money, but an offer of $1300 in loans. Kinda funny for a family with an EFC so high FAFSA thinks we can send at least 2 kids to college at the same time with no finaid. I think she was hurt because her surname is definitely Jewish though we are not.</p>
<p>quiltguru, this is correct. The URM I was speaking about is Asian. Sorry about the lack of merit aid, but congratulations on the acceptance! Actually 2 of the others I know who got nice merit aid packages are Jewish.</p>
The award was $60,000 over 4 yrs (not 62,000) and the Presidential Scholar thing is “among” the highest given, not “the” highest. Obviously not a whole lot of difference but for some fact oriented types this may make a difference. Of course for us it seemed like the most stupendous award anyone could hope to receive and we’re thrilled.</p>
and “bad” news 
in connection with son’s applications . </p>