<p>Hi
what is the deal with merit scholarships at smith? do they review the grant amount every year?
If there is a specified amount granted during the freshmen year, do they change it depending on the grade?
a followup to the above question
If a freshman does not have grant in the first year, do they consider to provide a grant if the grades look good?</p>
<p>There’s actually not a lot of merit aid at Smith like there is at some other schools. Financial aid is based largely on financial need. </p>
<p>Here’s the page on the limited merit aid offered at Smith: [Smith</a> College: Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/finaid/prospect/aid_merit.php]Smith”>http://www.smith.edu/finaid/prospect/aid_merit.php)</p>
<p>As indicated in other threads Smith College grants a small percentage of students with merit aid. These generally are given to the highest stats students in the Regular Decision round. They include the Zollman Scholarship and the STRIDE Scholarship. They are usually made by an offer to RD applicants a few weeks prior to regular decisions being released to the general applicant pool. They are used to hopefully tip the decision to enroll at Smith where the student is likely to have been admitted to peer schools such as Wellesley or the Ivy’s.The scholaships are for 4 years, come with atwo year additional stipend and aresearch opportunity with a Smith professor. All information as to how many are offered and the amounts are on Smith’s Office of Student Financial Affairs website.</p>
<p>And to answer your other question, merit aid is only offered to students when they are accepted to Smith. If you’re not offered it with your offer of admission, you won’t be offered it at a later date. Need-based financial aid however is re-assessed every year and adjusted to meet students, and their families’, current financial needs.</p>