Notification of Merit Aid and Visiting UC....

gracello
Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:23:57 +0000

On merit aid, for the OP-
The admissions office will, sadly, not be able to give you any information on this. For merit considerations, admissions officers “flag” applications of those who they’d like to have receive merit aid, and these applications are reviewed by an almost entirely non-admissions committee (I think either Ted O’Neill or Michael Behnke, VP for enrollment, also sit in), and they choose merit scholarship recipients. There is no tie to the financial aid process whatsoever.
Unfortunately, you will also only be notified if she does receive merit aid- there’s no “sorry, no merit aid” letter for students who do not (which sucks, because it means a lot of waiting and hoping and very ambiguous timing on when one can feel let down). However, if your student does get merit aid, the merit letters come at the same time that admit packets come out for RD students. So, hold on…!
Of course, I have to encourage you to come visit campus, but reality makes it often impossible or undesirable to do so if no merit aid is offered. Do look at Southwest flights, which are often quite cheap in to Midway airport, depending on where you live. While coming out for an event for admitted students is nice, tours are offered daily (except for weekends, unless it’s a program weekend) at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm, followed by sessions with admissions officers, and the opportunity to sit in on classes.
Hopefully everything works out for you! Having gone through this process before (and coming out fortunately merit-aid in hand, but still wondering how I made it there) I know it can be stressful. Visiting is a great experience, though, and I hope everything works out for you and your student!