Odds:
Clemson 40%
VT 35%
JMU 18%
Alabama 5%
OTHER 2%
Has anyone else used the Scholly app? Is it useful?
My son signed up for Cappex which is free but has been a waste of time. Even though he filled out their bio info, he still gets notices for scholarships that are for a particular county in another state or other limiting factor that does not match for him.
Happy here as S18 got back his quarter and semester grades and he (barely) managed all As again despite a heavy AP load, college applications and music school auditions plus all his usual activities. Good thing his AP French IV teacher really likes him! I suspect he found a way to give him the one point he needed for the A.
Time for odds update, as nothing else will change for a few months. He is admitted to Furman, ASU, Loyola-NO, Trinity-TX, USCarolina, SMU and Fordham, but only one of those is a music school admit as he still has lots of auditions to go over the next 2 months.
Furman-30%
Miami-30%
USCal-20%
Trinity-5%
USCarolina-5%
Field-10% (UNC, ASU, FLA ST, Loyola-NO, Fordham)
Still time for a dark horse to emerge from the field! Place your bets now for the best odds!
How can I possibly play the odds now? Feel like I know less and less as year progresses.
The field? 100%.
Stanford 0%.
Alright I will play the Odds game even though we still have 2 decisions pending and a few financial aid offers outstanding.
Colorado State University - 90%
Colorado School of Mines - 8%
The Field - 2%
Can I just note that a lot of scholarships that aren’t through a school are ridiculous? A $500 scholarship doesn’t get very far in today’s college world, and fighting 400 people for it is nuts. You’re better off just getting merit from a school than trying to piece together longshots of $500 or $1000 each. I know every bit helps, but sheesh. /rant
Help!! Noting that D18 forgot to put in transcript request for one school with 1/1 RD deadline, ~X( of course app with supplement is completed and test scores sent for this school. School is already a reach, do we bag it and save the fee or hope that completed app is enough?
Agree that the independent scholarships should have effort vs reward analyzed before applying. Some scholarships have a lot of awards available relative to the number of applicants, and have essay prompts that are either easy or can use a tweaked essay from the student’s college app collection. A friend’s daughter got $1000 from either a fast food company or a soft drink company (I want to say Burger King but don’t quote me) using a repurposed essay; not bad return for an hour of effort. The local scholarships around here, though, mostly involve significant effort (unique essays, teacher recommendations, sometimes an interview) for mostly small chances at mostly low-dollar awards.
We’ve not pushed S on any outside scholarships. We don’t need the money with his nearly full ride scholarship, so the effort vs reward is not a good ratio for him.
@ohdannyboy97 Totally agree. The only ones my D will be applying for is local ones, that will have fewer than 50 applying, if that. And she may just do one, which is from an organization she’s been involved with for years and is one of the top two candidates for (they give 2 scholarships).
Note we donate more to that organization than the scholarship value – she’s applying for it more for the honor.
@MPT3D, is the school a Common App school?
@pickledginger it is a common ap school, I dont know if the transcript is tied directly through it. D18 has been requesting through naviance… I was able to online chat with an admissions person who said the review wouldn’t begin until all parts were received, but to make sure transcripts were sent upon return to school. As long as ap and supplemental essays are in by 1/1 they seemed willing to wait for transcripts or tests…
@MPT3D I was told as long as the students part is there before the deadline it’s fine.
@MPT3D, thanks - I am glad you were able to get information from admissions and that you got good news!
My S18’s high school does not have naviance, unfortunately. Somehow, the issue of sending transcripts has not been on our radar. I guess we have assumed that transcripts were automatically sent to Common App schools as part of the Common App process and that the transcripts are already uploaded to the Common App database, which would make them accessible when a new application is completed without further action. My son’s EA applications were completed and he received acceptances without him requesting transcripts explicitly, but I am now worried about the remaining RD applications that he is still working on . . . . I will look into this, and thanks for responding.
How the school stuff is sent is kind of opaque to me. My D’s college counselor says they have no way of knowing which schools the kids are applying to through Naviance or the Common App – adding a school on there doesn’t tell the high school anything. The kids have to give the college counselor a list, and let them know about any changes.
There seems to be some kind of holding area on the common app though. The school sent all the stuff before the first deadline in November, and for each new application, the school info seems to be sent along automatically, either when my D submits the common app, or perhaps when she marks it applied to on Naviance. However it happens, for each school, they mark the transcript, counselor letter, etc as received the same day they mark the common application as received.
D16 got a few outside scholarships and she did most of them relatively quickly. She did get the Burger King one which was $1000 and I don’t even think that one required an essay. D18 applied for that one too. I think they give 1 scholarship for each BK location so they give out a lot. D18 has already applied to a few outside scholarships. A couple are probably long shots, but she did re-purpose a few essays and I think she will be able to tweak them some more for a few others. We have used the Scholly app. I think that’s where we originally found the BK one. I haven’t checked it much this go around, but I think D18 has been looking on there. She has been pretty productive over break so far with scholarship apps Finished a supplemental one for specific school, has my employer one almost done, and started on an alumni one for specific school. I’m hoping she can get one more big one done over break, its a cheer one that she has to do a video and write a specific essay that she will have to start fresh on.
Just when I thought the college mail was starting to slack off she got 4 today. Does Princeton really need to start recruiting new people now? This is the first she has gotten anything from them.
@katstat1 We got Princeton last week. DD is still getting college mail daily.
I was going to post that the college mail has picked up consideraby again, primarily schools that she visited and expressed interest but didn’t apply to. But also a few outliers like Smith, Amherst etc that were totally off her radar. She did a field hockey college festival and lot of those small LACs were there so I’m guessing she got on their list that way?
Very pleased that my daughter was given a wonderful scholarship from Miami U today. They have been fantastic; they have quickly climbed to the #2 spot and since Udel hasn’t sent her anything via mail (official packet nor merit package yet) they have been bumped out I think. It’s ashame but initial impressions are really important.
Chiming in on the local scholarships; my daughter is definitely doing an analysis of effort vs reward for those. Many are just simply not worth it given either the amount or chances. She has a few good ones on her radar that she needs to start since they are labor intensive but worthwhile.
Congratulations to those who are receiving good scholarship packages!
S18 submitted a diocesan scholarship application today. He’s been very diligent about working on them during break. He has a fraternal one left and then a collegiate one. I’m pleased how seriously he’s taking everything!
Yes my son got a Duke flyer this week. Really Duke? Wasn’t short either—full multi page brochure.
And like @AmyBeth68 (and her D), my son was pleasantly surprised by Miami U’s merit award today. Things had looked bleak based on what others were posting on the thread, but it is currently his cheapest option, with a lot of nice perks.