<p>This weekend I got a letter offering me a 4000/year scholarship. The scholarship was not specifically named, but to be renewed, I need to maintain a certain GPA and continue to aspire to be in or work towards being in the Paterno Fellows Program. However, at the end of the letter, it said to let them know by March 22nd whether I intend to accept this scholarship. Does that mean I would need to be commit to Penn State by that date? I won’t even hvae heard from some of the other places I have applied to by then. Also, has anyone else heard about this scholarship? I couldn’t find any threads about it. If it helps, I’m an instate male, 1470/2190 SAT, 3.95 GPA, lots of leadership and extracurriculars. I’m also a legacy, and have a few other hooks (took a course in Chinese at PSU UP over the summer and also was one of 100 participants in a full scholarship trip to South Korea in 2011).</p>
<p>Accepting the scholarship would mean that you’re accepting PSUs offer. I don’t know if thats officially or not, but it would be pretty unethical to “accept” a scholarship and take that opportunity away from someone else, to then not attend the school.</p>
<p>I definitely understand that, but I also think it’s somewhat unfair of PSU to expect me to choose a school without knowing the status of applications that I have already payed $200+ for. Or maybe that is a common thing that I just haven’t come in contact with until now. I don’t know.</p>
<p>I think you would be best served by asking your question to the people who offered you the scholarship. Most scholarships are completely seperate from the decision to accept the offer of enrollment in the school. If accepting the scholarship also constitutes enrolling in the school - it should be spelled out very clearly in the scholarship award letter. I know lots of students who were offered scholarships and had to accept or decline well before the 1 May school enrollment deadline. If you would want the scholarship should you decide to attend PSU, you should accept it. If later, you decide not to attend PSU, I would think your only obligation would be to inform the scholarship program that you will not be using your scholarship. You can be sure they have other qualified candidates who applied for the scholarship and they will award the scholarship off their “wait list” in plenty of time for that deserving person to use it. If you decide to turn back the scholarship - what a nice suprise that person will get when the get the offer sometime in May. The way I see it, you earned the scholarship and it is fine for you to “hold” it until you decide to use it or give it back.</p>
<p>I would ask the office for clarification on that point. If the expectation is that in accepting the offer you would be committing to the school ask for an extension and explain that you need to compare financial aid offers from all your schools before you can make an informed decision. It would be hard for them to argue with that.</p>
<p>If you google Paterno Fellows Program you’ll find more information.</p>
<p>I guess to be sure I should just call them. Thanks all!</p>
<p>I don’t think schools are allowed to make you accepted anything before May 1st.</p>
<p>We received a similar letter earlier this week. TSA1818, have you also applied to Schreyer? If so, do you think there is any connection between this award (incidentally the same amount if one is admitted to Schreyer) and a likely or unlikely acceptance from Schreyer?</p>
<p>That only applies to the offer of admission. Schools are free to request an earlier scholarship acceptance date. Yes, that means accepting admission. Your offer of admission still stands until May 1st, but you will lose the scholarship.
Having debated the pros and cons of separate deadlines on the graduate admissions level, we came to the conclusion that this is a free country and such policy only complicated our job later. Having a deadline earlier to accept a fellowship than when all the decisions from other schools go out may only lead to people accepting and then backing out later. We decided that a better practice is to have an earlier deadline, but one after the applicant had heard back from all of the schools they applied to. This still allowed us to re-offer the slot/fellowship to someone who was still undecided.</p>
<p>@jipster- I did apply for Schreyer! However, from what I can find about the Paterno Fellows online, it appears that it’s primarily a College of Liberal Arts thing and that being a Fellow does not guarantee being in the Honors College (and vice versa).</p>
<p>Thought you might find the story about this year’s Paterno Fellows interesting:</p>
<p>[Penn</a> State Live - College of the Liberal Arts inducts new Paterno Fellows](<a href=“http://live.psu.edu/story/63851]Penn”>http://live.psu.edu/story/63851)</p>
<p>If you receive the Paterno Fellowship scholarship, does this mean that you are now not considered for Fall admissions into the Schreyer Honors College as a freshman?</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought of that kg, but I can’t find anything indicating that that is the case or that the two are really connected at all.</p>