I am new to all of this as my oldest is just starting the full college experience. While reviewing the different schools merit scholarship sites many give you the amount of the automatic scholarship that is based on grades/test scores but then mention that you can be invited to a competition to compete for a higher award or a full tuition. What exactly does this mean? What do these competitions entail? I know one mentioned an essay. Do they typically invite the top 10percent of applicants? Is there a place to find out? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
Every school is going to be different. Unfortunately there isn’t one place you can go to find the kind of information it sounds like you are wanting for the entire universe of schools.
Here is a thread that could offer you some perspective:
@LOUKYDAD Thank you so much, the post you referenced has some very good information and gives me a direction to start in. I particularly liked a comment you made about checking the average freshman class size for a ballpark number of how many people might be in competition with you. Thank you for your knowledge.
Sometimes the University-specific forum here at CC will have information about the particular scholarship at a university.
So check out the colleges & universities forum here and if you know the name of the scholarship, you can search that particular university’s forum using key words. Looking at threads from previous years may give you a sense of the competitiveness of a particular scholarship.
Both my kids received scholarships - one kid applied at a university that had auto merit based on scores and the other kid applied at one that didn’t have auto merit. Both were awarded first round merit soon after admission and then later were invited to apply for the higher level of scholarships. In each case, essays and in-person interviews were part of the process.
However, each university will have their own process! Good luck!
It really does depend. My oldest applied to a school that had a special application if you wanted to be considered for additional scholarships. She filled that out and then was invited to interview for the top full ride scholarship. Another school she applied to had a separate application for each of their top scholarships. It was hard to decide what to apply for, and if I recall, one involved a project. My son just got a (surprise) letter in the mail that one of the schools he was accepted to has invited him to apply for their full merit scholarship (which we didn’t even know existed). For that he will have to submit an essay and appear in person for an interview on one of two days. Fortunately this university is only about 2 hours away from home.
Ultimately DS18 decided he wanted to stay in-state and go to either UK or U of L. As a NMF he had automatic full tuition plus $10k a year towards room and board (year 1 and 2 only) at UK. U of L for instate NMFs is an automatic full ride. So that made it easy and guaranteed there wasn’t going to be too much stress.
He applied for the competitive scholarships at both. Singletary at UK and Brown Fellows af U of L. Neither meant more money, but additional perks, especially Brown Fellows. UK he got an interview for the Singletary but did not get it.
Brown Fellows at U of L required a minimum 31 ACT to apply. The received over 300 applications last year and interviewed about forty for ultimately 10 spots. The interviews lasted a day and half. Group discussion on various topics and current events. It was pretty grueling but he seemed to rise to the occasion. He was fortunate to be chosen for the scholarship. 10 out of 300, those are tough odds. Top stats help but aren’t enough by themselves.