<p>I got a letter telling me I had received Provost on Friday, I am an intended bio major (stats were 3.8 uw, 1930 SAT)… @Dreadpirit I have not accepted my offer of admissions.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, reenski! Has anyone admitted to the college of engineering received the Provost scholarship?</p>
<p>My D was admitted to University Park months ago, 3.7 UW-GPA, 4.4 W-GPA, 33 ACT, excellent EC’s with leadership, volunteer/community service, awesome essays and recommendations. Admitted to 9/9 schools, offered significant merit $$ from most. From PSU–NOTHING. (Also, we visited PSU and attended local forum.)</p>
<p>Classmates with lower GPA’s and test scores and fewer EC’s were offered Provost. I called PSU Admissions–they confirmed no award for D. Emailed Admissions Director, no response yet. Can someone help me understand how accepted students (but not committed) from D’s HS with lower credentials would get Provost offer but not D? Happy for them but confused for D. </p>
<p>Cheermom, hoping you get some explanation from the AD, but the same questions were raised last year, and as far as I know, no one could really explain why some students were chosen for scholarships and others (who appeared to have higher stats) were not. Their “algorithm” for awarding “merit” money is a complete and indecipherable mystery!</p>
<p>My conclusion from last year’s discussion was the Provost’s award was issued somewhat randomly among students who had yet to accept their offer of admission. There was very little rhyme or reason with respect to academics. In other words it didn’t seem to be a merit scholarship as much as it was a lottery award to entice people to accept admission.</p>
<p>Those of you who got a Provost award, how long after being admitted did you receive the award? </p>
<p>^ cheermom20878 - I couldn’t agree more! Congrats to all who received scholarship but I can’t help but be baffled as well. I haven’t called but we haven’t received anything either and have higher stats than what I’ve seen from others who have received the Provost. </p>
<p>To make you feel better, my d’s stats are almost equal to yours in fact: GPA: 4.5 (W) / 3.7 (UW), ACT 34, NHS, tons of comm service and leadership from 12 years of Girl Scouts, and also plays soccer and has a part-time job. She’s been accepted to 7 universities, some already with honors and/or very good merit aid offers, -UMD, Pitt, PSU, UNC, NC State, Clemson, USC Honors College. Otherwise, not much diversity- out of state middle-class white girl accepted to Engineering programs. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I looked the Provost award up on their website and it appears to be diversity related, although I use that term broadly (ethnic? geographic? unusual hooks?):
The Provost’s Award is competitive and granted to less than 15% of the incoming first-year class. Students with strong diverse backgrounds and/or experiences are selected based on a multitude of factors, and qualifying students are notified by mail.</p>
<p>PS: I found this nugget of information in case it’s helpful for you fellow out of staters who are depending on a bit of merit aid like us: (basically doesn’t look likely)</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.psu.edu/costs-aid/scholarships/”>http://admissions.psu.edu/costs-aid/scholarships/</a></p>
<p>Scholarships at a glance
- Penn State does not offer standard merit awards for students who fit particular profiles
- Penn State scholarships comprise 7 percent of the available funding for undergraduate students.
- Approximately 21 percent (16,958) of undergraduate students (79,815) receive a Penn State scholarship.
- Across Penn State’s 20 undergraduate campuses, approximately 4,100 first-year students receive a University scholarship.
- Thirty-eight percent of first-year scholarship recipients are at University Park; the remaining 62 percent at Penn State campuses.
- Both Pennsylvania and non-Pennsylvania residents receive equal consideration for scholarships.
- Typical Penn State scholarship award values are $1,500 to $3,000 per academic year (fall & spring).
- Approximately one in five first-year students receives an outside scholarship.</p>
<p>Why can’t PSU reveal on what basis scholarships ARE awarded on, instead of just saying what they are NOT based on (merit)?</p>
<p>Just a quick update on our quest to learn more about PSU scholarship criteria in general, and Provost criteria in particular. </p>
<p>We spoke by telephone to an Admissions Counselor on February 11. She couldn’t provide any information but gave us the name and email address for an Admissions official (David Kuskowski) who supposedly could answer our questions. In fact, she stated that he always has his Blackberry and she was certain we’d receive a quick response. Later that day, D emailed Mr. Kuskowski, with her questions. Easy questions. The kind that could’ve been answered by “copying and pasting.”</p>
<p>It’s been a week, and Mr. Kuskowski has not responded. Nor has anyone responded on his behalf. The lack of response and more importantly, lack of courtesy, speaks volumes. PSU doesn’t need our money, my D is just a number. Very unfortunate…but an important lesson for her to learn.</p>
<p>Addressing the speculation about “diversity” for Provost …No discernible diversity for D’s 2 classmates who were offered Provost Scholarship. Both are affluent Caucasian Jewish kids, as is my D, although D is probably the least affluent of all 3! Additionally, of those 2…one had already committed to PSU when offered Provost, one had not.</p>
<p>Draw your own conclusions…</p>
<p>Makes it an unappealing college choice when students are not being awarded based on merit and they can’t even answer how or why scholarship money is being awarded. </p>
<p>I can understand if you want to say that your not getting money makes a school unappealing for financial reasons, but how does a schools scholarship policy (and the publication thereof) have any bearing on the appeal of the school otherwise?</p>
<p>@Dreadpirit, I think it’s just basic human psychology, reasonable or not. </p>
<p>I can be happy for one of my best friend’s (white, wealthy, in-state) kid, knowing that he received the Provost Scholarship @$6,000/year for four years. But it does make me feel like a bit of a chump to be paying full price when my kid’s SATs were 400 points higher and he took much more rigorous classes in high school, and our family’s net worth is at best, 1/4 of theirs.</p>
<p>Doesn’t mean I won’t pay full price at Penn State, but it does make me take a much more favorable look at schools that award money for pure academic achievement or because the awardee brings something else to the table (URM, first-generation college student, athlete, etc.). </p>
<p>It does feel like some kind of random lottery system at PSU, although I’m sure there is some complicated algorithm that picks the students. </p>
<p>This is the response I got from Penn State Admissions when I sent an inquiry about whether or not the the Provost Scholarship would be awarded again this year and what the selection criteria is:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So is it merit money or “financial aid”? It’s a “competitive” award but it’s also intended to make a “Penn State education more affordable.” The latter makes sense for OOS students, but I know wealthy IS families whose kids received it. </p>
<p>@dreadpirit lucie said it, basic human psychology for me I guess. I feel my daughter’s achievements are more valued at a university that is offering her full tuition scholarship. It’s a big gap from full tuition to zero :)</p>
<p>I can’t see paying a higher fee than someone else simply because my daughter wasn’t awarded a scholarship for nondescript reasons. She has given up time to work and earn extra money and quite a bit of her social life to achieve academically and be involved with extensive extracurriculars. If someone with higher stats beats her out for a scholarship then my hat is off to them. In the same vein, if someone earns a scholarship for sports or another specific merit based scholarship, I can understand that. It just makes sense (to me) to reward the highest caliber of student so that they are inclined to chose your university. IMO </p>
<p>^ @EMom22 and @LucieTheLakie - I couldn’t agree more on all points … It isn’t just about not getting a scholarship but rather seeing others get scholarships where the rationale behind the selection is not clearly defined…As @Woods1234 pointed out, they are good about telling what it is NOT but not what it IS- AND the lack of response to calls inquiring more info. </p>
<p>So it might not be so much the lack of appeal towards PSU as much as the increase in appeal towards other schools who are (as I say to my daughter), “showing her more love” … It’s hard to swallow paying full- out of state- tuition to PSU when we’ve heard nothing from them since acceptance, except an invite to a summer program, while other schools she’s applied to send her more regular communication, some scholarships, special programs (honors, scholars, etc.), etc. </p>
<p>And @Dreadpirit in our case, we realize PSU has a good engineering program but so do the other schools where daughter applied so it’s not just about finances but obviously coming from out of state, PSU’s scholarship decisions create enough sour grapes that make it easier for us to rule them out and go with another equally good school who is showing her more love. 
I guess when you’re such a huge school, it doesn’t matter to them. </p>
<p>I’m going to judge the appeal of the school by factors other than what somebody else is paying. If I like the campus, the reputation, the quality of the school then how much “love” they show me is irrelevant. </p>
<p>It isn’t like you are going to be dating the school. “The school” isn’t going to be treat someone else better once they get there because they gave them more money. In my mind its sort of like picking a school by the quality of the acceptance letter.</p>
<p>@Dreadpirit - Good point and fair enough. But for out of state students, financial can be a big factor so while we like PSU (my dad is an alumni too), their scholarship decisions, clearly not based on merit, are frustrating to students who work hard for their good stats in hopes to go to schools such as PSU. When applying to multiple schools, you have to eliminate all but one obviously so all else considered equal (campus appeal, program, desireable location, etc.), this frustration with PSU’s scholarships just make the elimination factor easier when other out of state schools are stepping up providing merit scholarships making it more affordable to attend those schools. And yes, when @cheermom20878 indicated she got little to no information on the phone and no return call, that doesn’t reflect well either. </p>
<p>PSU is an expensive school (in state or OOS). They are also notoriously stingy with FA money (need or merit based). I guess we knew this going in and expected $0 from them. We weighed that into the decision before making applications.</p>
<p>I guess I am more realistic. I don’t expect a school (or business) the size of PSU to return calls about a program that you don’t qualify for. To me it would be like calling McDonald’s corporate and asking why I can’t get a senior discount - I just wouldn’t expect them to respond either.</p>
<p>I’ve actually be quite surprised at how responsive they are to students calling to appeal application decisions. Maybe I just have more experience with more smaller, more selective schools, but I’m shocked that they would even think about reconsidering applications after a decision has been reached. And based on the evidence on here, they seem to be quite amicable to those calls.</p>
<p>As my mother always said, that’s why there’s chocolate and vanilla…</p>
<p>Whether we’re choosing ice cream or college…each family has it’s own sacrosanct and unique set of criteria. Perhaps a slight exaggeration for ice cream, but you all know what I mean!</p>
<p>My comments relating my own disappointing experience were never meant to disparage PSU or any family that felt it was the right school for them! </p>
<p>Our daughter’s college choice is a massive financial “investment” second only to the purchase of our home. We’re trying NOT to micromanage the decision but I do consider the “intangible” factors in addition to the obvious (location, cost, graduation rate, etc.). And a school’s culture, if you will, regarding courtesy happens to be important to me! Having said that…we didn’t rule out PSU because the Admissions Director couldn’t be bothered to reply to an email or return a phone call. We ruled out PSU simply because it’s unaffordable for us. Which conveniently leads to the other issue…</p>
<p>Our D worked hard for her successes in HS. Every other college except PSU recognized those objective measures of success (GPA, test scores, leadership, service) and rewarded her generously. PSU has chosen to reward other applicants (Provost Scholarship) who have similar demographics but less objective success. Puzzling to say the least…but certainly their prerogative!</p>
<p>Best wishes to all the new Nittany Lions and prayers of strength to all of us to survive this crazy process! :)</p>