<p>The other point being overlooked in this conversation is that PSU hasn’t awarded most of its (few) true merit scholarships yet. That doesn’t happen until sometime in March.</p>
<p>It is true that most of the merit-based scholarships will be awarded in March. My child received an award from another school, but prefers PSU. I have heard that many people will call the school of their choice and say something along the lines of: I received $x from this school, if you award my child something similar, he will accept. Does that work at PSU? If so, does it pay to make that call now before awards are made? Does anyone have any insights as to any other means of increasing the chances of receiving a merit award in March?</p>
<p>@newlion</p>
<p>What are “merit” awards are we talking about? I wasn’t aware of other potential merit awards. I’m only aware of straight FA, which very few families seem to get from PSU.</p>
<p>@cheermom20878 and @coleman4, did your kiddos apply to Schreyer? I wonder if kids in the running for that weren’t offered a Provost award? Grasping at straws here, honestly, but it IS frustrating!</p>
<p>Lucie - Kudos to you for persistence! </p>
<p>My D ended up not completing the Schreyer application by the deadline. She’d already gotten Honors, or it’s functional equivalent, at a number of schools without a separate application, and the Schreyer application wasn’t the “piece of cake” that she hoped for! The deadline coincided with semester exam preparation and she lost her momentum…but seriously, I think you’re struggling to make sense out of something that’s actually SENSE-LESS! Good luck with that! :)</p>
<p>@ LucieTheLakie - same here … My d saw that there was another essay and teacher reference (which is a pain to get) and since she’s gotten accepted in other honors programs already, she was basically “done” with the application process (as she put it…LOL) , she didn’t want to deal with it. Good luck to everyone else who gets in the honors program though. </p>
<p>Oh, I totally get how overwhelming (not to mention expensive) that Schreyer app was. In our case, our son was a little desperate for the ego boost after having been rejected by his ED school. I love that schools like Bama just auto-admit students who meet a certain threshold, and award them with the commensurate merit money, but Schreyer is a very elite program, so they want you to show them some serious love if you want to be considered. After all that work, my son told me he didn’t take them up on their offer of the (optional) interview because he had too much going on. I wanted to strangle him! ;-)</p>
<p>perhaps a poor choice of words on your part. The process is not about jumping hoops or showing love. The faculty readers volunteer to spend their winter break carefully reviewing 40-50 applications without any compensation. Their commitment and dedication is genuine. I never really thought about it your way, but if in fact the essays and teacher rec keep less motivated students from applying or those requiring an ego boost… well may be they should add one more essay to the application.</p>
<p>@luvthej</p>
<p>Perhaps it was a poor choice of words on my part, but it wasn’t meant to offend. My point was it isn’t an automatic admission and thus requires a serious commitment of time and effort. It’s an application that demands as much as many private college applications. And for the record my kid took the process very seriously even after his GC discouraged him from applying because Schreyer is as difficult to get admitted to as an Ivy (something we decided wasn’t worth the fees and effort for a 10% chance). </p>
<p>I don’t know, it seems like these kids are damned if they do (care) and damned if they don’t. And God forbid the parents get a little jaded and make a joke or two about the whole process after a certain point.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear PSU doesn’t share some of the money they make from the Schreyer application fees ($30 on top of the regular application fee) with the faculty readers. What’s the reason for that?</p>
<p>@newlion, I emailed admissions because I relieved a hefty scholarship from another school, but my top choice was PSU. They told me they did not match offers and told me to fill out my FAFSA… :/</p>
<p>I received a Provost scholarship a week or two ago for 4,000/yr for 4 years. I applied to Schreyer but won’t hear back until March 5th.</p>
<p>SAT: 2160 unsuperscored 710 reading 710 math 740 writing
2190 superscored 740 reading 710 math 740 writing (I know PSU doesn’t normally look, but I’m not sure what the criteria for this award was so I figured I’d post it)
SAT IIs: Didn’t send
GPA: 4.19 weighted, 3.75 unweighted
Rank: 35/540 (top 6%)
Other stats:</p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: good, spoke about my experiences working to build schools in developing nations so I suppose that is my hook as well</p>
<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: PA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female</p>
<p>I also haven’t accepted my offer yet (but intend to).</p>
<p>Thanks for the update, mackenzie. Congratulations! Were you notified of your Provost Scholarship at the time of your acceptance to Penn State or did that come later? Also, how did you find out a specific date for notification about Schreyer? When we check, I think it just says sometime in March. </p>
<p>I think I remember your posting in the Pitt forum; did their scholarship line up with Penn State’s?</p>
<p>Thank you! My scholarship came way after my decision. I think I was accepted mid-December, and received my scholarship a week or two ago. Schreyer applicants were informed via email that admissions decisions will be posted online March 5th. I received no scholarship money from pitt, which made my decision to go to PSU very easy</p>
<p>Thanks, mackenzie! We’d been told Provost Awards “are issued at the time of admission and renewed in the subsequent years based on the student’s academic achievement.” I understood that to mean scholarship information would be included in the acceptance letter, but maybe “at the time of admission” just means the same year.</p>
<p>Sorry Pitt didn’t work out for you–from what I can tell they’re not giving out scholarship money the way they once did.</p>
<p>My son probably knows about the March 5 notification date for Schreyer, but he didn’t tell me. (Or maybe he did and I forgot.) I was hoping we’d know before we go up to State College for one of their engineering sessions, and it looks like we will.</p>
<p>Did you declare a major?</p>
<p>It’s ok, PSU and Pitt were neck in neck for me anyway, this made my choice easy. I believe you go into the college of liberal arts undecided and apply for your major in your sophomore year, but I applied as a Spanish major.</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re happy with the outcome. Everybody I talk to raves about their experience up there. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Anyone hear about Paterno Fellowship program and its scholarship awards?</p>
<p>^^Got the same Paterno Fellowship award today after not getting into Schreyer. It was $4000/year for all 4 years. It will continue once you are into Schreyer Honors if you maintain a 3.5 gpa. Is this a new program?</p>
<p>To throw further confusion into the Provost mix, I recieved the Provost award for 4k/yr, was accepted into the SHC, and also received a 4k/yr scholarship for being accepted as a Paterno Fellow today in the mail. Is this even possible? I’m worried there was a mix-up somewhere. I was not aware that one could both be in the SHC and a Paterno Fellow. Either way, I am very happy with my decision to attend Penn State!</p>
<p>How does everybody know about their financial aid and awards already? I’ve been accepted to both UP and SHC and have not received any information yet about grants/loans/awards/etc.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>