I sort of disagree with what’s being said on this thread.
The scholarship decisions were holistic, meaning they looked at your ECs, essays, and LoRs just as much as stats and test scores. if they were lacking in any one area, the others had to be exceptionally strong to make up for it.
no “mistakes” were made in handing out scholarships just because your kid wasn’t offered one.
i also don’t think that interest was a huge factor in scholarship decisions.
I got the $16K trustee’s and i demonstrated absolutely no interest in the school. i honestly think my essays sucked too, but my stats and extracurriculars made up for it (i think, i have no proof of course)
If you choose to attend, I strongly recommend attending BGR. I was concerned about my very introverted D, but she met lots of people at BGR including a best friend who has been her roommate for the last two years.
Let’s remember these students are more than “stats”. I know students with “perfect stats” who are not involved in any extracurricular sports or activities. Many of these students perform volunteer work, have part-time jobs, help with childcare and STILL get great, albeit not “perfect” stats. College is much more than a perfect high school gpa and a 1600 SAT.
we all know it is not just about numbers . It is also true that a large part is about numbers . Extra curriculars surely count , how do one know about the extra curriculars of perfect kids .
If it is not about numbers, my son would not have been accepted to all colleges he applied, with big scholarship and honors everywhere . why then ivy leagues post the 25% and 75% scores . why even have the SAT and ACT score if it has no importance. So not getting the scholarship felt a little bad especially when kids with significantly lower scores got it.
But in this case purdue has done a smart thing. They figured out the kids who are ivy league capable and just using them as safety schools vs kids who are likely to attend . And they were right, my son would not have chosen purdue over urbana honors anyway . And still some ivy’s to know from.
@Rpdad74 - Honors notification historically is in mid February. AP courses do count for placement into higher level courses (if you want to use them) and for general education distributions. Typically it will not help a student graduate early because of course sequencing requirements.
My one heads up for you and your son is to be aware that internships/co-ops in the US aerospace industry can be a challenge for international students. Many companies cannot hire internationals if they are working on government projects. There is a current student my D knows who is really, really struggling because there are no opportunities in his home country and he can’t be hired doing what he really wants in the US. At this point, he’s looking at general engineering, not related to aero, for work experience. (That isn’t a Purdue specific issue).
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Thanks @momofsenior1 - This was really useful. Son currently in a phase where Aerospace is the only thing that he wants to do. Have heard from multiple sources about difficulties for internships as well as ITAR regulations in future. Am trying to convince him to be open to Mech/Applied Physics. Let’s see.
Among the multiple schools that we applied, find Purdue to be the most clear and factual about everything. There is no pretense, the costs are mentioned upfront and are significantly lower than some of the other public universities (OOS/International). There is no “mark-up and then scholarship” game. Appreciate that.
I’ve been following the my daughter’s college applications closely and reading the CC college forums for Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue and UIUC. From the various posts and based on results for my daughter, I’ve concluded the following:
Purdue and UIUC do not provide any merit aid for Computer Science. There is a higher probability of receiving merit aid in Purdue College of Engineering than Computer Science. Computer Science in UIUC is more competitive than Purdue. UIUC Computer Science is in College of Engineering and admission to that is even more unpredictable than Purdue Computer Science. My daughter’s app stats:
State: Illinois
ACT: 36 (Eng 36, Math 36, Reading 36, Science 36)
SAT2: Math-1: 800, Math-2: 800, Chemistry: 790
National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist
AP: (Physics-1, Physic-2, Physics-C (Mechanics and E&M), Chemistry, Biology, US History, Statistics, Computer Science, US Govt, Micro Econ, Macro Econ, Eng Lang & Comp)
Highest Math Class: Dual enrollment - Multi-variable Calculus & Elem Linear Algebra
Ohio State: Applied and Accepted to College of Engineering - Computer Science & Engineering
Michigan: Applied and Accepted to College of Engineering
UIUC: 1st Choice Major - Computer Science - waitlisted, 2nd choice major - Electrical Engineering - accepted
Purdue: applied and accepted to First Year Engineering, 1st choice Computer Eng.
Daughter was very disappointed when she didn’t get her 1st choice major of CS at UIUC. The college application process is quite nerve racking for everyone in the family. Good luck to everyone.
Congrats to those selected, looks no Merit scholarship for International selects , is there anyone on this forum , international students selected to Purdue got any scholarship at all?
thanks
@TheVulcan Just out of curiosity which state are you applying from and what ethnicity if you don’t mind? I’m beginning to think these may factor into scholarship awards. What is your theory?
I am in same confused situation, exploratory at Purdue (for CS), or admitted CS in CSE in UMN, or admitted CS in UMass Amherst with 16k scholarship. Being an international student , need to keep funds and internship in mind. CC is an excellent platform to get opinion from experienced parents .
Kindly help with your suggestions ?
It is a stretch to assume that the school can determine “interest” based on an application. My son has great stats (1490SAT with 1 sitting, 4.0UW/4.8W, 28 dual enrollment credits, 4AP((school only offers 5)), Eagle Scout and many volunteer hours and leadership positions), and as an OOS applicant, signed up and toured the school over the summer. He got nothing in “merit” aid, while other top 15 engineering schools have given him $5-$15k. Purdue WAS my son’s top choice, but can’t justify paying full price. Especially when we have another college student with a $35k per year price tag.
Purdue gives scholarship $ across majors - fewer in eng/cs, more for Krannert (business/actuarial science), polytechnic, agriculture, liberal arts. Just not for the ‘top stats’ students, but for the top stats in a particular major.
Also, if your student wants to be an engineer or cs & got into a 2nd choice major —GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. CODO is a pipe dream.
DS has perfect stats and international level awards in CS-related academic extracurriculars. Good enough for Caltech and MIT, not good enough for Purdue merit.
It did look from my review of past years’ CC threads that merit for CS was a long shot, but decided to give it a try. Our next kid won’t be applying to Purdue.
Hopefully this thread helps someone else manage their expectations and adjust their application strategy in the coming years, so it is worth the discussion.
This is also a ‘side effect’ of flat tuition. Something has to give & merit $ is one of them. Along with faculty raises & $ for research.
Purdue is our flagship & I have 2 degrees from there including a recent MS. A recent (not this year) CS applicant in-state female with perfect SAT & top in high school class - accepted but it was still less $ to go to Stanford.
It seems to me that we are beating a dead horse here. Purdue has decided to freeze tuition for an extended period of time ($10-15k less than other state flagships). The result is that they have less merit scholarship money to spread around to highly qualified candidates across majors. The students accepted to computer science and engineering have great stats and extracurriculars, but the limited merit money will leave most applicants disappointed. For some students and parents, it is apparently leaving bruised egos. In our eyes, our kids are superhuman and walk on water.
I told my son at the start of the process not to fall in love with any of the colleges on our list. We applied to 10 colleges where we together thought he would be happy, with 4 acceptances so far and varying amounts of merit money. At the end of the process, we will draw a line based on affordability and find the best fit among the remaining contenders. Each college uses merit scholarships to target the types of students they want in their freshman class. In the same way, each of us is a consumer that will make a choice whether or not to buy what Purdue is selling based on cost, quality, fit and other factors.
If Purdue is not your best alternative, my advice is to eliminate it and spend your energy on your better choices. Running around in circles rehashing why your child did not receive a merit scholarship from one college is not particularly constructive.
