<p>I just got my acceptance letter from Fordham today, and they offered me a full-tuition, four-year scholarship because I’m a National Merit Semifinalist. I’ve heard people talk about using scholarship offers from one school to increase their financial aid for another school, but I’m skeptical. In the spring, will I actually be able to use this scholarship as leverage to increase my scholarships to my other schools?</p>
<p>Only if the school is in direct competition with Fordham and also offers merit aid.</p>
<p>Higher ranked schools won’t negotiate.</p>
<p>is there an easy way to find out what schools will/will not try to compete with Fordham?</p>
<p>What schools are you wondering about?</p>
<p>What are your stats? Your stats will have to be quite high for the school. </p>
<p>2college is right. Only schools that give large merit and are not higher ranked (significantly) might increase their own merit offer to you.</p>
<p>However, some schools have firm policies against matching offers. and, some simply don’t have the funds to match/increase offers.</p>
<p>however, since you’re a NMSF (assuming you make NMF), there are other schools that will give you bigger scholarships.</p>
<p>The schools that I’m hoping will give me scholarships are Pitt, NYU, Boston College, Carnegie Mellon, and Bowdoin… I don’t know exactly where each stands in regards to Fordham, but I was hoping that Fordham and NYU would be competitive because of their geographic proximity. And from my research, Pitt and Bowdoin are ranked similarly, so I am hopeful that I will get some money from them. I’m not getting my hopes up for Boston or CMU, but getting money from at least one of my target schools would be nice (Fordham was a safety).</p>
<p>What are your stats? NYU gives some merit money to the top 5% of their applicants. </p>
<p>CMU (23)
BC (31)
NYU (33)
Fordham (56)
Boudoin (6) Liberal Arts</p>
<p>I doubt that the higher ranked schools are going to give you more money because of Fordham’s offer. UPitt is ranked 64, so it might give you a better offer…but I don’t know if they do consider appeals. </p>
<p>As you say, Fordham is your safety. Match and reach schools aren’t going to care that you got a good offer from a safety school. ALL students who go to top schools can get big merit at lower ranked schools.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>2290 SATs (CR: 720, MA: 770 WR: 800)
Three SAT IIs (800 Math II, 720 Lit, 620 US History)
4.0-4.1 weighted GPA (not exactly sure right now)
1 good and 1 glowing teacher rec
8 total AP Classes (took 4 tests last year, two 5s and two 4s)
Rigorous course schedule
Independent study for AP Psych
Good common app essay, but better essays for each individual college
Okay to decent ECs
White, male, no legacy at the schools I’m looking for scholarships.</p>
<p>That’s basically a Sparknotes of my stats. I’m not expecting a full-ride anywhere else (except maybe Pitt), but I really don’t want to graduate with obscene amounts of debt.</p>
<p>If you apply to a school that only gives need based financial aid, they will not care what you received in merit moeny from someone else (mixing apples and oranges).</p>
<p>as far asmerit aid is concerned , you will have to find a school that offers 4 year tuition for merit semi-finalist in order to be competitive. If a school only gives tuition scholarships for merit scholarship finalist, they do not care that you are a semifinalist, they will not meet your scholarship.</p>
<p>While you have a tuition package from fordham, unless you are a commuter student, rest assured that you are going to have loans in your financial aid package.</p>
<p>Other than 1k to 2500 for national merit scholars, Bowdoin only offers need based financial aid.
</p>
<p>Boston college gives mainly need based financial aid. They have a few scholarships (about 15K)that you can get senior year if you meet the requirements you may receive </p>
<p>NYU does not give full tuition scholarshps and overall bad financial aid</p>
<p>Is your family’s likely “family contribution” is going to be too high?</p>
<p>What is your situation?</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>I dont’ think NYU is going to work out in any way. It’s not going to match the Fordham offer and it doesn’t give good aid.</p>
<p>You say that you’re looking for scholarships, but you’re not looking where they will be found. You got a full tuition scholarship from a mid-tier school and you’re expecting top tier schools to care…they won’t.</p>
<p>Pitt’s largest merit scholarships are not tied to NM status. Pitt seems to target OOS students for these. I doubt you could leverage a full ride from Pitt–that is not how their separate award process works for the full rides. You don’t state your class rank, which does come into play for their large awards.</p>
<p>CMU’s track record on merit awards amounts as reported on CC is not impressive–it appears they offer a few thousand to to high achievers who have high EFC’s. Nowhere near full tuition.</p>
<p>true…and UPitt’s scholarship awards are unpredictable. They seem to award the big ones to students who are either from an unusual state or maybe have such high stats that they are being lured away from an elite. </p>
<p>However, it really doesn’t matter if UPitt has a big NMF scholarship or not. If they want this student (for high stats, state he comes from, whatever), it would seem that they would consider the fact that he has a full tuition scholarship from a peer school.</p>
<p>Full ride at Pitt comes through a separate Chancellor’s Scholarship committee, after Admissions office decides an applicant merits full tuition. It requires a separate application, essays, recs, and interviews. The odds are steep; roughly 400 kids apply…they interview 100 and award enough to yield 10-12 who matriculate–I believe I read these kids are typically in top 3% rank. Class rank should be in the top few (5%?) percent for full tuition-see what kids are posting this year. Most of the applicants are going to be of the calibre to earn big merit offers elsewhere. I am not sure how you’d leverage Fordham’s offer in this process. You could mention it in an interview if you get one.</p>
<p>see the Pitt threads about scholarships–and research website–lots of info there.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: you have 20,000 posts… I feel like I can trust you. thanks!</p>
<p>*Full ride at Pitt comes through a separate Chancellor’s Scholarship committee, after Admissions office decides an applicant merits full tuition. *</p>
<p>Are you talking about “full ride” (tuition, room, board) or “full tuition”? that is true… I believe that UPitt does offer full tuition scholarships to some students without an interview (at least some kids here on CC have reported getting “full tuition” merit offers with acceptance and high stats. ) I didn’t get the feeling that this student is demanding a “full ride”…but maybe I misunderstood.</p>
<p>If the student wants more…such as tuition, housing, etc…then he needs to apply to the schools that will give him that for NM status.</p>
<p>PITT gives full tuition scholarships based on stats and if you happen to be OOS, your chances are better than in-state students. And yes, no interview is required for the full tuition scholarship. </p>
<p>Their full ride requires a separate application and an interview.</p>
<p>Thanks…that’s what I thought.</p>
<p>OP said he was expecting a full ride at Pitt–if he has a top 5% rank and is OOS he could reasonably expect full tuition based on his rank plus SAT (agree, no interview or visit required.) without needing leverage. They recommend early applications for these, though. They must award money first come first served, stats being sufficient. Recently the cutoffs have risen; maybe more qualified kids are applying because of the economy.</p>
<p>I do not agree with his assessment that he could expect the full ride (Chancellors) there–those go to only a small percent of 450 applicants for that award.</p>
<p>Another parent who posted on the Pitt thread said Pitt would not match private school scholarships, for what that is worth. Their admissions group could answer the question definitively.</p>
<p>OP said he was expecting a full ride at Pitt</p>
<p>I know he wrote that, but many posters call free tuition scholarships “free rides” …when they’re not.</p>
<p>I thought he meant that he’s hoping for a full tuition scholarship from UPitt.</p>
<p>If he’s expecting a true free ride from UPitt based on his stats, he’s being overly optimistic.</p>
<p>To clarify, I am neither expecting nor hoping for a free ride at Pitt, but rather a full tuition scholarship, which several of my friends with similar stats from my school got last year.</p>