<p>I work for a public university that is starting a new freshman scholarship program for fall 2010 that will be a four year, “full-ride” plus summer experiences, laptop and annual community service grant. Since we are new at this, I would appreciate any advice students (and parents) who have been through a competitive college scholarship process could give about how we could make the application/interview activities best for applicants. What were the best things a university did for you when you went through their process? What things should we avoid? (I’m not looking for the names of the other scholarship program, just practices that you think would be useful for us to know.)</p>
<p>I really appreciated the Unis that limited the number of finalists required to attend on an interview weekend. Some colleges interviewed 10 - 20 candidates for each award and the time and expense for parents and kids was too high when compared to the chance of winning. I should add that some of the best opportunities offered to pay some of the expenses for the visit. Some paid automatically; some reimbursed if you enrolled at the school. Both kinds were much appreciated and really encouraged very strong students to visit campus and to be sold on enrollment. S is where he is now because a big public school paid hotel expenses for that kind of visit - without that visit to see honors opportunities/dorms/facilities he would probably have gone to a well-known private on generous scholarship.</p>
<p>FWIW, I appreciate scholarships that are as honest and transparent as possible about who has an honest shot at qualifying. High achieving kids during college app season know that time is at a premium, and it is helpful if they don’t have to spend time trying to figure out whether another long work-intensive application process is a complete waste of time, or they are in the ball park. Thanks for asking.</p>
<p>1) Publish “minimum requirements” criteria to prevent thousands of applicants (waste of your time and theirs.)</p>
<p>2) Publish the number of scholarships that will be available</p>
<p>3) Clearly identify if this is a merit or a need based scholarship</p>
<p>I personally like the idea of a preliminary application to narrow down the applicants who need to write essays, send scores, have interviews, etc.</p>
<p>Make sure you give plenty of notice to students who are coming to interview so they can clear schedules with their teachers. Also watch interviewing in and around spring break since it can be “interesting” to figure out how to alter vacation plans around an interview.</p>
<p>As a parent I completely agree with all the posters above.</p>
<p>How much notice do you think if reasonable to give a student who has been selected for a campus merit scholarship interview?</p>
<p>I would suggest, if possible, to announce broadly at the outset when interviews will be conducted. For example, in the original materials you could say, “Five finalists will be selected for interviews to be held at (location) in mid-(month).” Then perhaps you could negotiate exact times with the individuals after you know who they are. That flexibility may be impossible if your interview panel is being brought together from far-flung locations. However, if they are all local, you could do it.</p>
<p>My daughter was given about 3 weeks notice and that was more than adequate but we already knew when the interviews would be (was on the web site) if she was selected. I think as long as the actual dates are published in advance this isn’t too big a problem.</p>