<p>I’m a high school senior right now and I’ve heard a lot of my peers get acceptance letters and scholarships (e.g. some person says “I got $X from Y school”). I’ve so far only gotten accepted to UIUC and OSU, and neither of them have included scholarships of any kind in their letters. Am I missing something? Or do those other colleges just do things differently? And if so, when can I expect to hear about my own merit scholarships from the schools I’ve heard back from? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Perhaps the schools you applied to don’t give merit aid. It seems that private schools are more known for merit aid. My NJ son got an offer 0f 17K from Case-Western, as they were looking for students from under represented states. Only 17 students were in the class from NJ. They upped his aid to 22.5 his Junior year. He is currently at OSU in a PhD program, getting 50K a year from the DOE. Ohio has proved to be the right choice for him! BYW, the only stupid question is the one that isn’t asked! Good luck!</p>
<p>Some colleges give a lot of merit scholarships and some give very few – usually they are moderately to extremely competitive and most people don’t get them. Some State colleges will have more applicants competing for a just a few dollars. Some private colleges are generous with students in the top 25% of the class. Here are the pages that detail your schools awards:</p>
<p>[Scholarships[/url</a>]</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://admissions.illinois.edu/cost/scholarships_alldisciplines.html]U”>Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions]U</a> of I Admissions: Scholarships for All Academic Disciplines](<a href=“Merit-based scholarships - The Ohio State University”>Merit-based scholarships - The Ohio State University)</p>
<p>You need to look at the website for each school that you have applied to. Some schools provide merit scholarships and some do not - private colleges have more money to offer than state schools have.</p>
<p>The schools offer merit scholarships to entice students that have superior test scores and GPA’s, in order to raise their own averages for student performances. Some schools offer automatic scholarships to every student who surpasses a specific GPA and test score; others have more discretion in choosing whom to award. For example, my daughter received an automatic 80% tuition reduction from one college but needed an interview to compete with others for a full tuition scholarship at another school. She did not win that one.</p>
<p>If you do receive a merit scholarship, the information does not always come with the acceptance letter/notification. Sometimes it is mailed separately. Although our experience has been that it doesn’t follow by much – within a week or two of admission, I think my kids knew about all the merit they were going to receive.</p>
<p>Are your test scores very high for those schools?</p>
<p>Schools don’t give merit to all students. They don’t even give to “most” students. They give to a smallish number of TOP students. And, many schools don’t give any scholarships.</p>
<p>What are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>If you were expecting merit, then you need to apply to the schools that will give those awards for your stats. </p>
<p>IUIC doesn’t give many scholarships. To get one you’d have to have really high stats.</p>
<p>Thanks. I think I understand how it works now.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids: My SAT is a 2340 (740 CR, 800 M/W), my ACT composite is a 35 (34 E, 35 M/W/S), and my GPA is a 3.77 unweighted. Are applicants automatically considered for these scholarships or do I have to go through a separate application process to be eligible?</p>
<p>Check each college website to see if they are automatic with the application or if they have a specific deadline to apply to be included LIKE THE OSU LINK I PROVIDED, or if they require a separate application.</p>
<p>At the top of this forum is pinned a link to some colleges that have automatic full or partial tuition for certain stat’s. Deadlines may be past for some.</p>
<p>You have to look at each school’s website to see what’s needed for consideration. Some need apps, some are automatic.</p>
<p>I see that you’ve applied to USC and want merit. USC is an unknown for merit. It can be generous, but I know a female eng’g applicant with a 35 ACT Sal of her class. USC gave her NOTHING…she’s now at MIT.</p>
<p>UIUC is often bad with merit.</p>
<p>What is your major and career goal?</p>
<p>Are you a NMSF?</p>
<p>Have your parents indicated that you need merit in order to afford college? how much will they pay?</p>
<p><a href=“e.g.%20some%20person%20says” title=“I got $X from Y school”>quote</a>
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For all you know, that could have been a need-based award of financial aid. It can be confusing, and often the students themselves don’t really understand what they’ve received or use sloppy language when discussing the subject</p>
<p>Is there a chance UIUC and OSU will send the FA offers in Feb/Mar after getting the FAFSA info? I thought FA and merit offers came in the Feb/Mar timeframe when students were not applying ED.</p>
<p>One of my daughters was accepted to a state school with automatic scholarships for OOS students; she got a separate letter, but on the same day as her acceptance. My other daughter was accepted at a private school and about a month later received a ‘possible’ financial aid breakdown, which is only based on her stats and scores. She must submit her fall grades and any additional SAT/ACT scores and a final financial aid package will be ready in January (after FAFSA, but she won’t get anything from ‘need’ based aid because she has an athletic scholarship).</p>
<p>So it depends is the answer.</p>
<p>Scholarship awards are funny. Schools that give acceptances early (such as Rolling Admissions) often give the merit awards early as a strategy. The strategy is that with big merit in hand, the student will be LESS motivated to do all the work to fill out other apps, do more essays, and spend more money on apps. Lock 'em in.</p>
<p>Where are you an instate student? OSU (Ohio State?) does have merit awards for instate honors students. Do you qualify for any of these?</p>
<p>OP - your question is not stupid at all! As you can see from prior posts, different schools handle merit awards very differently. Also, be aware that when a classmate tells you he/she got $X in scholarship money it may be partially or entirely need based. You might be accepted at the same school with the same stats and not get anything.</p>