Hi! Just for reference, my daughter got $16K/year, Chem E major. 4.0UW/4.8W/1480 SAT (math was 760). 12 AP’s/3 DE rest honors, HS doesn’t rank. 4 and 5’s on stem AP exams. Hoping for Distinguished Honors weekend but reading above her SAT doesn’t look high enough. Crossing fingers for your DD.
That makes sense. I just randomly put different GPAs in and it looks like anything from 4-4.5 w gets the Presidential and anything 4.5+ w gets Trustee. I don’t think my daughter could have gotten to 4.5+ based on the way her HS structures the courses. I’m really hoping this doesn’t effect her chances at the honors college. I’m worried she’s at a disadvantage where that’s concerned because she applied undecided so I wouldn’t want her to have another thing working against her for that purpose.
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That kind of confirms for me that the lack of APs is the answer.
Same major for my daughter, 4.0 unweighted, 1570 (790 rw/780 math), NMSF. I had thought maybe the major was the reason, given the amazing reputation the school has for Chem E.
I’m a little upset (if you couldn’t tell) and worried that if she didn’t get the top tier merit scholarship now, she will be out of the running and won’t even have a chance for the Distinguished Scholars opportunities. 
I don’t know how they do it, but I have heard that ECs and essays play a big role in Distinguished Scholars invites (once a certain academic threshhold has been met). So maybe she’ll still get invited.
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can you appeal or ask for more? if she would go there, nothing to lose. ask!
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Maybe there’s an appeals process you can use. My son was ChemE also, BTW, with much lower stats than your daughter (33 ACT, 3.8 uw). It seems odd they’d get the same amount of merit money so probably worth appealing.
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She has an ED school that we will hear from next week. If that doesn’t go the way we are hoping, then UD will move up as a top contender - in which case we may try to appeal. Worth a shot!
Thanks for being a sounding board for me. My daughter was actually just super pumped about getting a scholarship, so I’ve been keeping my “complaints” to myself (well, not completely true - I’ve been spouting off to all of you!). I don’t want to rain on her parade at all.
I don’t know that they accept appeals on merit, but I do think it would be worth confirming whether she’d be out of contention for distinguished scholars based on not having been awarded the largest scholarship at this time. You could state your case when you contact them. That being said, I hope this becomes a non-issue when her ED school releases next week!
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Good luck next week. UDel is in DD’s top 4. Didn’t ED anywhere. I do think Scholar’s weekend is done through the Honors college so it might be another committee. We are also waiting to hear about the Park Scholarship at NC State and that has an entirely different committee. So much so that we would hear from that before we know if she gets into NC State. It’s all so weird and complicated.
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I would call and ask:). Maybe there is an error. IB should be in no way, nor have I ever seen it, viewed less than AP.
do you know if they accept Q1 grades, or only first semester?
I read in another post that when UD went TO they removed testing as part of the equation but it definitely used to be part as you experienced. Our child’s school also doesn’t do AP either and that really does seem to be the difference. Admissions noted on our tour that they look at the individual high schools and what they offer for admissions, but perhaps not for merit? 
Since Delaware is a STARS school, you could also double check the STARS to make sure your daughter labeled her IB classes appropriately in there. I believe that’s what they use for recalculations.
By the way, I saw you posted in the Clemson EA thread too and now I’m terrified that my son is going up against your daughter for ChemE there!! 
Best of luck with your ED school. My son should be getting an answer on his REA app from my stupid Alma Mater that is almost certain to reject him tomorrow. If all goes well with Clemson today my hope is he’ll have a few pieces of good news in his pocket to soften the blow.
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We were hoping for this as well, but it seems that even though the Honors College is separate, they have a little disclaimer at the bottom of their page “Honors admission decisions are made by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions” so I am not sure if the committee is different? I’ve read that the Honors College decision is based on more than just gpa though (leadership, ECs, etc.).
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I think it’s this exactly. The admissions decision is based on what each HS offers, but the merit calculation seems less flexible. Each school seems to do something different and there appears to be near zero transparency about any of it.
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I think the problem comes down to the number of IB courses. The IB diploma program is based on 6 courses plus the core. So many kids take a dozen or more APs, which will calculate as more rigorous when just using a formula.
It’s all good, we’ll see how it all plays out!
Good luck with Clemson tonight. Clemson was absolute tops of my daughter’s list for a while after we visited, she LOVES the vibes there!
And I got a chuckle of out “my stupid Alma mater.” I hope your son gets the result he’s hoping for!!
Not 100% sure. Her counselor had her send Q1 through email yesterday just in case they’d look at them, but I think officially they only want first semester. We’ll see.
My blue hen’s sister is a tiger, graduated in May, has been back a few times already (we live 12 hours away). She graduated with an extra year of classes in 4 years, didn’t want to leave.
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Also waiting for Clemson Chem E tonight! Good luck to you and @EvanNinni
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