My daughter applied EA and just received a Singer (letter states worth $241K+ as scholarship increases with tuition increases, and “recognize your truly superlative achievements”).
Based on her research, she THINKS about 60 each receive Singer & Weeks, and about 1/2 accept. This is just a guess.
She was not invited for Stamps (5 total) but received her Singer/Weeks invite on 12/21 to submit a single 250-word essay by 1/1/24. We felt she’d receive a 1/2 tuition presidential as a backup, so she felt pressure as $120K was riding on this single supplemental essay.
On 1/26/24, she received:
- Admission decision
- Singer notification
- PRISM program acceptance
- Foote Fellow Honors Program acceptance
- Financial aid award
Stats:
- National Merit SemiFinalist (should make it to finalist, UM gives add’l $2K/yr)
- ACT 36 (all sections, single test)
- Valedictorian (public high school)
- Spent few months on main essay (had theme and covered many areas - goals, personality, diversity, community service, activities, etc.) and supplement, and showed high impact in Singer essay.
- Enough AP/college classes to cover almost all UM’s required courses
- Varsity sport
- International competition - 2 activities
- State competition - 3rd activity
- President of NHS, started another club, 10th grade class president
- Received stipend for extremely highly competitive program in 11th-12th grade summer
- Helped start community non-profit
- Her grandfather and I are alums (but I don’t think this mattered for Singer)
There’s an excess of those w/exceptional academics (scores/grades) when competing at this level (full tuition). Thus, one must have strong essays to make the next filter.
She did not apply ED anywhere. She can receive full COA scholarships to 3 in-state public schools due to her expected NMF status. She’s received 3/4 tuition from a UM competitor (waiting on their full ride, and on scholarship offers from a few similar schools), and decisions from 5 ivy league schools plus a few similar schools. Applied to 20 schools in total.
Her top 3: Miami, Penn, and one of the in-state full rides.
Her criteria: Tier 1 Research, affiliated business (MBA), law and med school (means well-resourced university).
I attended Miami a VERY, VERY long time ago on a 1/2 scholarship (125 in my class) when only 10 fulls (all Singer) were offered. Miami was VERY different school then (tuition was $6K/yr), but I still think it was the best college decision for me. I did very well both academically and socially.