I was accepted into the USD Honors Program as an Illuminate Scholar! I was also awarded the Alcalá Award/Scholarship! Does anyone know how selective the Honors Program is?
Yes. Waitlisted for Fall. Then, separately, offered an invitation for semester abroad, after which kid would be able to transfer in for Spring semester.
D25 admitted - math major. So far no merit, so it is out of reach.
Daughter accepted and offered Alcala $28K award per year. 3.98/4.4, varsity basketball all 4 years, varsity basketball captain 2 year, chief editor, lots of volunteering, great essays.
USD is the best option so far. Also got into U of Oregon Honors, Indiana Kelly and U of Wisconsin Madison. Still waiting on 8 schools to release decisions in March.
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Anyone know if USD required that you fill out FAFSA or CSS in order to be considered for merit? My son’s letter mentions nothing about merit and I’m having a hard time believing he wouldn’t qualify. We didn’t fill out either. I know most schools don’t require that you fill those out in order to be considered for merit, but a few do. Is USD one of them?
We did not fill out either and received merit. The merit award was mentioned in an email of congratulations after the click this link email. It is not on the portal. At least no where that our DD can find.
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USD uses FAFSA. I do know that aside from merit aid (which we didn’t get either), that they do give out grants & scholarships when filling out FAFSA.
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We did not complete the FAFSA or CSS and received merit. The merit scholarship came in a separate email.
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Thanks— this is helpful
Okay - my DD received an email this evening addressed to first generation college students. She is not first gen, and I just double checked her application to make sure that we didn’t accidentally click anything to indicate that she was, don’t see anything. Do see that my educational background, my husband’s (her stepdad) and her dad’s education history are listed.
Did anyone else get this? wondering if it was sent in error, and stressed that the school believes her to be first gen (and that might impact her admittance/scholarship)!
My D25 also did not receive merit, which I found surprising. She has good stats and ECs. Ultimately zero merit keeps the school out of reach.
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For us too
Found out it was an error.
The original answer I got to when financial aid offer shows up is “5-7” business days after your acceptance email as an answer. I waited that period then actually called financial aid. They looked into my daughter’s file and said, “five to seven days.” O-kay. And then three days after that my kid got an email, saying she had outstanding financial aid requirements. A little confused, go into the student portal, click on “admitted” under the Admissions drop down, then “financial aid status” box, and the missing piece was the start year. Clicked on that and then…voila!..the financial aid letter was there. I offer up these rather detailed bits in the hopes that it helps someone else here navigate some of the oddness. The upshot here is that the package for my kid is pretty amazing, and she is very likely going to accept the offer and enroll at USD. Trustee scholarship at $23k/yr and USD Grant for $25k/yr coupled with Pell Grant, Cal Grant and Work-Study awarded.
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Oh wow - thanks for this, just checked my kid’s and there was something missing. Now remedied! Congrats to your daughter, it is a beautiful school!
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Wow, what a great package! Almost covered total COA sounds like!
So is it a done deal? I’m noting in another of your posts you say you received the Presidential Scholarship?
Are you saying that merit “was” or “was not” included in the admissions letter/email?
Ours was separate (for merit scholarship notification). It came about 1 hour after the admissions letter in a separate email from the same email address as the admissions letter/email.
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It came same day, but in a separate email.
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