<p>I have a couple of questions for people who received University Scholarships (or the Honors one). 1. What were your scores and grades like? 2. How much did you receive? For just anyone who knows, 3. How many people got the scholarship each year, a count or a percentage?</p>
<p>Edit: Also are they based on scores, or personality, or EC’s, or what?</p>
<p>I had all As except B+ (what comes after A) in 4 classes with 9 APs, 7 post-APs at a pretty prestigious school. 1600 SAT (they only look at M+CR), I received 10k/year. I think 10k is about 100 people, but its an estimate. I also believe that the awards are not based on any single item but your application as a whole. I read somewhere that the admissions committee chooses interesting applicants whose applications are read by professors who decide who they want to teach, those who they pick are awarded merit aid. Once again, I am not certain this is completely accurate, but I am somewhat sure.</p>
<p>Also, what’s important to note is that the average SAT at Chicago is 2200. And there is very little difference seen between a 2200 and a 2400, so really, it’s hard to imagine that merit scholarships would be based on any kind of statistics. More than likely, they’re based on certain personality types that the University wants to attract.</p>
<p>tjkid2011 and phuriku it seems reasonable to believe that it would be based on more than just numbers since most everyone would be even in that area. Also possibly they could aim to make bring in as much revenue as possible with their scholarships (they are known for economics after all ;P). I find the idea that professors would read the applications of students a little hard to believe, but I don’t know much about the admissions process to begin with.</p>
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<p>That might be hard to believe at other schools, but Chicago has a long tradition of admitting students that the professors would like to teach. It’s certainly not every professor reading applications, but a committee looking through the admits is hardly unreasonable. So I concur with phuriku: personality personality personality.</p>
<p>P.S. stats: GPA 3.78/4.00, ACT 36, SAT 1600, 5k University Scholarship.</p>
<p>Actually when I read “admits” it made more sense to me. For some reason I imagined a bunch of professors sitting down and reading however many thousands of applications there are. But it does seem reasonable, a good idea even, to give them a chance to look at the admitted students. Thanks for that.</p>
<p>My impression aligns with what most others have been saying-anyone admitted to UChicago would probably have stats that would qualify them for full rides or close to full rides at their state universities. It’s more along the lines of personality. In fact, I’ve heard of someone who had roughly a 3.5 high school GPA, no AP’s, no Nobel Prize-worthy discoveries who received a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>In my D’s cohort, it was impossible to discern any difference between the merit winners and the rest. In fact, she did not know of any merit scholarship winners that did much above average academically. </p>
<p>Full disclosure: she was not a merit scholarship winner from U. Chi. Instead, she had to go the hard route, winning an outside merit scholarship her 2nd year. Yes, they exist.</p>
<p>5k scholarship winner. I’m probably about average (if not just a bit above average) by UChicago standards: 3.94 GPA, 34 ACT, a couple French awards + National Merit. The criteria for selection, as stated above, are not clearly defined, and the selection process itself is sort of arbitrary.</p>
<p>If my information is correct, scholarships come in 5k, 10k, and full-tuition sizes (15k too, maybe? Can’t remember). If I can get a 5k, you can too, but don’t be bummed if you don’t, because, once again, the awards are given rather arbitrarily. Remember that the nation’s top students are in the application pool; don’t expect a full-tuition scholarship, of which only a handful are given, if you don’t seriously match up to any one of the nation’s top scholars (or you aren’t LeBron James).</p>
<p>Be interesting and be a person the adcoms think would flourish in the academic environment here.</p>
<p>I received $10,000/year and come from a decently large public school (about 550 in my graduating class) in Southern Illinois but certainly not a private school that boasts a boat-load of AP courses. </p>
<p>I had a 4.0 UW GPA and took 7 AP Classes over my junior/senior year. 35 ACT. 800 in Math II, 800 in Chem, and 760 in US History SAT Subject Tests. Got a 5 on 3 AP exams(Calc, Chem, US History) after my Junior year, so that was on the application as well. </p>
<p>I had a good deal of extracurriculars, but I didn’t excel on a national/international level in any of them, so that certainly was not the reason. </p>
<p>I think that one can’t really pinpoint the specific reason of why these scholarships are given. However, I would say that essays and the personality that you display within those essays is hugely important. If there are indeed university professors that decide upon the merit scholarships, be creative and think outside of the box. Professors are much more likely to be impressed by your decision to take on a challenge in your essay. UChicago is the one school where you need not fear being too original for the admissions board.</p>
<p>In the olden days, which is to say until a couple years ago, I believe the numbers were 100 $10,000 scholarships and 30 full-tuition scholarships (these are “merit” scholarships, not based on financial need). Of course, not all of those were accepted by the recipients, who often had other attractive options. The $5,000 scholarships are a relatively new twist, coming in with the current dean, but I’m sure they’re here to stay. I think the number of $10,000 scholarships was cut back when they started awarding the $5,000 ones, but I don’t know by how much, or how many of the $5,000 scholarships get awarded. All in all, maybe about 5% of accepted students get offered merit scholarships, but the real percentage is meaningfully higher, since my impression is they don’t award them to students who would be getting significant need-based financial aid anyway. (Under the University’s rules, one scholarship would just substitute for the other.)</p>
<p>I will also third or fourth what others have said – it’s hard to see any pattern other than the one I just mentioned. Some people who get offered scholarships have high stats all around, but others don’t. I surmise that the people who get offers are the ones who have written great applications. You do have to ask to be considered, however – there’s a box to check on the application.</p>
<p>I was certain my daughter would get something from Chicago, but she did not. She looked great on paper and was and is a really fine young person. IF she had it to do over again, she would have submitted a portfolio of some kind with her application. Though she had listed that she had had a play she had written produced by her school, she had won her school’s award for the junior reseach paper, she had written the scripts for her teams’ Destination Imagination competitions, it was simply a list that wasn’t as telling as the writing might have been. She also had a perfect GPA and near-perfect SATs–and played the oboe. We did not realize the portfolio was an option.</p>
<p>So my advice–if you do something that sets you apart, submit it. Good luck.</p>
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<p>I actually called Chicago about this and was told that they do not look at need at all for the merit scholarships. I said that it would make sense to save the university’s money for kids who would not be getting other financial aid and the woman in admissions told me that was not a consideration at all. This was three years ago.</p>
<p>I received a 5k scholarship after admissions decisions had been released. My stats were 2340 SAT, 97 GPA, and 800 & 790 for two subject tests, but as others have said stats aren’t all that indicative. Scholarships are a way of attracting students to UChicago, so I’d imagine what they look for are people with the best all-around applications.</p>