@RW1 Vassar is a great school and have decent financial aid, congrats to your Daughter. I believe the majority of students that got the $2,500 must have a very good essay and special EC. It appears that many NMF are class Valedictorian as well, that just the nature of students with good stats. It could be luck as well, if most of the competitors with the same stats already got the scholarship from either corporate or colleges, then the pool will be smaller.