Please share if your high school senior received a large college merit scholarship

[Pixieflip]

?

 

[The Pink Cupcake]

2) Two caddies from our country club just got 4-year free rides
. . . Evans Caddy Scholarship
. . . had to get good caddy ratings to qualify
. . . one going Ohio State University (pre-med), one to Miami (engrg)
. . . full ride including tuition, room/board, books, fees

Evans Caddy Scholarship requires financial need. It is not awarded strictly on merit. I know this all too well.

 

[debbiemomto4]

My dd graduated in 2009 she is finishing up her sophomore year at UMD-College Park. She scored a 2200 on her SAT / 1400 Reading and Math her GPA was a 98. She was a Hispanic Merit Scolar and a Gold Award Recipient for Girl Scouts. Her EFC was 36000! We are in NY.
She applied to several colleges. Her dream school was Johns Hopkins. She was accepted to Johns Hopkins - offered her no scholarship money just work- study, SUNY /Stonybrook - 8000, Washington College - 12,000,Ithaca - 16,000, She was waitlisted at Yale. UMD gave her 12000 and asked her to come down and interview for a full ride. She was one of the 300 students asked to interviewed - 150 would be awarded . When she interviewed she was asked if she had anything to add to her application and she had just completed the gold award. She was awarded a Banneker Key Scholarship - Full Ride with room&board , Book money and an iPod Touch.
Needless to say she is attending UMD!
Advice- Early Action has the most scholarship money. They only awarded this scholarship to the kids who placed their application in for the first deadline. She has to maintain a 3.2 GPA.

 

[debbi801]

My son received a 100K merit scholarship (over 4 years) from MICA, which is a top-notch art school. Tuition is 37K a year.

This was based on his painting portfolio, his GPA, National Honor Society and National Art Honor Society standing, and various awards he has won the past few years (Marie Walsh Sharpe, Young Arts, Scholastics, etc.).

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Last summer the boy and I made a list of schools he was interested in based on size/location/majors/other factors. I sorted that list by amount of merit aid awarded by each school using information found in each school's Common Data Set. (There is a thread on College Confidential with links to CDSs. I also searched on individual school websites for 'Common Data Set'.) I looked for schools that give a large percentage of applicants a good chunk of money, not schools that give only a few full rides nor schools that give a few thousand to almost everyone.

We were not eligible for need-based aid this year due to some unusual circumstances last year.

The boy's scores are very good (though only Commended for NM) as are his grades. He scored 3 5s and 1 4 on APs last year. He's an Eagle Scout.

Scholarship result: free tuition at a public university, $20K off total cost of $52K at a private school, and Monroe Scholar at William & Mary (prestigious name with non-monetary benefits, only $3K merit). He'll be attending the public university

I will perform the same Common Data Set search with the next in line. She has totally different interests than her brother so I don't think there will be many overlaps!

 

[shelwoj]

My son received 12,400 music scholarship to Capital University, that is renewable every year. He had to audition for acceptance to the music conservatory as well as the scholarship (he was academically accepted to the University already). The audition consisted of playing his instrument (euphonium), taking a written test and an interview with the conservatory board of directors.

He also received a grant for 3,400 that is renewable and another grant for 1,300 that "may" be renewed.

In total he received 16,700 in his scholarship/grant award package.

Capital University runs about 42k with dorm, food, books and conservatory fees.

 

[disykat]

My son received 18K a year at a school that costs 42K a year. We still can't afford to send him.

He also got 9K a year at an out of state college. Again, not really doable.

He'll be going to our flagship state school, where he got nothing. He just got his first local scholarship of 1K. 1K down, 24 to go!

 

[Pixieflip]

My son received 18K a year at a school that costs 42K a year. We still can't afford to send him.

He also got 9K a year at an out of state college. Again, not really doable.

He'll be going to our flagship state school, where he got nothing. He just got his first local scholarship of 1K. 1K down, 24 to go!

Do you mind if I ask? Why can't he go to the first school? Isn't the difference 25K? The same as the state school? I'm not being sarcastic, we are new at this and really, I'm just wondering why you would choose that. Unless he didn't really want to go there?

What am I missing?

 

[mtblujeans]

Both of my sons are attending an in-state university on "full ride" scholarships. We still pay $4,000.00 per semester for room and board and $500.00 per semester for books for each of them. Next year, our youngest son will need an Apple computer for some of his classes and we are pricing those now.

 

[disykat]

Do you mind if I ask? Why can't he go to the first school? Isn't the difference 25K? The same as the state school? I'm not being sarcastic, we are new at this and really, I'm just wondering why you would choose that. Unless he didn't really want to go there?

What am I missing?

Sorry - typo. The school costs 48 K, so its $30K difference - 5K more. (If he really wanted to, we'd manage that, but really the only reason he was seriously considering it was if merit was enough to make it cost LESS.)

 

[stacie_d]

I did for undergrad and law school.

I am from WV, and there is or was a program here called the Governor's Honor Academy. It is a month long program in the summer between Junior and Senior year where you go live on a college campus and take classes. Two students from each county are selected and then a few others from the applications. If you were selected for the program, there was a host of full scholarships available.

I ended up with a full tuition scholarship to WVU because of this program. After graduating, 3 years later I got a full tuition scholarship to WVU law school based pretty much on LSAT scores.

From my experience, finding the right programs are important to be a part of, as well as doing well on standardized tests.

 

[Donnainnj]

My DD, who is currently a senior applied to 4 schools, 3 offered merit scholarships. Rutgers, accepted with no merit, TCNJ accepted with merit of $6600 over four years, Rowan accepted with $4700 per year renewable, and Stockton, $11,000 per year renewable for 4 years. Stockton also offered her a 5 year masters program in her chosen major. She needs 3.0 GPA to maintain, 3.2 to stay in the masters program. The specs were approx SAT math and verbal of 1250 or better and top 10% of class. Her GPA was around 4.05 wieghted which may have helped up Rowan a little and TCNJ. Almost forgot she also could have used the NJStars program for 2 years free at community college and then if her grades were good enough transfered to any state school with help for those years to, but not the full tuition they originally offered.
Donna

 

[bluesaturn]

My dd graduated in 2009 she is finishing up her sophomore year at UMD-College Park. She scored a 2200 on her SAT / 1400 Reading and Math her GPA was a 98. She was a Hispanic Merit Scolar and a Gold Award Recipient for Girl Scouts. Her EFC was 36000! We are in NY.
She applied to several colleges. Her dream school was Johns Hopkins. She was accepted to Johns Hopkins - offered her no scholarship money just work- study, SUNY /Stonybrook - 8000, Washington College - 12,000,Ithaca - 16,000, She was waitlisted at Yale. UMD gave her 12000 and asked her to come down and interview for a full ride. She was one of the 300 students asked to interviewed - 150 would be awarded . When she interviewed she was asked if she had anything to add to her application and she had just completed the gold award. She was awarded a Banneker Key Scholarship - Full Ride with room&board , Book money and an iPod Touch.
Needless to say she is attending UMD!
Advice- Early Action has the most scholarship money. They only awarded this scholarship to the kids who placed their application in for the first deadline. She has to maintain a 3.2 GPA.

I attended UMD on the Banneker Key too! Except they weren't offering any iPod touches lol. Did she live in Denton?

 

[debbiemomto4]

She lived in ellicot! She is in gemstone too. Loves the school.