Question about Merit Scholarships

[sam500]

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When are these awarded?
Do these arrive with acceptance letters? Or do these come with financial aid packages in spring?
If you're awarded one from one school, can you ask another school if they will match?

 

[CodeBlu]

I can't be of much help... but I know someone who got merit awards... the good ol' nicknaylor.

Hopefully he will be by. I think he got 2 really good offers from Michigan and Chicago.

 

[aSagacious]

Both. I've heard of scholarships arriving with the acceptance letters as well as in the May financial aid packages. I'm sure much of it depends on dumb luck.

 

[mmmcdowe]

The "true" need-blind merit scholarship that I was offered came shortly after acceptance (within a month).

 

[raltima07]

I think nick naylor would be best to ask

 

[gettheleadout]

Pritzker said that they do give merit scholarship offers with the letter of acceptance. Not sure how widespread this practice is though.

In their podcast, they said that if you are most interested in Pritzker but another school made a more enticing financial offer, you should send them an email and the office there will see what they can do. I interpretted that as being a 'price match' offer (if they really want you).

To pose a question of my own, who generally gets the merit scholarships..?

Nice of them to publicly explain their policy on that (in a way).

I would guess truly outstanding candidates that have some skills or qualities that align with a school's mission would be offered merit scholarships in order to try and retain them. At the level where everyone qualified for a merit scholarship has super-high stats, something else is needed to distinguish them.

 

[Valadi]

In my experience, they came with the acceptance letter.

Theoretically, I guess they could give them afterward as well. Eg if someone declined admission with a package and they had extra left in the budget.

 

[Frazier]

try a search

 

[CodeBlu]

I think it just depends on the school, but it would certainly make sense to include merit awards w/ the acceptance letter.

Some schools may wait until after October 15th, or even until the new year to do this. Purely, so they can see what the class looks like sort of.

 

[raltima07]

Some schools may wait until after October 15th, or even until the new year to do this. Purely, so they can see what the class looks like sort of.

All I know is they should give everyone in this thread a scholarship. Case Closed.

 

[NickNaylor]

Varies widely. I can speak on experience with the schools that I interviewed at/know about:

Pritzker - scholarship awarded with acceptance
Michigan - scholarships awarded later in the cycle (April)
Penn - scholarships awarded in the spring
WashU - scholarships awarded in the spring with separate app
Vandy - scholarships awarded throughout the cycle, though I'm not sure whether with the acceptance or not
UTSW - scholarships awarded with acceptance

As you can see it varies, but this list is by no means comprehensive.

You can of course ask a school for more money (you'd obviously do this more tactfully than directly asking for a scholarship), but the philosophy of the admissions committee will determine whether or not the school is open to this sort of "negotiation." At some schools decisions are more or less "final:" if you're awarded one, great, if not, tough luck. Others (e.g., Michigan and Pritzker) use scholarships as an incentive to bait people from more prestigious schools. As a result, they'll generally be willing to work with you if money is the only thing standing away of you attending that school (all dependent on the availability of resources, of course).

There are no hard and fast rules, and I know that schools that "don't have scholarships" will make exceptions if you're attractive enough to them. I'm 100% for asking for scholarships or asking for increases - it can't possibly hurt you, but the potential upside is great. Of course you also have to have some leverage. An applicant with a single acceptance can't really bring much to the bargaining table. An applicant with acceptances to multiple institutions that are comparable, on the other hand, can likely succeed in this game.

 

[gettheleadout]

Case also invites applicants to apply separately for merit scholarships.

 

[bucks2010]

Louisville told us they send scholarships out in December. I think some may also be awarded in the spring.

 

[bonoboMD]

I was wondering the same last fall. This is my situation, hope it helps!:

Boston University - awarded merit scholarship a few weeks after January acceptance
Rochester - awarded merit scholarship in February, accepted in fall. I thought that if I were to receive a merit scholarship it would be within a month of my acceptance so I had given up at this point and was very happily surprised to receive one!

PM me if you would like to know more details