Scholarships

[bigdan]

Those in the know-

Let me set up a utopian scenerio:

If someone holds multiple acceptances from schools, will those schools reveal their financial aid packages (including any scholarship monies) BEFORE the student confirms an acceptance with plans to enroll (ie, will schools "compete" for students by offering better packages?)

dc

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

From what I've heard, from going to "Pre-Med conferences" in the past (talking to current med-students then), and recently finishing up the financial aid process myself, you should be able to gauge the effectiveness of a given financial aid package in a couple of ways.

1) Each school financial admin type person usually has a "quote" that they can provide you, which details the expected expenses for a given academic year. This is usually a rough and dirty estimate, but should give you a good idea of where you're at financially.

2) Said schools, should also be able to tell you if you are 'eligible' or 'guaranteed' any scholarships. If they don't you may need to lean on them a little, and pressure for some information. (If you're an accepted applicant, the Admissions folks are usually a little more amiable in communicating with you.)

So take the money required in (1) and subtract the money in (2), to get how much you will owe over the four years. If one school is more appealing than the other one, but more expensive, use this as bargaining power.

School X is offering me so much money in scholarships, grants, work-study federal aid, etc. How can you, School Y, which I would much rather go to, make this financial discrepancy less of an 'issue.'

Good luck in your black mailing the two different schools. I'm sure you'll be happy where ever you decide to go.

 

[ms2209]

From what I know, yes, they do. Although I'm still in the process of applying, I have friends who went through the process this past year, and they had multiple acceptances and were waiting for financial aid packages to arrive before making their final decisions. I remember them talking about certain schools giving lousy financial aid packages, and that they were planning on withdrawing their acceptances from those schools, etc...so yes, as far as I know, they do give you info before you solidify your decision.

 

[Asclepius]

This wasn't how it worked in my instance... I applied late and received an acceptance and scholarship from one school (which happened to be one of my top choices, if not the top) before I even had admissions decisions from the other schools.

I'm sure that schools may be competitive in giving out scholarships, but I imagine that most scholarship decisions are made by admisions/financial aid departments without the knowledge of offers from other schools.

 

[bigdan]

Good luck in your black mailing the two different schools. I'm sure you'll be happy where ever you decide to go.

Ahhh...so you saw through the guise..."a rose by any other name..."

back at 'cha.

dc