Merit Scholarships at T20
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
This is merit based scholarship. Once you qualify for the scholarship, the amount will vary according to income up to 100%. |
Anonymous
|
There is a "backdoor" way to save $80k at few more Top 20s if you have good AP test scores.
Apply to schools that accept a large number of AP credits toward graduation. My kid is getting his degree from Cornell in 3 years due to Cornell accepting his AP scores in language, math, chem and English (saving me $80k). |
Anonymous
Do people actually turn down HYP to go to UNC? |
Anonymous
Frank Bruni did. Morehead-Cain and Robertson are a big deal. |
Anonymous
| I think Washington and Lee gives full ride to 10% of their class. |
Anonymous
And this is why you don't apply ED. |
Anonymous
That happens more than you'd expect, especially from Catholic high schools. |
Anonymous
|
I am not completely up to date on what is considered T 20 but you can be
Morehead Cain scholar at UNC Jefferson Scholar at UVA Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar at Vandy I think they are full rides plus summer stipend(s) and you have to be nominated by your school. |
Anonymous
I think the average is about 10k - 30k per year unless you are in the top 5%. |
Anonymous
He didn't apply ED, fid Harvard EA but wasn't accepted. T30 admissions are so weird and random. |
Anonymous
Is it income based or income is a factor? Purely merit based scholarships aren't tied to family income. |
Anonymous
I believe the scholarship itself isn't income based. But the amount, other than an honorary award of $2,500/yr, is tied to income. |
Anonymous
|
Merit aid is rare at the top schools. This information is (usually) easy to find. Google the name of the university and "common data set." Once you get the most recent CDS, go to section H, line H2A-N and O. This will tell you the number of freshmen and upperclassmen who had no financial need and who were awarded merit aid (excluding athletic awards), and the average amount of merit aid given.
Top 20 universities according to USNWR, and their published amount of merit aid for freshmen entering in the fall of 2020: Princeton--0 Columbia--0 Harvard--0 MIT--0 Yale--0 Stanford--0 Chicago--doesn't have recent CDS readily available on their website, which actually is illegal Penn--0 Cal Tech--0 Duke--11 freshmen got merit awards, average of $72k Johns Hopkins--no recent CDS available Northwestern--92 freshmen got merit awards, average of $4k Dartmouth--0 Brown--0 Vanderbilt--154 freshmen, $19k Wash U--40 freshmen, $30k Cornell--0 Rice--32 freshmen, $19k Notre Dame--49 freshmen, 18k UCLA--no easy way to determine for OOS students Top 21 colleges according to USNWR (there was a tie for 20th) Williams--0 Amherst--0 Swarthmore--4 freshmen, $54k Pomona--0 Wellesley--0 freshmen, but 6 upperclassmen had merit aid averaging $40k. Not sure if Wellesley awarded it previously but has stopped? Bowdoin--12 freshmen, $1k Annapolis--n/a Claremont McKenna--22 freshmen, $14k Carleton--6 freshmen, $2k Middlebury--2 freshmen, $10k West Point--n/a W&L--23 freshmen, $48k Davidson--15 freshmen, $40k Grinnell--no recent CDS available Hamilton--0 Haverford--0 Barnard--0 Colby--no recent CDS available Colgate--0 Smith--20 freshmen, $20k Wesleyan--3 freshmen, $60k |
Anonymous
You forgot to add “to a school that is not your first choice”. |
Anonymous
|
Here’s the recent CDS from Grinnell.
http://web.grinnell.edu/institutionalresearch/webdocs/GC_CDS_1920.pdf Seems like almost all students who aren’t eligible for need based aid receive merit aid. The merit aid is an average of over 18k/year. |