How did you go about applying for independent merit scholarships? I'm bewildered

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be a pessimist but it is likely too late to apply to any larger scholarship programs. I have a friend who has devoted the past two years to finding programs for her daughter to apply to. She's been hearing their decisions for the past few months. I echo what someone else said about listening to the Getting In podcast from last week. It has very valuable information. I wonder if taking a gap year might not be a good idea if you can't swing the finances this year.

What results did she get? My sense (I'm OP) is that the smaller scholarships are just not worth the application effort. DC is up for some major 10K national scholarships but we won't know the results for some time. In the meantime, UVA w/ stafford loan makes the most sense. I've also done the same with DC1 who is also in a Va state school (getting a Stafford loan). We can juggle this. I just wanted to know if there are any other scholarships out there that DC2 (who does do his own work) should be applying to. Yes, he was a Jefferson Scholar (full ride at UVA) nominee and made it up through the two interviews but not to the on-campus stage. Thanks for all your responses.

[Anonymous]

She's won some smaller ones (500-1000), and got into the semi-finalist range for a bigger one that she didn't get. But, she's going to an in-state school (not VA) and they offered her a nice scholarship and they have a new 3-year degree program that will also save them money so they will be able to swing it now. This family didn't have anything saved for college and did not want to take out any loans at all. I agree that it didn't make that much sense to me to spend so much time on $500 and $1000 scholarships, but the mom was absolutely committed to figuring out how to save money. I know she used College Confidential a lot and she became really knowledgeable. Good luck to your DC, it was hard to tell whether you had already applied to scholarships or were just now thinking about it so I'm glad to hear you had already applied!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC got into all four EA schools, one SCEA deferral to an Ivy.

How could your DC apply to one SCEA and four EA schools? Doesn't the former preclude the latter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC got into all four EA schools, one SCEA deferral to an Ivy.

How could your DC apply to one SCEA and four EA schools? Doesn't the former preclude the latter?

not necessarily. certain EA schools are allowed with SCEA/REA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC got into all four EA schools, one SCEA deferral to an Ivy.

How could your DC apply to one SCEA and four EA schools? Doesn't the former preclude the latter?

No, SCEA rules are that you apply to only one private SCEA but you can apply to as many publics as you wish so long as they are not ED (VA Tech, for some strange reason, for example, is ED). You can even do the rolling admissions schools for a safety before applying to the SCEA school so long as it is not binding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you listen to the podcast Getting In at Slate? Last week was about paying for college and the guest named several websites where you can find legitimate lists of scholarships.

Thank you, PP, for the recommendation for the Getting In podcast. Great stuff!