Elite college? No.
SLAC? Yes

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid (California resident) who turned down Harvard and Yale for a scholarship to Berkeley

I knew several classmates who turned down Ivy League schools to go to UVA in state. At the time (early 2000s) Ivy's were $40k a year and UVA was I think $9k in state. Probably a wise choice.

Anonymous wrote:Worth remembering that many top schools do not award merit-based aid; they meet demonstrated financial need.

So a lot of non-need-based full-ride scholarships to top schools are coming from foundations or private organizations, not the schools themselves.

+1 to the bolded. The ivy's, and other top 20 schools, don't do merit-based aid, your merit is what gets you in the door.

I know a kid (California resident) who turned down Harvard and Yale for a scholarship to Berkeley

Anonymous wrote:Completely useless thread OP. What's the point of asking questions like this??

It may be useless to you, but it's interesting to me. I only know one kid who won a full ride to a prestigious college. I'm asking if anyone else knows a kid who won one of these, and what that kid did to merit such a scholarship?

Anonymous wrote:I know a kid who got a full ride to duke for football

OP here. I know kids get athletic full rides, but that's not what I'm talking about.

I am curious about who wins the full-ride academic scholarships (yes, many offered by foundations) at elite schools (ones much harder to get into than, say U Arizona or U Alabama or even UMD).

Completely useless thread OP. What's the point of asking questions like this??

Anonymous wrote:Elite colleges don’t offer merit scholarships. So the answer is no.

You don't consider U of Chicago or Duke "elite"?

Their acceptance rate is about 5% now. I call that "elite."

Worth remembering that many top schools do not award merit-based aid; they meet demonstrated financial need.

So a lot of non-need-based full-ride scholarships to top schools are coming from foundations or private organizations, not the schools themselves.

I know a kid who got a full ride to duke for football

Elite colleges don’t offer merit scholarships. So the answer is no.

I know someone who got a full ride at Washington & Lee. Extremely accomplished not only academically but a top athlete and performer the arts. Great grades and 1500+ SAT. Got accepted to an Ivy as well but went with W&L due to the full ride because they have plans for a terminal degree.

Why does "leadershhip" count for these awards? What does that mean, exactly?

My kid is captain of her athletic team. But she's not a "leader" in any sense of the word! She's good at her sport, and is a nice kid, but she isn't a natural leader by any means.

In Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewitz claims elite schools don't want leaders. They want "gung-ho followers" who don't break the rules, not iconoclasts who make everyone uncomfortable because they challenge the status quo. But of course, that's what a true leader does. Imagine if Thomas Jefferson thought we should just go along with the demands of the King?

I know a kid who got a full ride to UNC Chapel Hill. Near the top of the class academically at an elite private school. I don't know about extracurriculars but this kid probably got the "best of my career" type teacher recs. She/he is a class act and real leader.

I'm not talking about Banneker-Key. I mean the biggies, like to Duke, Hamilton, Johns Hopkins, U Chicago, UNC Chapel Hill, etc. as well as the foundations (Stamp?) that offer four-year full rides.

I'll start. I know one kid who got a full ride a few years back to U Chicago. I can't remember the name of the scholarship. He played an instrument at a near-professional level and was studying an unusual language (like Serbo-Croation?) which he'd learned in high school, had lived in the country and did some other community service like starting a food pantry in a poor neighborhood which he stocked by getting donations from his private school friends' parents. Top grades and scores of course from a private school.

I'm curious if any kids who are not so accomplished on paper ever win these awards? Good grades are a given, but does ingenuity or intellectual curiosity or creativity count? Do any geniuses who sit in a corner and solve math problems in their heads ever win? Or kids who create amazing art (or science projects) in their basement studio or on their computer ever win?