3/3 on Honors (so far) at Umd, 0/3 on merit $.

Sigh.

Happy that my NOVA kid gets $5K per year for this scholarship from UMD. We don't qualify for any aid and didn't apply. This scholarship is more of a confirmation/validation of my kid's hard work, so the psychological benefits is more real for us than the monetary benefits, particularly because of my kid's not tippy top profile. My kid is also admitted to UVA.

My DC wanted a large flagship experience and UMD (with merit) is coming out to be the lowest cost.

Will be interesting to know how affected UMD scholarships were by the federal research grant cuts and also Maryland deficit. Did they give less money this year that prior years?

Anonymous wrote:Stats are important but parents ability to pay is also considered even if they call them merit scholarships. I know a kid with max stats (1600, 4.0/4.95) that got only a Dean scholarship (2k only for the first year). Parents have 529 fully founded to cover all UMD in-state costs.

This is so wrong and not our experience. We have 3 kids - 2 got BK and 1 received President. 529 enough to cover all three, high HHI (about 400k) and never provided financial information/FAFSA/CSS to UMD. Just stop PP.

Anonymous wrote:Stats are important but parents ability to pay is also considered even if they call them merit scholarships. I know a kid with max stats (1600, 4.0/4.95) that got only a Dean scholarship (2k only for the first year). Parents have 529 fully founded to cover all UMD in-state costs.

I agree this is incorrect. Ability to pay is not considered for merit.

HS 2023 OOS CS direct admit, Honors College, $10k/yr. Didnt apply for need based FA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats are important but parents ability to pay is also considered even if they call them merit scholarships. I know a kid with max stats (1600, 4.0/4.95) that got only a Dean scholarship (2k only for the first year). Parents have 529 fully founded to cover all UMD in-state costs.

I don't think this is true. DD is fully funded in 529 and high stats, we make solid money where we would not get financial aid, and she seems to have gotten max possible.

It is true.
Every year about 1/3 of Blair's STEM students (25-30) have these kind of stats. They are accepted in the Honors College but only few receive UMD scholarships. Most f them pick private colleges (MIT, CMU, Cornell).
Ask any of the kids there and he/she will confirm.
My daughter is a senior there. I know for sure it is a valid comment.

again, not true. There are people (my kid) who got the full 5k. RMIB magnet.

IMO, merit aid is like college admissions - it's opaque as to who gets it.

The part you think is not true is the merit aid and 529 supposition. Right?
That's a guess and I agree the criteria is opaque and it is not only stats based. There are few kids at Blair that got the BK and also the President scholarship. But they are few and not necessarily the top of the top. They know very well each others.

Yes, BK especially is holistic and not just merit based.

I know of a Blair magnet kid who has an amazing ec but was denied at T10 for CS, and they only got the 5K from UMD, not BK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats are important but parents ability to pay is also considered even if they call them merit scholarships. I know a kid with max stats (1600, 4.0/4.95) that got only a Dean scholarship (2k only for the first year). Parents have 529 fully founded to cover all UMD in-state costs.

I don't think this is true. DD is fully funded in 529 and high stats, we make solid money where we would not get financial aid, and she seems to have gotten max possible.

Our DC also got the max. We were/are full pay and did not submit the FAFSA.

Stats: Blair magnet, 4.0UW / 4.8W GPA, 1600 SAT, 10 APs all 5s, highly skilled in a musical instrument.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats are important but parents ability to pay is also considered even if they call them merit scholarships. I know a kid with max stats (1600, 4.0/4.95) that got only a Dean scholarship (2k only for the first year). Parents have 529 fully founded to cover all UMD in-state costs.

I don't think this is true. DD is fully funded in 529 and high stats, we make solid money where we would not get financial aid, and she seems to have gotten max possible.

It is true.
Every year about 1/3 of Blair's STEM students (25-30) have these kind of stats. They are accepted in the Honors College but only few receive UMD scholarships. Most f them pick private colleges (MIT, CMU, Cornell).
Ask any of the kids there and he/she will confirm.
My daughter is a senior there. I know for sure it is a valid comment.

again, not true. There are people (my kid) who got the full 5k. RMIB magnet.

IMO, merit aid is like college admissions - it's opaque as to who gets it.

The part you think is not true is the merit aid and 529 supposition. Right?
That's a guess and I agree the criteria is opaque and it is not only stats based. There are few kids at Blair that got the BK and also the President scholarship. But they are few and not necessarily the top of the top. They know very well each others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OOS. $12k/year.

Stats?

1590 SAT, 4.0UW, 4.6W. (Didn’t quite max out APs to take music each year)

Separately, did they get Honors and do they plan to honors?

They did get honors, but I don’t think they’ll accept UMD. At this point, UVA Echols seems like the better opportunity since we live in state.

UVA and UMD should have an agreement for balanced trade in choosing OOS over IS applicants.