Numbers Game
Playing the numbers game is a necessary evil in the college admissions process, both in evaluating applicants and deciding on merit scholarships. With regard to admissions, GPA, standardized test scores, and scores assigned to qualitative measures such as recommendations and essays, are used to quantify an applicant’s likelihood for success on a campus. Given this, many schools, most recently UT Austin, have decided that test scores are indeed an essential part of determining your composite score and are eschewing their test optional policies. Expect to see this trend continue.
Concomitant with calculating a performance and aptitude value, schools will also take into consideration your ability to pay tuition, when deciding on merit scholarships. According to an article from Best College entitled, “The Hidden Truth Behind Merit Scholarships,”by Mark J. Drozdowski, Ed.D., the author explains the seemingly contradictory policy of awarding these scholarships to more affluent students, who can pay the difference and who might otherwise decide not to attend. This policy of Enrollment Management, first coined in 1979, by Boston College’s President Maguire, was developed so that schools could achieve Financial Aid Optimization. At the time, BC was near financial ruin and this new method saved the school and became the newly adopted approach at many schools.
Enticing the most competitive high school students to enroll, by offering money, can throw a wrench in developing an application strategy, whether financial aid is needed or simply desired. Merit scholarships are rarely, if ever, awarded to students who apply Early Decision I or II. While applying in this manner increases the chances of acceptance and allows for a more relaxed second half of senior year, it also tells the school that you are coming, no matter what. Therefore, no enticements are necessary.
Whether you are weighing options regarding high school course selection, standardized testing, or an application strategy, please contact me for more information.
