Weird scholarship question?

[Susan in TN]

Ds is applying for a "full ride" scholarship at a university and the first question it asks is to list 3 colleges/univ. they are applying to in order of priority. It seems like a weird question to me.

[klmama]

It is a weird question, but they know most kids will be honest.  Why offer the full ride to someone who really wants to attend elsewhere?

 

[Jane in NC]

By having students list the top three schools, the university can also see whether it is comparable to the others or if it is a reach or an academic safety. I suspect that they can use the full ride to lure some top students, but also don't want to offer it to someone who has their sights set elsewhere (as klmama noted).

[Susan in TN]

That makes sense - thank you both!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Or they could see that the other schools listed are reaches in terms of stats and $ and that a strong scholarship could entice a good student over.

 

I usually ask students where else they are applying in addition to USNA. If they aren't applying to any ROTC schools I will ask why and encourage them to apply.

[*LC]

I am going to be the grump on this; it has been that kind of morning.

 

I would think this would be a hard question for a lot of kids who have been warned that they can only go where they can afford.

 

How can you have a true favorite when it depends on finances? Or, in my daighter's case finances almost changed her favorite. She was only interested in one school since 10th grade, but I made her apply to some others that had free applications, just in case she changed her mind at the last minute. One of those schools kept adding on scholarships on to free tuition. She finally asked, "How can I not go there?" Luckily, when she got the final offer from her longtime choice, the offers were only a couple thousand dollars apart. She knew the second school would be more expensive the second year without the housing scholarship.

 

Also, students apply to schools for many reasons. Would the school truly believe that the student didn't want to go to the ivy league, state flagship, etc., that they applied for odd reason. My daughter almost applied to Columbia, however, she never "wanted" to go there. She just wanted to see if she could get in. The one kid at her large public school that was going to Ivy League was giiving her a hard time about the school she had chosen. She looked at the mail/eMails she received from Ivy League schools, and she decided she liked Columbia the most. She never applied, because we both agreed it was a waste of money. We couldn't justify spending money applying to a school she didn't want to attend just for potential bragging rights.

 

Of course, since lots of kids apply to more than 3 schools, the student could pick the three that put them in the best light for that school.

 

For some reason this post reminds of a story my dad tells, he and a friend were leaving the military at the same time. Both had to take tests with their 1st choice of airlines to see if they would get an interview for a job as a pilot. After the "personality" test, they compared answers. One had answered yes to this question, "have you ever felt like breaking something?" The one who said yes reasoned everyone had felt that way at some point in life.The other one thought there is no way the airline will give a plane to someone who feels like breaking things. One of them got all a call for an interview nearly a month before the other one. It was a stressful time, thinking the answer on that question was the difference. In the end, they both went to work for the that airline.