Scholarships to USA

[SerenePearlCat]

DS is in year 11 and she would like to go to university in the US. Does anyone have any knowledge of the full merit scholarships available to international students at top level universities? While doing her research she came across the Robertson and the Morehead Cain, I would love to hear from anyone who has managed to secure one of the merit based scholarships to the US.

No. His third year will be at McGill in Canada. The original plan had been a uni in the US.

I see you a lot on US education-related threads making bald (or even inflammatory), unevidenced, and completely unfounded statements on the topic of quality; quality of courses, quality of graduates, quality of high school education. Strange.

Aren't HYMP (not S) need blind?

Just out of interest: did your son's university in the UK encourage a change from US to Canada?

I've just noticed that my university's travel insurance page has flagged a raised (to amber) risk for travel to the US. We now have to have higher level scrutiny of risk assessments to travel there.

In that case, I wish her success in her scholarship application. Duke and UNC are excellent universities, and Chapel Hill is a great university city. NC in general is a lovely state.

If she doesn't get the result she's hoping for, she could look at Bristol along with the UK universities already mentioned.

Thank you @mathanxiety .

She could look into the joint degree that St Andrews ( has a good maths and economics dept) does with William and Mary College. Four year degree with two years in each place.

I will look into that @Wbeezer thank you.

Not that I know of. He thinks he got selected as he said he spoke French and liked skiing…. I think others are going to the states.

Have you also factored in the intensity of the dual track process? Applying for US and UK universities is quite different with different requirements for entry and it is quite difficult (although not impossible) to do both very well at the same time.
Many at my daughter’s school started out on dual track but usually dropped one track as the processes went on.
overwhelmingly those who ended up making the US their main focus were (1) US passport holders (2) those with sports scholarships.
As others have noted it does make a lot of sense to consider either a third year exchange type program in the US or a master’s program.

Oh my goodness, but is anyone else terrified by a 15/16 year old who knows they want to study a subject and in a college with a view to working in finance in the US? My kids were slacking about in y11 worrying about their GSCE grades.

Does he/she (bit confused by your post) really want to work in finance for good reasons or do they want to make money? Is going to the States part of that? Would it not be better to encourage them to do a subject they're interested in at a good university (and cheaply in one of the many world class institutions in this country) and then specialise a wee bit later?

@SerenePearlCat If you use a US based college advisor / counselor they can help you negotiate the merit money that is offered (if it is offered). I had not heard of this, but apparently if you get two offers of merit from very similar levels of college - from say UNC Chapel Hill and UVA for example, you can go back and forth between them and say "This college gave me X amount towards tuition, can you match it" and so on. It's bold, but not uncommon.

A friend of my DD this year was offered $40/yr reduction in tuition fees in the form of merit aid, from Johns Hopkins, for pre-med. Similar amounts for other pre-med programs. It doesn't help much if the total original cost is $90k/ yr all-in and you still can't afford it of course.

My apologies it’s my first post on mumsnet @Coffeeismycupoftea , my daughter wants to study in the US I just read my original message and saw my mistake.

I don’t think it’s that unusual for a 16 year old to know what they want to do after university.

@uberdriver Both the Morehead Cain (UNC Chapel Hill )and the Robertson ( Duke ) cover the full cost of university including tuition accommodation, meal plan , books etc Everything is covered except for flights.

Sure, that sounds great. But what guarantee do you have your DD will be offered either? Is it a case that she gets one of those and goes, or doesn't get them and gives up on the US as a possibility? If so, understood.

@uberdriver We don’t have any guarantee, Yes,she would need to be selected to be able to go. I can’t find any other similar scholarship which might be available to her most are for US students only.

https://www.tcd.ie/courses/undergraduate/courses/columbia-dual-degree/

Along the same lines as the St Andrew's dual degree, Trinity College Dublin offers a dual degree with Columbia University in NY. Scroll down for the Mathematics/ Economics options.

I wouldn't say its unusual, especially for students interested in STEM or related careers (engineering, medicine or veterinary science, for instance).

@uberdriver I went over undergrad assistance with The Fullbright people at a seminar. Basically there’s none. We aren’t Vets, deserving Americans, in state, members of churches etc etc. It’s money down the drain to engage a consultant. You either have to be super bright/needs blind or very wealthy. If you get a scholarship it’s on merit but it can be very little $. Post grad or a year abroad is best.

Yes, as a US resident, undergraduate assistance at the top universities is pretty much financial need only. There are some merit scholarships at top public universities (it's complicated) but they are not always open to international students.

I would say it's not always unusual for a 16yo to know what they want, especially if it's a specific career. If OP's DC knew they were keen on medicine for example, I don't think we would question it. And we also wouldn't be surprised if they were interested in several related subjects (say social sciences) but weren't quite sure which direction they wanted yet.

Columbia does several dual degree programmes. It is important to understand that the Columbia bit is at the School of General Studies and that it is far from automatic to be able to proceed to an élite Masters degree in the US afterwards.

It is never automatic. It always depends on your GPA. So again, you're making a critique of the system that doesn't make sense.

I know people who have done Columbia SGS dual programmes, though not that one specifically. You take the same classes as other Columbia students. It's not a black mark on your diploma. There's less prestige, yes, but if you have a strong record you'll get into a good master's/doctoral programme, and you'd need the same coming from Columbia or Barnard colleges. The reason for pairing with General Studies is because you don't have to do the same core requirements, which could interfere with the needs of dual degree seekers. It is a downside, but you're not forever marked as a second class citizen like you're implying. I have a friend with a dual degree who then went to a T14 law school.

Now, I don't know if the Trinity dual programme specifically is good; I don't know anyone who's done it. But zeroing in on that detail is a bad focus.

I think you will have a hard time finding many fairly high ranking universities with a full-tuition scholarship, although it depends on what you consider "fairly high ranking". UWisconsin has the king morgridge scholarship. Keep in mind that the awardees are often Ivy-level applicants.
If you want to go further down, look at the presidential elite scholarship from the university of Alabama. That's the best automatic merit scholarship, which requires a 4.0 or above GPA average and a 36 ACT or 1600 sat (36 ACT is easier to get)

@Coffeeismycupoftea I don’t see anything wrong in setting long terms goals and working out how you can get there.

I think schools should do more to encourage this. I come across too many students who realise too late that they don’t have the correct subjects for their preferred degree. And certainly for careers like medicine and vet science it helps to start thinking about it early.

I speak from a place of long standing knowledge of another Columbia dual degree programme that is now not recommended by several schools precisely because of the failure of graduates to convert to US Masters programmes. Students with similar profiles at 18 attending UK universities for undergraduate degrees were outperforming the dual degree graduates in getting into top US Masters programmes by a significant margin.