Eric Mendes' Official Blog

UMass Boston is unique in many ways, but one that directly affects the student body is with their Merit Scholarships program. While all universities offer scholarships as incoming freshmen, UMB is in the minority when it comes to offering continuing students scholarships for continuing to do well. Every Fall the Merit Scholarship Office accepts applications for scholarship rewards for the following spring semester. This single application applies the student to every Merit scholarship that the school offers, giving the applicant a greater chance of scoring a reward and according to their office, the size of the average award last year was about $3,000.  The office does stress that, “it is important to remember that this is a very competitive process. We receive many, many, more qualified applicants than we have scholarship funding.”

Oh, and they’re not kidding about the “many, many” qualified applicants; last year I applied with my 3.4 GPA and was turned down. Ouch. Although I wasn’t selected, three months later I received this follow-up email:

“In January, you were notified that unfortunately, your application for merit scholarships was not selected.

However, as often happens, we find ourselves in the position of being able to make additional awards, later in the semester.  We always go back to our existing pool of applicants first and foremost.

I am pleased to tell you that you have been selected for a merit award.”

Receiving that email was kind of like finding cash in an old pair of jeans, and I truly felt as if the office makes an effort to assist the students and they’re not simply going through the paces.

After this great interaction with the Merit Office I put more time and effort into my application this past fall, and this was the response:

“Thank you for your patience during a lengthy selection process.  We received an unusually large pool of qualified applicants this year.  The time is necessary to conduct a thorough committee review of each application.

We are happy to inform you that your application has been selected for a merit scholarship award.  A personalized email, including scholarship name and award amount, will be forthcoming within the next week.  Congratulations!”

Is it just me, or did that first paragraph make it seem like another rejection email? Ha!

I have an ample amount of respect for the office and all of their hard work. They receive thousands of applications each fall, and then proceed to read through the thousands of resumes, recommendations, and essays in order to distribute out aid to the abundance of qualified students across campus. Thank you, for all of your hard work. Trust me; the entire student body appreciates your work.

I would also like to personally thank anyone who has contributed to UMass Boston and anyone who has contributed to the Walter L. Denney Scholarship. The Denny Scholarship is the one that I’ve received two years in a row now, and it’s truly appreciated. The following is UMass’ description of the award:

“The Walter L. Denney Endowed Memorial Scholarship encourages students who grew up in communities near UMass Boston to attend college by providing scholarships specifically to Harbor Point, Roxbury, and Dorchester residents.”

The most interesting aspect of this description is the communities that they point out – Harbor Point, Roxbury, & Dorchester – because I’ve lived in each one of these communities at some point in my life.