Hello everyone. Recently I received an email from Syracuse University. I assume they reached out to all Deans List Finalists from this last year. Basically they offered an opportunity to apply for a FIRST Robotics Scholarship if I applied to the university.
So my question is, especially to Deans List Finalists and winners, how many emails similar to this did you/have you receive(d)? How many should I expect? How much have universities offered? I am just curious and don’t want to close any doors too early.
It’s been a few years, but frankly I don’t remember getting that many emails. I remember there being colleges in-person at the luncheon at the Championship, and I remember an email or two from FIRST with some links, but don’t remember a ton of colleges reaching out directly. I should say, if memory serves me right, I generally got a lot of emails from colleges for most of my high school career, and tended not to read them that closely, so I may have missed some.
It’s also worth noting that my high school grades were not superb, and many of the top schools that are interested in DLF recipients were not realistic possibilities for me. If I received an email from a school out of my reach, even if it mentioned FIRST/dean’s list, I probably would’ve ignored it just as a pragmatist. There’s value to applying even if you’re outside the average (someone’s gotta be below the mean, right?), but I didn’t.
In response to your last point about closing any doors too early, don’t close the doors, right? The only doors you have to close are declining an offer of admission once you’ve accepted one somewhere else. Other than that, keep your options open. You never know where life is going to take you.
Sincerely,
-Graduate of a Political Science program, now working in IT
-Mediocre high school student, suma cum laude college student