Why didn't she get a scholarship?

Question

My daughter found out today that her friend got a $7,000.00 scholarship from Auburn. My daughter applied for this scholarship. She scored higher on her ACT, has a higher GPA, has much more community service hours and more of a financial need, and she applied earlier and was accepted. Her friend wasn't even accepted at first because she scored 18 on her ACT. Why did her friend get this scholarship instead? And now the kicker is-the friend doesn't even plan to go to this college anymore. She is going to a private college out of state instead?? What's the deal? My daughter may not even be able to go now because the money is scarce. My daughter actually has a career goal. Her friend just wants to get away from home and have a party. I just don't understand it?? We did all the right things and it got us nowhere.

Answer 1

Two possibilities:

1) if it is a need-based scholarship, maybe the friend was less able to attend Auburn based on her financial profile.

2) if the scholarship is merit based, assuming that your child had superior scores and grades, maybe there was something in the other person's essay/background that made her more desirable as a student from the admission person's perspective.  

Don't blame yourself -- admissions people usually have to choose among a bunch of equally qualified candidates and eventually have to rely on little things to differentiate students.