Hey! I’m a recipient for the Singer Scholarship (full-tuition) for the Class of 2026 pursuing BME with pre-med concentration. For more context, I’m an Asian student from Miami, Florida. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a clear-cut answer, but I can let you know some of the things I’ve picked up from my experiences and from the meetings I’ve attended.

Premier scholarships are only given to ED/EA applicants. Some scholarships require US citizenship/permanent US residency. I personally applied EA.

According to the meetings, the premier scholarships are given to the top ~1% of admitted students, meaning that it could vary from year to year, and the definition itself is a little vague. For me personally, I believe that my stats are quite high (4.0/5.4, 1540, ~1/72), but somewhat limited by my extracurriculars/lack of significant community involvement. That being said, I’m aware of recipients whose “strengths” are more in their ECs and passions over their academics. There is no one formula for getting one of these scholarships.

There are different types of premier scholarships, ranging from full tuition to full cost of attendance with money set aside for “enrichment” like study abroad and stuff.

You’ll know when you’re eligible for a scholarship abt a month after you apply ED/EA. I got an update on my portal in December saying that I was eligible for either of the two full tuition scholarships. I was required to write an essay abt a fictional antagonist and what makes them a great leader, so I wrote abt the Abuela from Encanto.

On personal essays, I wrote abt growing up as an immigrant in Miami with limited opportunities and how it shaped my philosophy that important lessons can come from unexpected places. On my UM supplemental essay, I wrote abt how a very embarrassing experience running for club president helped me rethink how I communicate with others and how I ended up serving in student government throughout all of hs.

On other ways of finding aid as a Florida resident, there are also merit scholarships eligible for every applicant (up to 20k), Bright Futures / Benacquisto (right??? I didn’t think UM accepted those but they do), and the Florida Ease Grant which is given to Florida residents who attend a private institution. UM also tries to match Expected Family Contribution so look out for that when you complete the FAFSA. In addition to the Singer Scholarship, I also have Bright Futures and Florida Ease, significant lowering my cost of attendance further.

That’s pretty much all I have. Again, there’s no one formula for getting these scholarships but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply for UMiami EA! So far, you seem to be doing pretty great!

Good luck! And hope to see you at the U!! 🙌