And yet we frequently get news reports saying US college undergraduates are learning and gaining less and less, especially in terms of soft skills. Ironically next to these are ads showing off "affordable degrees".

They do have really respected graduate research institutions though. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Caltech, Johns Hopkins......

That would be the ideal scholarship, assuming it paid for certain living expenses as well (namely accommodation).

You will find that many scholarships that do pay for accommodation come with a significant bond (employment). You will "pay back" either using money or labour.

On the other hand, some people take loans and do not pay them back, even if the interest charged is little. This is extremely unethical but (in our country's lax climate) more effective than a scholarship that includes a bond, in some cases.

Furman and USD 20,000. Nice.

There are many scholarships from overseas institutions for students which are based entirely on academic merit. In those instances, "co-curriculum marks" may not be a factor.

Not very well I'm afraid. Plenty of straight A* students (for A Level) get denied scholarships... but they usually get to the interview stage of scholarships which are (mostly) not discriminatory.

If you posted in a thread, and you want to get updates, you may track the topic (scroll up and click track this topic). The subscription should alert you and I think you can control the settings in the user control panel.

Otherwise, you'll get notified near the top of the screen if someone replies to your post directly, but not if they replied to multiple persons.

Not so sure about all of this, not a mod or superuser

Whether it's for commencing students or not is a separate issue.

An unconditional offer from a school means your application for admission has been successful - you will be admitted should you accept such an offer, with no further academic requirements.

Not sure what you're going on about with mid-year offers... all depends on where you're going...

Unless you've been admitted into Oxbridge, your best bet would be to attend a university which will give you a scholarship!

There likely are virtually none, if you're looking for government owned firms or private firms.

Your best bet would be to narrow down the universities and apply directly for their scholarships (these are mostly available from North America and the Asia Pacific), so sufficient funds for living costs would be necessary.

Could depend on your definition of Arts. Economics? Other Social Sciences? Philosophy? Politics? International Relations? Art and Design?

If you can't afford fees and do not receive any aid from the school, yeah they'll exclude you (kick you out). Or, you'll be suspended until fees are paid. As in you may still be included as a student but not studying anything.

I don't know any Design schools, can't really help you out.

Doh. It's a scholarship. Attach sufficient results, and include all good results.

Yes, they do that. Call it corporate inefficiency. Or just under-productive labour. But that's how they do it, and you have to adapt, go through a lot of crap to get it right. But it's a scholarship, it's a lot of money... I think it outweighs the cost of your time.