First class mail takes about the same amount of time regardless of distance, but weather dependent (we have had some missing mail days this winter because of weather). I think that schools will get the letters starting tomorrow. It just depends if they get mail early in the day or late in the day! :-S
Iām expecting that Thursday will be when we receive the letters in the Rocky Mtns. Soon after I receive the letter I will post confirmation.
@mtrosemomā¦our school says that they have the post office hold mail over the weekend. I seriously hope we donāt have to wait until Monday to find out. @hhooperā¦thank you very much.
Anyone who gets a confirmation from the school please let us know the general area you are fromā¦if you donāt mind.
@Tgirlfriend As a homeschooler waiting in Texas, I should get mail in my parentsā name as āschool officialsā over this next week. Will post the instant I hear news!
Liberal Artsā¦ the idea that paying a tuition of 300k retail at Rice for a liberal arts degree without a reasonable payback timeā¦ ORIGINATED with the admissions office at RICEā¦ not with me.
By the same token, no purely STEM degree w/o liberal arts will go all that far, certainly not into medical school, for example. Some of the great analysts, be they from the āhonestā days on Wall Street to folks like Carl Sagan had superior liberal arts backgrounds. PERIOD. Ours will minor in at least two languages while questing for an engineering degree as well as having prepared for study abroad for at least a year. 7 years of Spanish and German and his AP and national language tests show the work, top 1%. Good schools also require the core particularly Honors Colleges if not the general curriculum, with some sorry exceptions. UT Dallas is very very weak on the liberal arts side, but will offer amazing scholarships and great STEM. O.U. is strong everywhere as an alternative example.
STEM students who drank the Kool-aid as well as Liberal Arts folks who drank their Kool-aid share the same risks going forward. The question is, how do you invest appropriately for the first degree, and at what cost, regardless. NMF people are in a lucky spot in some cases and have a great luxury, while 10ās of thousands of folks will not have the same.
Sure code writers are going to be replaced by algoās and all the rest. So what do you study for? The level that is next.
A long long time ago, a whole bunch of people did all the weaving by hand on hand driven looms. Then came the industrial revolutionā¦ each and every one of them replaced en mass. They then did something else. Or at least their children did, and life went onward.
Study for that far off but not so distant new status quo. After all, isnāt that why you are going to college?
Nobody is pro stem or pro liberal artsā¦ or against either.
The real question is, how do you forge your place in the world and at what price initially, and then again after you graduate.
It is going to be a brave brave new world for the class of 2021 and those who follow.
It is not a joke.
Love your subject, but donāt love it so well you hurt yourself by being oblivious to obvious practicalities.
The world of second chances if one makes a mistake is and will be ever smaller.
Choose well, study hard, like always, and keep the eye on the bigger ballā¦ be practical too.
Donāt be a snowflake. Nobody will care. Except for your parents. And maybe a couple of friends.
Please, can we keep this discussion to National Merit Finalist discussions. Feel free to start another thread about liberal arts and itās perceived value. Thank you.
Honestly, I donāt expect flame wars in a NM fingers crossed thread. In the past we have all supported each other, not tried to tear down each otherās choices. If I want nastiness Iāll go hang out on Reddit.
Iād say college confidential is a lot nastier. I like the content here, but the people can often be a little rude.
Gently and politely, trying to move this back to the topic at handā¦
No letter received here (NC) yet. Iāll post as soon as either my son letās me know his college counselor has advised him of some news or we receive a letter.
Will you all be updating all your colleges (not just those with NMF money) about finalist designation? Seems like the right thing to do but itās not always clear to me how to go about doing thatā¦and for those with NMF scholarships is it necessary? For example USCā¦if they accept you do they just check themselves that you are NMF and have listed them?
I am nmf semi finalist. I have applied for 10 colleges. BU
is one of my colleges and it wants the applicants to select BU as first choice. Doing so will all the 10 colleges be notified or can all 10 colleges can see my choice?
We are still listed as undecided. Her first choice school sponsors NMF who list the school as #1, but she already qualifies for a full tuition scholarship based on their matrix for GPA/ACT alone. So we donāt WANT to list a first choice in hopes that NM wonāt dismiss her from consideration for the 2500 (which the school would allow her to stack ) just because the school does sponsor some NMF. She is also eligible for 6000 for meeting requirements by the state regents board of ed, so that helps toward room and board. But who knows if she will be lucky enough for one of the $2500 awards. We just continue to wait and seeā¦
@slaudsmom - so if you list a #1 choice at a school you canāt be considered for NMF internal money? S listed a school that gives a small amount to NMF but this school is not necessarily his first choice. Other schools heād like donāt give any NMF money (he has to be accepted first).
Iām in Illinois, about an hour from Evanston. I have 3 semester Cās all in math. I have a very tough schedule and my school grades on a 93-100 A, 85-92 B, etc scale. I havenāt gotten a rejection letter yet, so I am hoping that I maybe get a certificate today or tomorrow; something I never expected to happen. Fingers crossed.
@MA2012 I donāt know what the process is, tbh. But we know if the school sponsors her for NMF she wonāt get any more than what they are already giving her for their normal merit schol (full tuition), and we didnāt want to chance that NM would dismiss her from consideration for the 2500 just because her school sponsors some. Either way, we arenāt counting on anything extra above her full tuition for her gpa/act per the schoolās matrix, but more would be nice! Overall we feel grateful just yo be where we are at considering education costs.
We are listed as undecided for NMF status stillā¦OUā¦Alabama give pretty good NMF scholarships however from what I have heard Rice does not. We will be listing either OU or Alabama in the coming weeks. I donāt think we should list Rice if they donāt give any merit money for it.
@nutmeg_shippy ā¦thank you very much. I know there are several of us from the Great State of Texas and would love any information you have.
As of yesterdayā¦no word from the school about a letterā¦not that I really thought there would be. This week really needs to get a move on it. lol I think the closer it gets to finding out the more nervous I get. The good thing is my S doesnāt seem bothered by it at all. Good luck to everyone!!!
From what I have read, listing a school as your #1 NM choice is one of the last things you do - the deadline is not until May 1st. In the cases of the schools we are looking at, the NMF scholarships are automatic so long as you make that May 1st designation deadline. My recommendation is to not designate any #1 choice until you have all the schoolsā offers on the table, which they should do regardless of whether you have designated them as your #1 for NM purposes.
BTW - Iām in Texas and have not yet been notified by our high school of the arrival of the NMF letter.
@somebodysdad I agree 100%!! Very good advise. Thank you for sharing.
I agree with @somebodysdad that listing your choice of schools is the last thing you do before you accept to the school. S is also listed as āundecidedā on his form because he is still deciding between schools that offer great NMF scholarships. @MA2012, you can have your DC log back into their account on their NMC portal and change their choice from a designated school to undecided. Then check with whichever school they decide on to see if there is a hard fast date that they have to designate a school. I think that it is around April 1 for many schools.