Whoo!! Pennsylvania National Merit Finalist!!
@xxyyzz00 If I am going to be perfectly honest, it was really just a gut feeling. I have toured a total of 7 universities (including UCF, UTD, UCI, UCSD, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, and San Diego State U) throughout this process and when it comes down to it, UCF just felt good! I don’t exactly know how to explain it… At 4 of those universities, I just didn’t really “click” with the university for various reasons (ie. Where are the students/empty campus, architecture, campus vibe). At 2 of them, I could see my self going there and being successful but I didn’t really “feel” anything. At UCF, I was excited, I didn’t want to leave, I could just see my self fitting in with the honors college, studying in the library, joining their million clubs. I didn’t know that you could feel that way about a university! When I went to the NM Director’s forum(NMSM event) in November at UCF, one of the student representatives said something really interesting that stuck with me till now:
“I know that all of us(the student reps) are STEM majors and there are a lot of STEM majors out there, but we always whant to do things statisically. We want a statisical breakdown of this is why you should chose here, here are the numbers of why you should chose here, and this is why this is the best decision for you. Well sometimes it’s not like that. Sometimes you just have a gut feeling when you walk on campus, and I didn’t have that immediate gut feeling anywhere else.”
This didn’t exactly make sense to me until I was done touring all the campuses, when I realized that UCF just felt so different from the other campuses; I truly believe that this is true. For UCF, I have researched so much about their facts, statistics, biomed degree plan, burnett medical scholars, their clubs on campus, outdoor adventure programs, honors congress events, ballroom knights dance classes, acappella groups, rec group classes, student/parent facebook groups, etc. What can I say, when I’m interested (to say the least) in something, I want to know everything there is to know; gather all the information, synthesize, make a decision. All of this helps, but it’s not why I chose UCF. It is very important but it’s also very ancillary. Where do you want to wake up for the next 4 years? Where do you want to learn? To meet life long friends? To propel yourself into your career? I am by no means saying “chose UCF”, you can hate it for all that matters, but rather think about it for all the other universities. Perhaps use your numbers to narrow the list down to 2-3 universities then try to visit. (Btw- If you ask nicely, the university may pay for flight fare, hotels, etc 
) Just something to think about! You may think I’m crazy but that’s ok too.
@xxyyzz00 continued…
To answer your other question, yes that out of state tuition is skyhigh! I have definitely looked into establishing FL residency but it’s a tricky. I’m not sure if 4yrs of undergrad should count towards their, I believe, 2 yr residency requirement. But my parents are also thinking about using FL for residency and retire internationally. I haven’t figured it out yet but that will be one of my first questions if I am admitted to the BS/MD program. I am not too worried though because 1) bsmd/med school is not the main reason why I chose UCF and 2) it is a nonbinding program, meaning while yes, your spot will be saved at UCF’s med school, you can still apply and go else where.
@sewin2music: Thank you for the detailed reply, and I certainly hear you, but since I still don’t have a gut feeling for any university, I am working with the numbers to think clearly. As you said, it might be helpful to shorten the list. As of now, I have:
Parameters Weight
COA 10
Prestige 10
GPA 10
Backup quality 10
Weed-out ratio 10
Cultural fit 10
MD success rate 9
Research 8
HC student level 8
HC quality 8
Premed advising 8
Shadowing 6
Student level 6
Med-school quality 6
Dorm 5
Location 5
Weather 5
Volunteering 4
Food 4
COA: Out-of-pocket expenses after all scholarships accounted for
Prestige: How the school is perceived by the potential employers and general public. How likely it will open doors for you in the future?
GPA: How hard is to maintain a good GPA? What is the average GPA? Grade distribution curves etc.
Backup quality: If you change your major from premed to other majors, are the other majors reputable? Is it easy to change majors?
Weedout ratio: What percentage of the incoming fresman premed survive to the 4th year and apply to med schools?
Cultural fit: How is the vibe, atmosphere, culture of the school? Is it a good fit? For instance, I am shy so stuctured clubs make it easy for me to meet people
MD success rate: What percentage of the med school applicants from this college gets accepted to a medical school; where are they accepted into?
Research: How easy/hard to get involved in a research project?
HC student level: The average test scores of the students in the honors college/program
HC quality: How much honors college helps you prepare and how different from the regular program etc.
Premed advising: Quality of the premed advising
Shadowing: How easy to find shadowing/clinical experience opportunities and how nearby?
Student level: Average test scores of the incoming freshman
Med-school quality: Ranking of the medical school
Dorm: Dorm quality/price
Location: How close to family; urban/metro etc
Weather: Self-explanatory
Volunteering: How easy to find meaningful community volunteering opportunities nearby
Food: Food quality, price, long lines etc.
My best guess marks for UCF :
Parameters UCF
COA 10
Prestige 3
GPA 5
Backup quality 3
Weed-out ratio 5
Cultural fit 7
MD success rate 8
Research 7
HC student level 7
HC quality 8
Premed advising 7
Shadowing 7
Student level 4
Med-sch quality 6
Dorm 8
Location 8
Weather 8
Volunteering 7
Food 5
What would be your marks for UCF, UNM, UTD, ASU, UMN, OU, TAMU etc?
It seems that UNM would be as good as UCF or even better if it had combined BS/MD.
Anyhow, I need to collect a lot of data to arrive at a decision.
@sewin2music: US News states that UCF medical school tuition rate for OOS:
full-time: $26,874 (out-of-state) (copy-pasted)
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/university-of-central-florida-04156
This is quite cheap for OOS. My question was that if there is an error there, since other sources quote it differently.
@xxyyzz00 you might add what AP/DE class will each school acccept toward your degree to your list. Personally I’d put COA way higher than 10 points.
@Phlipper Thanks for the comforting info about the winter. That seems to be the only thing worried us. She’s thinking psychology/pre-med track, UMN has been consistently ranked top 10 for her major.
@chercheur DD got into UMN honor program, and hopefully there’s another 10K national scholarship for OOS coming. If that’s the case, The total for 4 years would be $84,000. OU is 16,000 + 13,200 + 13,200 + 10,600 + (3,700 x 4 personal/travel allowance) = $67,800
Psychology at UMN is one of the best programs in the nation. Child is top 10 and Clinical top 5. @netopspin what college is your D joining - CLA or CEHD?
Last year it seemed that all of the OOS NMF’s got the National as well as the Gold.
@netopspin: I would have chosen UMN @ $84K over OU @ 68K. But, are you certain that 4-year COA is $144K for UMN. I read somewhere that UMN plans to increase OOS tuition a few thousand $ per year for the next few years. If that is the case, UMN 4-year-COA would be more like $160K.
^^ Addendum: they also got $5,000 Presidential. For a top 5-10 program that’s a pretty good deal.
@xxyyzz00 - they are, until it reaches about the middle of the OOS tuition range for the Big 10. It’s currently still on the low side. However, they should be done with that in a year or two and they don’t raise current student tuition as much as new student. Expect a 15% increase over this year’s tuition for next year (that’s been proposed and likely will be accepted). However, as mentioned above, it seemed that the OOS’er NMF’s last year were looking at up to $25,000 / year in scholarship money which really will cover most, if not all, of that differential. They love NMF’s at UMN.
And sorry about being Suzy Sunshine here but I live in MN and visit the UMN Twin Cities campus quite often. I would LOVE one of my kids to attend and I say this as a person from the West who also spent 13 years in Chicago before relocating here (full disclosure - they don’t / won’t, in part because they want to get away and experience a new place.
Even my NMF from last year is OOS right now).
The U campus is like it’s own community with transportation, housing, food/restaurants and buildings - and is surrounded by a wonderful metro. I use the Gopher Way whenever I visit campus - was just at Wilson Library with my youngest for History Day Hullabaloo (sponsored by UMN) and we parked across the street from Carlson, walked right to the skyway from the garage, and it’s all indoors from there. My parka is in the trunk of my car - I never wear a coat when going out because MN plans so well for cold weather that you are comfortable about 95% of the time. And around here, we see students wearing shorts till it’s REALLY cold just because they are using the Gopher Way to get to most of their classes.
It’s farther north so days are shorter than most of the country - but we get fewer cloudy days than in Chicago. It wouldn’t be the location of so many Fortune 500’s if the place were unbearable.
Also, it’s heavily skewed to MN and WI residents. But that’s an issue with all state colleges.
@xxyyzz00 I just checked UCF’s med school site and it says $56k for OOS tuition. Always check back at the source, that other one was a typo
@sewin2music: Thanks! I tried to look it up at the UCF website but couldn’t find it.
@JBStillFlying I concur on the school of psychology. I graduated with a BA in psych and thought the quality of coursework and access to opportunities to work on research was outstanding. #SkiUMah
@JBStillFlying CLA, she wants to be on clinic side, be a psychiatrist some day.
They’re redoing some of the dorms. I went back this Christmas and they had torn down Pioneer Hall almost to the ground to start on a total renovation. I’d love to see how much its changed since the days when I lived and worked there in the early 80’s
And by worked there I don’t mean taught there, I worked in the beloved old Pioneer hall cafeteria!
@xxyyzz00 Below is my understanding of Texas A&M’s National Merit Finalist package:
$12,000 ($3,000 x 4 years) President’s Endowed Scholarship
$1,000 ($1,000 x 1 year) Study Abroad Stipend
$28,000 ($7,000 x 4 years) NM Award
$2,000 ($500 x 4 years) NM Sponsorship
$3,000 ($3,000 x 1 year) NM Supplement
$46,000 TOTAL for 4 years
You will also receive an OOS tuition waiver.
Other scholarships from the department or honors, etc. will stack.
GPA requirement to keep the scholarship is 3.5
https://scholarships.tamu.edu/scholarship-programs/national-scholars#0-NationalMeritScholars
First time commenting here on cc, though I’ve perused various threads for quite some time.
Here’s my intro:
We’re anticipating the big news this week that DS18 is a NMF, here in Minn. Over the past year, he looked at a number of college options and visited several schools - including big schools and selective LACs. Given his plan to major in CS, plus our financial status, he really honed in on schools that are strong in CS, and that offer nice merit packages for NMFs. Beyond those basic parameters, DS18 decided he wants to attend a large school, preferably in a warmer climate. A “name brand” school was not important to our son.
Last spring, during a trip to Florida to attend the wedding of a family member, we set aside a day to visit UCF. It was his first college visit, and though several other college visits would follow, UCF was easily his top choice and it’s easy to understand why: there’s a real positive energy about the place. Every person we met on campus had nothing but positive things to say about UCF. Our son applied to and was accepted - first to the university, then to Burnett Honors College - last fall. He is really psyched, which is saying something given his laid back personality. The enthusiasm expressed in comments up thread by @sewin2music are right on target - if a NMF student from outside Florida is willing to attend a school farther from home, and if parents support it, I strongly recommend visiting UCF.
Coincidentally, I’m a UMN alum, and DS18 applied and was also accepted to UMN. Very interesting comments and viewpoints on this thread regarding UMN and UCF.
Here’s my take on UMN versus UCF:
UMN is a fine university with a long, rich history of academic excellence. Some of the grad programs are top world class. It’s right in the middle of a vibrant metropolitan area. Very cold in the winter, true, but some OOS students prefer the colder climate if they’re from a state with sweltering heat. But let’s face it: at the undergrad level there is just not a big difference in the quality of education between places like UMN and UCF - especially in areas like engineering and CS where UCF has a solid reputation among employers for turning out excellent graduates.