@oneplus - Tour as many universities as you can. We visited four of the schools (OU, TTU, UTD, UNM) that offer full ride or near full ride scholarships, and my S came away with very clear preferences that were very different from what we thought they would be on paper.
One big plus for UTD over TAMU is they directly admit you to your major, no weed out classes to slog through.
@oneplus TAMU has 60k students at the CStat campus. Since you visited, you prob found out that it’s a full 20 minute walk from buildings near the stadium over to the engineering buildings. The campus is huge. Brand new eng buildings opening this fall. Their facilities have the best of everything. Alumni connections post grad are excellent. More so if you plan to stay in Texas after graduation. Value wise it’s one of the best deals in the state. It’s not a fit for my DD as it’s too big and doesn’t appeal to her for other reasons.
I personally thought UTD was interesting if not lacking a bit of its own individual character. For CS or STEM it’s prob a good choice. Being in greater DFW is a plus for internships, etc. CDS shows it skews quite a bit more male than female, so take that for what it’s worth.
The guaranteed full ride at UCF with honors college is worth investigating as well.
@3scoutsmom Yes since my DD is waffling on majors that is important to her too. At TAMU, for engineering at least, you are pre engineering the first year but if you make a 3.5 you are guaranteed any engineering major.
Oklahoma State University also has a very generous NMF package. I haven’t been there personally, but a friend took her son there for the prospective NMF tour and they were quite impressed.
@oneplus when you start comparing different NM packages make sure you look at what is required to maintain the scholarship a 3.5 is much easier to maintain in high school than in college!
@3scoutsmom @traveler98 …do u have to apply separately to UTD honors? Do all NMF automatically get in?
@priya2015 it’s not automatic but you don’t have to fill out an application. You just need to send an e-mail explaining that you are a National Merit student and want to be included in the CV honors program. It’s import to do this because being part of the honors program is want gives you early registration.
@3scoutsmom…thank you very much
Yes about GPA to maintain scholarships! For anyone looking at UNM, it’s 3.3 to maintain the NMF part, and 3.0 to maintain the OOS tuition waiver.
In addition, you have to take at least 15 units each semester. If you have a 14 unit semester, they want you to pick up the extra unit somewhere - a 1 unit activity (PE) class, a 1 unit independent study, etc. Or just take an extra class and go to 17 units.
My son made it to NMF…but he was rejected by Upenn which was his first choice. We do not know which school will offer him admission. So in that scenario should we go undecided ? Will we lose anything if we go undecided ?
Also what is NMF Tour ,is there any advantage of attending NMF Tour, I did not see any information about it in the letter which came home so wondering what it is and how to get more information.
This is our first child so we are new to this process and looking for guidance. He will be talking to his counselor to see what should be the next steps, but of course this forum has always given me a different perspective and looking forward to hear from parents who have similar situation.
Thanks
I am going through the process for the 1st time as well, but there was a helpful NMF timeline on posts #837 & 838 from @ccsouth
My understanding is you should list his college choice as undecided for now. It may help the more experienced members answer your questions if you’ll list the other colleges your student applied to.
@phemrajani do any of the schools on your sons list offer big NM scholarships? If so, these schools generally offer tours geared to their National Merit/Honors program. It’s usually more personal than general tours.
Personally I think it is best to list a school that offers big $$$ for National Merit so you have a financial back up, you can always go back and change it if you need it and it doesn’t commit you to actually attending that school.
@phemrajani Some schools have special recruitment officers for National Merit students. UT Dallas does. So does University of Oklahoma. When you call to schedule a tour, it can be helpful to say that your student is a National Merit Finalist, and ask if there’s a different office you should contact. Note that this only applies to the subsection of schools that offer the large NMF scholarships. The average Ivy or LAC won’t have anything special for NMFs.
At places like UTD and OU, the tour process is different for potential NMF students. You may meet with professors or administrators that non-NMF students wouldn’t. You may be escorted by a tour guide who is a staff member instead of a student, and your tour group may consist of just yourselves (private tour), or just other NMF students. You may be offered swag (hats, t-shirts, application fee waivers) or free parking / a free lunch that non-NMF students wouldn’t get.
The NMF recruiting office may set up appointments for your student to visit specific departments or facilities of interest.
Examples: At Texas Tech, we had meetings with the Dean of the Honors College, the head of the biology department (with lab tour) and the pre-med advisor. We were driven from appointment to appointment, and we were offered a free lunch meeting with a pre-med student from the Honors College so we could ask her questions. All of this was arranged by the NMF recruiter, and was in addition to the standard walking tour. OU and UTD do something very similar.
NMF tours are arranged by the individual schools, not by NMSC, and not every school has one, so that’s why it’s not in the letter.
UNM, btw, doesn’t have a separate NMF recruiter or special tours. You do the regular campus tour and housing tour, and you can make appointments with advisors / professors, but you have to do it yourself.
Thanks @3scoutsmom, @chercheur and @DiotimaDM for your inputs. Will check the previous posts and also check what colleges offer for NMF. We might also check UTD, we had not applied for it but now may consider it.
@oneplus I sent email to the TAMU national scholars office regarding the process for securing the NMF scholarship, and for the following response. I interpret it to mean you don’t have to submit a FAFSA (we have not) but doing so may open up other scholarship opportunities.
Howdy Mr XXXX!
Congratulations on your daughter’s Finalist achievement! We recommend that all students complete the FAFSA as it ensures that students are reviewed for all potential awards. Also, I checked AIS (student portal) and it shows that XXX’s Scholarship application was received on 10/7/2017. Please also ensure that Texas A&M is Hannah’s first choice. As for the National Merit Finalist award, XXX will receive a guaranteed scholarship package of $10,500/year for four years. At the Finalist standing, she will be awarded over $4,000 in competitive scholarships so this means she would also receive a non-resident tuition waiver which covers the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition costs. (Finalist=$10,500/year + non-resident waiver)
@phemrajani Yes the NMF student can stay undecided until the May 31 deadline. The NMSC college sponsored awards are max $2k per year. The college may have different criteria for their own scholarships that are based on NMF though. Example Baylor offers full tuition plus (Regents Gold) to NMF. The direct college scholarships outside of NMSC are generally much more $$. Most will just require NMF student to select them as their first choice college by May 31. Each college will list what they offer and what their requirements are. The popular colleges with large awards should have lots of info on CC as well.
Visit report for UCF: (typing on an iPad, pardon any spelling errors).
We had a terrific visit. We met with the dean of Burnett, then had lunch & a tour with 3 lovely NM students. They are all very happy with their choice & mentioned the great relief of not having to worry about money amongst all the other things going on. Highlights:
- campus is nice, lots of construction going on, & to those of us from desert climates, quite green
- dorms are spectacular, nuf said
- NMF and all Burnett students get tons of support & advising.
- the financial offer is jaw dropping when they lay it out on paper. If the student opts for less expensive housing or meal plan, they are funded at the same level & keep the leftover.
More later, but suffice to say I would be thrilled if D chose to attend.
@GertrudeMcFuzz: Thank you for the short and to the point visit report. Greatly appreciated.
One of my worries about UCF is the ability to register for any course because of the size of the student body size. I know that the BHC students get priority registration in theory. Wondering if this is indeed the case in practice. That is, they get any course they want without any problems whatsoever. Does any of the NMF students mention anything about this? Or in general, do they mention anything negative about the school.
UCF seems to provide an excellent value proposition for premeds. Hard to see any downside. Sure, the USNWR ranking may not be the best, but it is largely irrelevant to premeds. The student population is huge and that creates various problems but that issue is also taken care of by the BHC. Is there anything else on the downside I am missing. Almost too good!!!
Too many transfer-in students seem to hurt the reputation (may be its quality as well) of UCF. I hope as it rises through the rankings, it cuts down the transfer-in students from CCs.
I guess one of the most important parameters is whether the current NMFs are happy. It sounds like at least those three that @GertrudeMcFuzz met were happy with their choices.
@xxyyzz00, I had the same thoughts about UCF too. Initially, we were planning to visit UTD and UCF, but likely just go to UTD.