I’m a national merit finalist and didn’t get the $2500 national merit scholar award, however, I indicated UF as my top choice school and got their $500 college-sponsored award. I’m a Florida resident so I got $6,360 from bright futures for tuition plus a $600 textbook stipend. Yesterday morning, the Benacquisto scholarship of $13,750 appeared in my financial aid portal. Between bright futures, national merit, and Benacquisto, I have the full estimated cost of attendance for two semesters ($21,210) already in my UF account. This was before confirming my enrollment and paying the tuition deposit at UF (which I did yesterday afternoon AFTER the Benacquisto scholarship appeared), but after I completed everything for housing.
xxyyzz00 and NJDad00, are you two related, like father and son. But not knowing each other?
I had a similar situation a few years ago. My daughter was posting and answering me, I answering her. One day, I can’t help laughing, I was talking to my daughter on the internet !! You really don’t know if it is a hidden dragon/ crunching tiger on the other side, or it is just your dear son/ daughter . LOL !!!
@SteyrFWB – 
No, my DS has no interest in posting, but clearly they are confronting the same difficult choices!!!
@NJDad00, per @SteyrFWB , if the competition at UF premed track is tougher than Harvard/Stanford, UCF BMS seems to be more logical choice. Given the level of competition, my first objective is to secure admission into a medical school rather than possible admission to higher ranked med schools.
I wonder how many premeds there are as freshman at UF. We know that ~850 apply from UF to med schools. This would have given us a rough estimate for the weed-out ratio.
@xxyyzz00 – I wouldn’t go too crazy trying to quantify every variable. You could never calculate a weed out ratio, because you can’t know how many students end up applying to med school who didn’t enter as pre med!
I wouldn’t take as gospel that the pre med track at any particular school is tougher than at any other. Too many variables. Harvard has more higher stat students than UF, so is the UF track harder, or are the students as a whole just not as talented? For what it’s worth, no set of statistics can tell you where you would fall in any group. Harvard could have a 90% placement rate into med school, and you could be in its bottom 10%. Conversely, UF could have a 40% placement rate ( i.e., tougher track) and you could be at the top of its class. Which group would you rather be in?
The question you should be asking is not whether UF is tougher than Harvard, but whether it’s easier to get a 3.75 at UCF than to get into med school from UF!
@SteyrFWB --:). It’s a strong possibility for us. I haven’t been paying attention. Did you choose BMS over UF honors?
Maybe we can have another roll call for those considering UCF or UF or have already decided on one of them? I am in the UCF camp (with BMS, but I’m also highly covering the PA route and may drop BMS after shadowing a PA over the summer)! There is also a thread specifically for UCF NMF in the National Merit Scholarships section of CC.
@sewin2music : 75% UCF BMS, 25% UF.
On an unrelated issue to roll call, I think UCF will be forced to prop up its NMF offering (perks and support, not necessarily $) even more in the next few years if it still want to compete with UF in attracting NMFs. UF will be swamped with NMFs (perhaps in the order of 1000) next year.
@ollie113 My daughter just got accepted to UM because she did regular decision and even with the scholarships and grants they offered it is still quite expensive to go. What did they tell you when you inquired about the Benacquisto scholarship for OOS students? She is a NMF and has not received any of the other NM awards and still has her first choice school listed as undecided.
@shep0410 , I have received conflicting reports from UM re OOS NMF Benacquisto. I do not think they have a game plan yet. They don’t even have a notice from the State FA office that the bill was signed. At first I was told Benacquisto would stack on other merit scholarships up to full cost of attendance, then I was told it would “only” stack up to full tuition. If you get any info please post it here!
@shep0410 Like @vistajay, I am also getting no solid information from UM. I have two pending calls/emails but am not expecting replies anytime soon. Due to some physical hardship, we will not be able to visit UM, and so it has fallen out of contention unless my D really dislikes the schools she’s visiting next week.
Here is a crazy idea that we should relay to Luke@UCF. UCF should reduce MCAT and GPA requirements in the BMS program. Like HPME@NU, ~3.4 GPA should suffice. Then, we wouldn’t have to ponder about UF vs UCF question this much. UCF should start thinking along these lines if it still wants to draw NMFs (against UF).
@ollie113 @vistajay when I called admissions today they told me that my daughter would be eligible for the Benacquisto scholarship and that it would add onto the scholarships they have already given her. They wouldn’t elaborate on whether it could cover more than just tuition or if she would lose her grant in the process. They said they won’t know the amount of the scholarship until July. I don’t know what we will do yet.
The State of Florida DOE doesn’t update the laws on their books until July 1st. I would imagine it might take until then to see $ in a college account for OOs Benacquisto.
@Phlipper No, June 22nd is the move in day for summer. I’m staying in Neptune in the summer, and Northview in the fall. Move in for fall is august 18th I think, and both towers and northview have the annual lease, but it goes from fall 2018- summer 2019, so I needed neptune for housing for this summer. In every college in Florida, everyone is required to do 9 credits over the summer (any summer). Many people do it freshman year. I decided to apply for summer so I could get 6/9 of the credits out of the way now, and because most of my friends were leaving in the summer for their colleges too anyway, so I would’ve been bored at home. And another huge plus is that you get used to the zchool when there’s not so many peoole there rather than coming in with tens of thousands of other people in the fall. Maybe I’ll meet your daughter in a few months!
@GertrudeMcFuzz The dinner was really nice! I didn’t attend the scholars day on Saturday because I went to the march for our lives, so I can just tell you about the dinner. At first, we got to mingle with different people from the school. Then, we sat down at a table with another family and a professor and another woman who worked with the school and the nms program. They tried to put people at tables with people from the school who have to do with their major. Then, the president had a talk about the future of ucf, which was cool to hear. Then we got to take a picture with the outgoing and incoming presidents which was cool. They really made you feel like they wanted you there which is nice
@saxynerd I take it from your screen name you are in band? My daughter plays the French horn and is excited about marching band in the fall. Maybe you can march together !
DS received an email from Alabama today (he was accepted there but chose not to attend) that they have increased their package from NMF to include four years of on-campus housing instead of just one year. Good news for any NMF planning to attend there.
@LOUKYDAD 2019 parent of possible NMSF here. UA is already towards top of S19’s list as he qualifies for presidential elite there based on current merit offerings. Did they indicate if this will continue going forward with future NMF classes?