I saw that on their website, but do you know anyone who goes to school there? What is like?
They had it last year on their website too. Do you know anyone who goes there?
No idea but your student can reach out and ask to speak to a student ambassador.
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Did you ask in the VCU forum?
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Itâs a state school with an urban campus in the heart of Richmond, Virginia. It has especially strong programs in the arts â especially the visual arts â and leans toward a more artsy vibe. Itâs also affiliated with the Virginia Medical College, so Iâd imagine the life sciences programs are pretty strong, though I donât know anyone specifically who has studied that. The admit rate is pretty high. It was my safety school years ago, but I know parents whose kids are attending now or have recently graduated and I encouraged my kid to give it look.
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The 70% is out of date â Fordham may still says that on their website but wasnât true last year. They still offer it to some smaller subset (which they did not state beyond acknowledging it wasnât 70%) and lesser amounts to others. Anecdotally, less than half the people on a topic here and another forum who were tracking this received the full scholarship.
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I hate when schools do this: advertise a NMF scholarship, admit you then say, sorry you donât get the scholarship after all. Boston University does the same thing.
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At the University of Tulsa, we will guarantee NMSFs the best package in the country. Come check us out. Thereâs a reason 25% of our new 1st year class are National Merit students.
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We went to a reception for honors at Texas Tech yesterday, so if anyone is interested in their full cost of attendance scholarship they only give out about 30 of those per year. I think itâs first come, first served, but I have the contact info for the program coordinator if anyone wants to follow up.
I was also really impressed with their honors program. Itâs very high touch, and in addition to the day 1 paid research opportunities, they have a bunch of nice add ons. 100% of honors kids get scholarships for study abroad. They also have a program for what they call externships, which are a couple of day placements within government or agency (the dean gave an example of a kid who spent a day with the State Department followed by a day at the FBI) to get advice or mentoring about career options, with the school picking up all travel expenses and even professional attire for the student. They get sorted into houses in Honors and compete for a House Cup. It seems like they are committed to the model of treating high achieving academics like Division I athletics.
Honors classes in humanities are capped at 25 and in STEM at 35. They also have a new option for honors credit if there is a conflict or some reason a student cannot or chooses not to take an honors section. The faculty of the non-honors sections has agreed to additional engagement with the honors cohort of the section only, whether that be additional small group class time, or an additional engaging activity.
The dean of the honors college is a professor in the Philosophy department and was quite impressive. Once a month, she brings griddles to the honors dorm and cooks pancakes and bacon for the students for breakfast, which seems like a nice personal touch.
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Do you know personally of kids who got in and didnât receive the NMF scholarship? What did BU say to them? Sort of false advertising if you ask me.
Unless they say how many will get the scholarship. UCF says they have 40 scholarships for OOS students. The state used to pay for them but when they stopped, UCF couldnât afford to give unlimited NMF scholarships (plus their other scholarships). I think it is fair to limit the number, but they should be up front about it.
Of course you wonât know if you get one of the 40 until later in the process.
UT Dallas guarantees their National Merit Scholarship to all accepted NMSFs (that listed UTD as their first choice prior to the deadline). I hope that other schools that have limited NM scholarships notify students that are not getting their NM scholarship before the cut off date to change their first choice school.
I thought the last day to pick the first choice was May 31, after the May 1 date most schools use for acceptances.
Not every school has the budget to give a scholarship to all NMF. I just think they should be open about their policies.
Different schools have different deadlines for naming the 1st choice. For example, BUâs is March 1.
Looks like UTDallas scholarship is only for NMFs, not NMSFs. Tulsa is an example of a school that gives its top scholarship to NMSFs as well as NMFs.
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The vast majority of NMSF become NMF - basically you need a recommendation from your school, decent grades, mostly A;s and Bâs in 9th-11th grade (but Iâve heard of a few cases that made it with a C) a confirming score from either the SAT or ACT (I donât recall what this score was but it wasnât crazy high) and a basic essay.
The kids that donât make it either donât fill out the paper work (some just donât care about NM), have a history of discipline problems, donât take SAT or ACT or donât send in their scores, or write a really snarky essay about about how stupid the National Merit program is. Yes sadly, Iâve heard of students doing this because they didnât believe anyone would read their essays - because of this our high school has a policy that the GC wonât release the recommendation until after they have read and approved the student essay. Our high school averages around 35 NMS a year and rarely have students not move one from NMSF to NMF.
From how I understood it last year, the offers for the 40 OOS went by the order in which UCF received both the enrollment deposit and the notice that they were listed as the 1st choice school. Then I assume by acceptance of the NMF scholarship offer.As long as you do things in a timely way, and UCF is your top choice, it seems like youâd get the scholarship.
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Daughter surprised us and is NMSF. I see no barriers to NMF. Son graduated 2020 from UAH as NMF with the great package they gave at that time (He went on to get a masterâs paid for while working at UAH and is living his dream of being a rocket scientist!). She has applied to UA, UAH, UCF and USC Carolina (our state school with Aerospace Engineering). A couple other reaches. Admission to UA received. Waiting on others. Her top choice is UCF as she met students from there during internship at Boeing this summer. My question is about UCF and if one can get their big scholarship as NMF vs National Merit Scholar. I want to keep her expectations low for UCF scholarship and have her prepared to Roll Tide. Son graduating debt free helped him take a position in California.
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My understanding is yes. Basically, if you are an out-of-state applicant going for their National Merit package, and are among the first 40 to commit, then they give you the big scholarship and the fact that they have given you a scholarship automatically turns your NMF status into NMS status. But you need to be in the first 40!
Say, as a parent who had a National Merit student graduate from UAH, would you be willing to give a detailed review of UAH here? The goal of this thread is to give other NMF students and families a sense of the âvibeâ and âspecialtiesâ of each of the big merit NMF schools. What makes UAH unique? Whatâs the town like? What majors are good (or not good)? What type of student might really thrive at UAH? What special opportunities are there? What other schools did your student consider? Really ANY type of detail is what we are looking for! Thank you in advance!
Thank you. She has it as her choice on NM application. Our son got his BS in Aerospace and MS in systems engineering and is employed at Relativity Space in Long Beach Ca. He got recruited at an event in Utah with the SpaceHardware club. That club gives undergraduates hands on experience from their first semester. The dorms are great with all suite style or individual at the Bevil Center which was a hotel. Campus grew a lot in his time there with more planned. He was there as they were trying to transition from being a commuter school. Lots of internships nearby. Huntsville airport is easy and not too far from campus. Son fit right in with other quirky not into sports students. He had gone to Space Camp in middle school so only focused on UAH once he realized the scholarship (Georgia Tech was he other choice).
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Can anyone provide details on major differences between UCF and USF for S24? He would like to apply to one and is torn about which to choose. Considering Biochem/Physics major hoping to eventually go pre-med or pre-dentistry. Thanks in advance!
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