<p>Thanks IB for posting that.</p>
<p>While the Robertson and Morehead are somewhat different programs, especially the summer programs, as another poster said, UNC is UNC.</p>
<p>My S attended an all boys very elite private school in a graduating class of 82. Over 25% of his class matriculated at HYPSM. He was one of seven accepted to Yale and the only one who chose not to attend. The Morehead nomination was a big honor and led to some difficult choices when the other acceptances stared to roll in. Once he was admitted to Yale (SCEA) and knew he was a Morehead finalist, he withdraw apps from Pomona, Dartmouth, Amherst and one or two others. We encouraged him to keep his Princeton, Stanford and Wash U apps in for merit money purposes although in his mind, it was either going to be Yale or UNC.</p>
<p>When he became a Morehead finalist he asked one of his teachers who was someone he looked to as a trusted mentor what he should do if he got into Yale and won the Morehead. His teacher essentially said it was a “no brainer” and that he should take the Morehead. You need to understand that this school lives, eats, and breathes HYPMS from the time you arrive as a first grader so his comments were interesting to say the least He said that at Yale he would be one of about 1300, albeit a very talented 1300 while as a Morehead he’d be one of forty (his year) and would be exposed to the best of the best at UNC. He was dead on in his assessment.</p>
<p>After we visited UNC, met the Morehead staff as well as current Morehead Scholars I had an epiphany of sorts and came to realize that the day he entered school at UNC he would have a built-in peer group (moreso with the the Robertson by the way) of kids just like him and would have a staff of professional mentors who were not only interested in seeing him succeed but also highly financially invested in his success.</p>
<p>To be totally honest with you, I think that EAmom and I had the hardest time throughout the process trying to give up the Ivy dream and the thought of not being able to put the Yale sticker in our car back windows. It was very easy for us to get over it when we saw how happy and excited he was and how he was thriving and growing each year.</p>
<p>As someone has already said, virtually EVERY winner of the Morehead or Robertson has to choose between HYPMS or the scholarships. In my S’s Morehead class there were six others who turned down Yale and several others who turned down H and P that I am aware of and even one girl who was a double Stanford legacy!</p>
<p>He had life changing summer experiences, got an incredible education, had an undergrad experience that was amazing, has an enormous circle of friends that he remains very close to and graduated absolutely debt free. He was very well prepared for professional school and is doing quite well as a first year med student at a top ten school.</p>
<p>Echoing his old HS teacher and mentor…it really is a no brainer…</p>