I’m confused. I’m a national merit scholar, 90% sure I’m going to ucf. Can I list them as my first choice but change it before may 1st if I decided I wanted to go somewhere else with no issue?
@PPuggle thanks for the information on UCF! We are OOS and just found out about this awesome option for NMF. Do you know if they only offer a full ride to those who list them as #1 by March 1, or is it by May 31? Thanks!
@Voiceonthecoast If the student was undecided as first choice before, then the deadline is May 31 to make UCF #1. (see page 5, https://www.ucf.edu/admissions/undergraduate/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/09/1906ADM489-National-Merit-Scholar-Newsletter-vF-lowres-pages.pdf)
It didn’t say what the deadline is if a different school was listed #1 before. I thought I remember seeing some discussion about that in the past but I’d have to look…
@Kdanielsen - you are correct. You can put UCF as #1 right now. If for some reason you change your mind, you can change it at that point. I would suggest if you are going to change, you communicate with the new #1 to make sure they are on board and have scholarships available. Some schools may have a limited number of NMF scholarships.
@tnknes - for my NMF DS, the school (Arizona State) said “make us #1 and you get 100% tuition guaranteed for 4 years”. The notification from NMSC came later. Once accepted by the school, you will need to “accept” the NMSC portion by going to their portal. This step happens down the road.
There is usually some confusion about terms with this discussion. At ASU, the NMSC scholarship is $500 per semester. ASU has a separate scholarship, the New American National Merit Scholarship, that represents the big $$. In Florida, the Banacquisto is a separate scholarship, outside of the the NMSC umbrella.
@tnknes , i called NMF with many questions re timing and deadlines, and they reiterated exactly what you wrote.
My daughter has not named a first choice yet.
NMF also pointed out the list of college sponsors as written in the tsbke on their website.
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_sponsor_leaflet.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61
So I see there are 3 colleges on that list that my daughter has applied to. Let’s call them a, b. And c. I hadnt looked at this list to date. She is not interested in anything with a plane ride from NY. However, the 3 colleges (a,b,c) she applied to do give merit money.
Let’s say, tonight, she names college A her first choice . if we can make that March 1 deadline, i believe college A gets notified that my daughter wrote their name as first.
Strategically, we are thinking to write college A to show college A extraordinary interest in them, and be accepted, and maybe even get merit money? This college gives 10-20k merit money avcording to cds. I am wondering if thye know it is her first choice, might her name stand out from their regular pool? She already has the grades and scores to get in. We just hope for merit.
Do you think that is a good strategy? Thanks for following along.
@silverpurple: Your strategy makes sense and we are also thinking on the same line. The only concern is NMSC may take a couple of days to process the college designation request. If you want to make it to the 3/1 cut off, you may want to call them after submitting the request online.
I am confused. My daughter is a NMF, she got the Benacquisto Scholarship offer from FSU (need to list as 1st choice at NSC). Tonight, she found out she is accepted to UF but no mention of scholarship. Does this mean she will not get any scholarship from UF? AS for now she has UF as her first choice, should she change it to FSU by 3/1 so she won’t loose the Benacquito offer from FSU?
Presumably, American University is talking about May 1 when they say “NMSC published deadline” right? This is from the AU website, “To be considered for an AU sponsored National Merit Scholarship, students must be a National Merit Finalist and list AU as their first choice school by the NMSC published deadline. All finalists will receive $2,000, annually.”
@flmanv I don’t think you need to worry. I think UF will offer Benacquisto after they receive the roster from NMSC sometime mid March. If in doubt, please contact UF admissions. In any case, you will not loose the offer from FSU. You have plenty of time to make FSU the first choice
@CincoDad thank you so much for telling us about UF. My twins applied there late on February 4 and surprisingly were accepted on Feb 28 even though admissions said they wouldn’t find out anything till March 27! We are super excited especially at the chance to get a full ride. Thanks for providing such great info!!
@twinmommy, double congrats (from another mom of twins!) So nice NOT to have to wait - you can just never tell with admissions.
D was accepted as well, and is finally get excited about an in-state option! Since everything else is pretty much a high reach, I’m glad to have one “in the bag” that she’ll be happy with.
@TrendaLeigh thanks! Our best in state option is UNC Chapel hill however they didn’t give the twins any scholarship money so uf is looking quite good as they are both nmf.
@twinmomm—congrats! Now I wish my D had gone ahead and applied to UF. We, too, were late in the game. We were talking to FSU, USF, and UF the third week of February. FSU and USF (especially FSU) were very welcoming and encouraging for D to apply, but UF told her after November 1 deadline and first acceptance round, they are space available only and go through all of the Nov 1 applicants for the second round of acceptances before even looking at those who applied between Nov 1 and March 1, and that it happens but is very rare that they accept any of those students. She seemed totally put off by us being late to the game, but we were like you and unaware of the opportunities. D did apply to both USF and FSU because we asked her to even though she has her heart set on a school up here in the NE. She wasn’t thrilled with the virtual tour of USF and couldn’t really tell on FSU. UF didn’t have one on you visit.com, but ranked really well in her dual majors.
@furmom yes UF told us the same thing and were not encouraging us to apply at all. We decided to apply anyway and needless to say we were totally shocked when they found out Friday they were accepted. Uf had told us we would find out March 27 and that it was very difficult to get into uf after the nov 1 deadline. My Ds applied to FSU as well but haven’t heard anything yet. UF was first choice over FSU mainly because of UFs engineering program, but we didn’t think they even had a chance of getting into UF based on the call I made to admissions as well as email correspondence.
Ok gang, I need feedback on experiences at FSU and USF. They are big schools far from home, and I have seen some safety concerns (like most any campus), but they are very highly ranked in my girl’s dual major areas and, obviously, great opportunities for our finalists. I would love to hear from alumni, parents of recent alumni/current students, or local residents. Also, what is everyone’s input on the differ difference in average starting salaries between the equal/higher ranked Florida schools (but lower salaries) than equal/lower ranked schools in the Northeast (with higher salaries)? I feel like some of this is nature of students attending colleges in the region in which they went to high school and then staying in the same general vicinity after college graduation and salaries (along with cost of living) just being less in the south than the northeast. We all know you can make statistics say whatever you want them to, so I need to hear from real people!!
@twinmommy—also, I find your experience with UNC Chapel Hill interesting. My D applied and was accepted, also. Also with no money offered. We were told that they have to give a certain (high) percentage of need and merit based aid to instate students, and we are in MA, thus, she didn’t get anything. Yet, you are in NC, AND have twins…their loss of three bright young minds.
@twinmommy we are in the same boat…UNC Chapel Hill is currently daughter’s top choice, but they are giving her zero merit (we are OOS). So, I don’t know how on earth we’re going to be able to afford to send her there. There is speculation that there is a little yield protection being practiced there with the Honors college and merit scholarships.
Are your children all updating the colleges that they are NMF?
We haven’t been updating the colleges that my twins are nmf other than their first choice with nmsc. I don’t believe unc chapel
Hill cares if they are and won’t give any money for it