From the BU scholarship website, “High school seniors who have been chosen as National Merit finalists, and are offered admission to Boston University, will be considered for a four-year, $25,000 tuition BU Presidential Scholarship.”
If you’re admitted to BU in early action, is it not guaranteed that a NMF will get the $25K per year if you select BU as first choice? Are any NMFs rejected from BU? It appears that they are from some other 20-50 ranked schools.
Thirty years ago I recruited NMFs to U of Houston with a full ride. Then the UH president went to Oklahoma and started the same full ride program. A NM arms race ensued with Midwest states worried about brain drains. Now NMF deals have gone full circle and schools have pulled back some funding to try to attract a larger number of students with limited scholarship funds and reduced state funds.
I used to wait for the first choice list to come out from NMSC to know how many we were enrolling and funding. There was typically a bit of melt from the first list to later lists but you had to choose by end of February or so. Best wishes to all NMFs. It can mean nearly a full ride at some schools ranked below 100 in USNWR (honors programs!) and big funds (half tuition?) at top 40 schools like BU and USC, if admitted. Choose wisely and enjoy!
One of the posters, above, called BU and was told the $25k award is not automatic this year, but BU still requires a first choice designation by March 1. We are struggling to figure out how BU awards the college sponsor scholarship (not the $25k award). There is not much information about that at the moment.
Also, just for the benefit of others reading this thread: there are still a few full rides currently available for NMFs at schools higher ranked than top 100. UF and FSU are two such schools, if ranking is important to you. Texas A & M also has very generous merit awards for NMFs. Moreover, if you dig deeper into the major your child is interested in, you may find there are schools which are very well respected/ranked in that major and also give generous merit for NMF. ASU and UArizona come to mind.
Depends on the college! Some have a spot in the portal to do so, but for the ones that don’t, I usually just send a friendly email to the admissions officer asking if I can send an update (and if yes, how to do it). So far, they’ve been pretty accepting and will inform me of the best way to send it!
My son hasn’t submitted his application yet. He has some other options, however, the full ride at FSU is quite attractive. To be honest, I am a little concerned about the quality of the education there since it’s known as a party school but not for its academic reputations. I want to know if the honors program brings a lot of values with more opportunities. Sorry it might be too general a question.
I see. First, we felt there are parties at all schools, so that wasn’t really a huge consideration for us. There are definitely fun things to do at FSU, both on and off campus, whether related to partying or not. Hopefully, things will be more open in 2021 for all students to take advantage. We appreciate the fact that because it’s a big school, there are lots of opportunities for getting involved in all kinds of clubs, sports, etc.
As for the value of the honors program – I think it does provide opportunities for a more challenging curriculum and mentoring, as well as a smaller cohort of high achieving students within the larger university. As freshmen, the honors students typically live together in the honors dorm (Landis) and take the honors colloquium course together. They have an honors advisor in addition to their regular advisor, and they have access to additional honors courses. These courses are not just elective courses, but students can actually take honors courses in their major. (We found that some honors programs just added elective coursework to graduation requirements, which we felt was less desireable, but that is not the case at FSU). My daughter is also participating in FSU’s UROP program (undergraduate research), and started last semester. I’m not sure if this program is limited to honors students, but I seem to recall that honors students might be at an advantage in terms of actually landing a research position. They have to actually apply and then connect with a professor they’d like to do research with.
They also have a couple of different special honors programs that I know of – one is for medical scholars, but I don’t know much about that one because my D20 is not premed. They also have a business scholars program that students can apply for just before their sophomore year – this is something my D20 is interested in.
I hope that helps a little. My D20 has taken 3-4 honors classes so far, and has enjoyed them. She’s joined clubs (virtually), is doing research (also virtually), and although her classes were all online last semester, she has one in person class this semester. Another class may also be in person soon. She’s had a great first year so far, all things considered, and I think the honors program has helped with that.
Just to avoid any confusion, I didn’t mean anything bad about the school. Actually, my sister-in-law got her PhD from FSU. I was just worried that my son is not the most self-disciplined kid. I may feel more comfortable if he is surrounded some kids not too much into parties
Thanks for sharing the information. The UROP sounds a good opportunity to get some taste in research and prepare the kids better for graduate schools. It’s good to know their honors courses are good too. It seems that a separate application is required by May 1. I will talk to my son to submit an application for admission ASAP. The deadline is March 1. I hope they still have some spots available after the decisions this week for the priority applicants.
Anybody know someone who went to Mississippi State after being a Finalist? I’m pretty sure that’s where I’m gonna go, but on the page it’s not very clear how much stipend I’d get or what the college-sponsored amount would be if I were to get it.
I would recommend calling MSU to verify but it looks like the NM award covers a little more than tuition and fees for 4 years as well as housing. OOS applicants are eligible for OOS tuition waivers. Also, there is a possible study abroad or internship stipend. It looks like board may not be covered, but otherwise, a pretty generous award. It’s unclear whether all this is automatic, so calling them is advised!
