Does anyone know how much national merit finalists get at Northeastern? My son got accepted to Global Scholars program at Northeastern
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Congratulations!
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Good questionâŠI think it varies. We have emailed them with no response so far. We donât have a top school listed because we didnât want to screw anything up. Please post if you happen to find out an answer.
My son got $15,000 for the first year from NEU. $7500 each semester after that when heâs on campus and not in a co-op. He didnât get any other awards or need-based aid beyond that. On the parent FB group there was some discussion that families were disappointed NEU replaces their other merit scholarships with the NM Scholarship and it wasnât additive.
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My NMF son got into a school very high on his list, which is also the highest on his list that offers a specific NMF scholarship. The scholarship is $1K/year. They do not indicate any specific date by which First Choice has to be declared, one way or the other (though they do say it must be in general).
My question is should he now declare first choice there or wait to see if he gets any of the NMSC awards that may be for more (or have those already been distributed â I havenât seen anything about them posted yet)?
Can someone explain the difference between a âNational Merit Scholarâ and a âNational Merit Foundation Scholarâ? Thanks.
We would love to have your son at Tulsa! Just sayinâ.
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Thanks all for posting the info about Tulsa. My D applied and was accepted, but we are out West and havenât been able to visit. Seems like it would be a great fit for her as she plays 3 varsity sports and loves school spirit. She did not pursue college varsity athletics, now is having second thoughts and wanting to play her sport but probably too late for Tulsa.
She is waiting on the rest of the UCâs and USC. Her sister goes to USC, but she was deferred in the early round. It really is a lottery at USC this year. Those bigger schools have more club sports so weâre hopeful that she has a couple SoCal options. She is undecided on major~ applied to some schools for engineering and other for bio/pre-med. Also loves foreign language. Weâre thinking a private school would be best so sheâd have more flexibility in changing majors.
Wish we would have started planning sooner, but had no idea sheâd end up a NMSF/NMF because our state has a really high cutoff. Best wishes to everyone!
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I donât know much about the sports programs, but I would have your D reach out to her admissions counselor and ask - they are very helpful. The impression I got is that Tulsa is very open to working with the students. Tulsa is not USC or the UCs (not good or bad just very different).
If your D is interested in engineering and foreign language Tulsa has this program
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Interesting development. Iâve posted before that our school purposely downplays academic achievements, including to this date still having not given any of the NMF students their certificates (and they are not being withheld for a later purpose) and having previously taken weeks to quietly hand the students the letters telling them they were Semifinalists.
Well it turns out the district hired the exact same equity-focused curriculum policy consultants that advised the Virginia school district that was in the news for withholding Commended certificates from students (that was discussed on this forum previously). Around the same time, the district hired a new superintendent who had worked with the same consultants before in converting another district to drop its advanced courses in the name of equity (and outcomes in that district have subsequently declined) â something they are trying to push through in our district now but hitting wide resistance. They just fired the widely beloved HS principal apparently because he was not actively embracing the unpopular plan.
So apparently withholding NM info from students is part of an equity strategy at least for schools using this firm.
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this just gets my heart racing when i hear these things. Isnt the whole point of the school district to educate kids to the best of their abilities; and not to hold some back? I cant and wouldnt support this in any way⊠. ( We actually pulled our D from our local public school district after being there 18 yrs with the older kids because of their focus on equity; and how it can hurt kids.) Citivas - do you have more kids left in school? Where do you live generally?
Dropping advanced classes in the name of equity ??? what does it teach anyone? what are these kids going to do when they are working in the real world? do companies lower job expectations in the name of equity? donât even get me started on this.
i guess iâm hoping for the best for these kids but wouldnt support these moves in any way.
edited to add **my next question would be if the school district has equity in sports? in watching the NCAA basketball players - their speed and quickness is phenomenal; the teams play only the best players; those players have been groomed and nurtured so much to get to that level. Just like the abilities and intelligence of MIT students; only the genius get in. Why would a district stunt academic growth during the formative years?
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Our youngest is a senior so other than possible impact on property values long term (since schools are the primary driver of people choosing to live in our community), it wonât affect us much. And still not sure the major reforms will happen. The community wonât go down passively. Already there is a protest march being organized by parents and students, parents started a Gofundme to raise money for a BOE recall push, the PTO officers are in an open civil war between the one co-president to is loyal to the Board (and highjacked the FB group used to communicate with parents by kicking the others out) and most of the officers who agree with the strong majority of parents and students, etc. Pretty much a full on non-violent war footing in town.
I believe the logic of supporters of the equity concept is supposed research (which from my read is not definitive and subject to contrary studies and data) that suggests that putting kids of different achievement levels in the same classes all the way through high school improves the performance of the lower performing students while not as substantially hurting the performance of higher achievers. âNot substantiallyâ because there is zero doubt it does somewhat hurt the performance of the highest achievers, but the logic is supporting those students is not as important as supporting the under achievers. As the consultant hired by the Board put it, the goal is not equal access to education or equal opportunity, but equal outcomes. And to get equal outcomes, they need to have unequal focus on low performers at the expense of higher performers, for the collective good. As a practical matter, there is only so much money for a public school system to spend, so every dollar going toward AP classes is a dollar not spent supporting those in the most need of assistance.
My issues with this approach is that there are examples where it has not worked or led to unintended negative consequences. Also, some of the examples of its âsuccessâ are based on a faulty premise. Such approaches obviously succeed in reducing the âperformance gapâ between the lowest performers (which are disproportionately URMs), which is considered a measure of success. But some of that gap is closed by artificially reducing the performance of the top achievers by denying them learning opportunities that would help them reach their performance potential. So they are in effect rigging the game instead of achieving unequivocally better results. They are seeking equality by brining people down rather than lifting people up.
Apparently not celebrating academic achievement is a related part of this equation â it allegedly discourages the less academic achievers and disproportionately recognizes one particular group (all but one of our schoolâs 15 NMF is asian) over others who are struggling.
Thereâs no doubt this is a complex issue. Iâm definitely not trying to dismiss or belittle it. I just donât personally agree the solution is to bring people down rather than raise people up.
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âAs a practical matter, there is only so much money for a public school system to spend, so every dollar going toward AP classes is a dollar not spent supporting those in the most need of assistance.â
Money spent on âthose in need of assistanceâ is wasted. The âdisproportionately URMsâ need to learn that succeeding in education starts with valuing education which begins and is nurtured at home. Until then, Asians will continue to kick butt in all things higher education, Indians will continue to win the National Spelling Bee, and URMâs will continue to be disproportionate.
And families like mine, who happen to attend the 50th worst public school system in the US, will go forward with no complaints. Education like life is what you make of it.
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Itâs rare to see such a boldly patronizing attitude in these threads, so kudos I guess for saying the quiet part out loud. I like to think money wasnât wasted in my (FGLI) or my daughterâs case (disability), but you seem to have appointed yourself the sole arbiter.
Needless to say, I donât agree with your simplistic opinion on this complex issue.
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That is the beauty of America. We donât have to agree. (or at the least formerly in the past) My opinion, even if simplistic, may be the âsoleâ diverse opinion and that is fine. My wife is FG and URM and we were both LI which makes my childrenâŠ?
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Uh, they get certificates? I admit I havenât thoroughly read this thread, but my daughter has not received one, perhaps because her counselor resigned in mid-February. 
Iâm so sorry your child is not being honored for their achievements. My daughter said her principal announced finalists in morning announcements, so at least weâve got that. Your kiddo deserves to be recognized, especially considering the world in which they accomplished this feat!
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Just saw this on a local news station. I know some people are considering the University of Tulsa. I thought this might tip the scales. 
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We listed UT Dallas as our top choice and got the acceptance earlier this month + AES scholarship. We were told that the NMF package comes after NMSC sends schools their lists of finalists; when will that be?
Has anyone checked the portal to see if they received the 2500$ scholarships? I believe those come out today.
Ohhhh! I have not heard anything.