You leave it undecided. You apply to all three. If admitted to BU and USC, you determine whether you will be offered their NMF packages. (by conversing with them) USC NMF scholarship in the past was only eligible to a finite number of students. Alabama will post the Presidential to those who are qualified and later their NMF once finalized. The NMF package replaces the earlier Presidential. All three universities award the scholarships based on listing their College as your number one choice by the deadline. You decide which school to attend before deadline and list that school as your first choice.
The NMSC money is awarded to a finite number of students whether or not they attend a participating university. The college sponsored compatible $2500 is only available to students who listed that university as their number one choice by deadline. Those same universities offer their NMF packages by the student selecting that university as the number one choice by deadline. The best strategy is to decide on your choice and change your undecided to your selection with NMSC by deadline.
OK now I am confused. Here is my understanding:
BU will only give the big NM scholarship to students who list BU as first choice by March 1.
USC will give its big half tuition scholarship to any NMF who lists USC as first choice by May 31. The student needs to have applied EA and of course needs to be accepted EA/RD.
Problem being that the student does not know whether they will be accepted to either school by March 1. Itâs possible to be admitted EA at USC in January, but deferral to RD and then acceptance in late March is also possible. Obviously, BU RD wonât be out until late March.
If a student puts BU as first choice March 1, and then is accepted to both schools in March, and BU awards the big scholarship in March, can the student then decide they want to attend USC and change first choice to USC?
@lkg4answers ?
It might be useful to move these posts to the 2024 thread, no?
USC has a May 31 deadline.
USC does not have a limit to the number of NMF students they accept. Applications are reviewed with disregard to whether or not a student is NMF. If an NMF student is admitted on their own merits, they will automatically receive the Presidential half-tuition scholarship.
Applicants do not need to notify NMSC that USC is their first choice until long after they accept their spot in the class. However, the full financial package wonât be visible until after NMSC notifies USC that they are #1. For some (many), they want to see that financial package before making their decision where to attend. As a result, many notify NMSC that USC is #1 before making their May 1 decision.
Correct.
Note, that the half tuition scholarship is awarded to NMF. If a student does not receive a NMS scholarship from either NMSC or a private corporation, USC will award an additional National Merit Scholars (NMS) scholarship on top of the half-tuition scholarship. In the past, the additional amount has been $4K ($500/semester). It used to be enough to cover the extra fees. Fees went up to approx. $800/semester so the USC NMS scholarship doesnât cover it completely anymore.
Just concluded a phone conversation with NMSC. Itâs still as clear as mud to me, but we all agreed that the safest way is to make your choice until you know where you want to go. The text is unambiguous than NMSC will not process and report the change after one is offered a college sponsored money ($500-$2000). That means to me that BUâs early deadline is effectively an attempt to get the first right of offer to lock the studentâs NMF scholarship, which goes beyond the NMSC money. Iâd wait until April when everything is on the table to make a decision. Maybe we have to drop BU from the list.
That fits my understanding regarding BU trying to lock people in early. Kinda uncool of them IMO.
I thought that you did not have to apply EA to USC to be eligible for the Presidential NMF 1/2 tuition scholarship? My understanding was anyone who gets accepted, is a NMF, and specifies USC as their #1 choice by 5/31 would automatically be offered the USC NMF Presidential Scholarship, regardless of whether they applied EA or RD.
I think so. But USC has other merit aids with early deadline, so it would be better to apply EA if you can. The chance of any of those other merit aids to be more than the NMF half tuition scholarship is extremely small though. The Trustee Scholarship (full ride) comes in mind.
I havenât seen USC state that (yet). Have you seen it written anywhere?
@zenmaster0 some students choose to apply SCEA/REA to other schools, preventing them from applying EA to USC. Note that Stanford and Caltech and Harvard have exceptions if the EA is not binding and is required in ordered to be considered for a scholarship.
In the past, USC did not choose to offer the half tuition to all NMF. They had a finite number by choice. USC is not on my radar anymore because I only look at schools close to Full COA. UCF only accepts 40 NMF for their OOS package. My D2023 had to apply to both UCF and UA and then wait to determine if she was first 40. She was but chose UA anyway. There have been some, in the past who put a school down as first choice early and then switched schools and lost their college NMSC $ but retained the NMF package from the school. (risky)
I had my first NMF take Full COA to UF. My second NMF took a Full COA to UA. My third S2025 plans to also accept UA package assuming it doesnât change.
The question was what is the best strategy. Apply to all three. Converse with them. Decide as early as possible. Put in a deposit early as to be in the front of the line.
How far back is âin the pastâ?
USC admissions does not take financial considerations into place when making admission decisions. Their website states, âIf you are National Merit Finalist who has been admitted to USC and you designate USC as your first choice by the May 31 deadline, you will receive USCâs half-tuition Presidential Scholarship.â
USCâs National Merit Presidential Scholarship is listed as ânumber of awards varies.â They used to state how many NM students enrolled, but havenât done that since 2020. In 2020, they had 310 NMF and 461 Presidential scholarships. That means 151 students who were not NMF received a half-tuition Presidental scholarship.
Some NMF receive the full tuition Trustee scholarship, but that isnât awarded based on their NM status. In the National Merit Annual Report listed here, it shows 316 NMF attending USC in 2020. If these numbers are accurate, one might infer that six NMF received a Trustee scholarship that year.
My daughter was assured from USC last year that if she was accepted she would receive the Presidential Scholarship no matter when she applied. I donât remember who/when she got that information from. She could not apply EA because her major is in SCA, but she still applied by the EA deadline. She was notified of the scholarship a few days after acceptance and she always had USC as her choice with NM.
Sounds wonderful! USC is not on my radar, at all.
I think the past may have been 2016 or 2017.
Great! Thanks for confirming.
I donât want to mislead anyone so, if a student is applying into a school that participates in EA, you might want to call that schoolâs admissions office to confirm.
I thought I had read that somewhere on CC! But I would definitely call admissions to verify if one is considering this.
Plus, in the USC descriptions for the merit scholarships it doesnât explicitly say that you must apply EA to be eligible for the NMF Presidential (whereas it does for the Trustee and non-NMF Presidential, as well as others)
I agree. I know there was discussion asking about it last year. Iâve kept my eyes open to see if theyâve posted anything on their website or social media. I havenât seen anything, but I could have missed it.
We are OOS and UTD is my DSâ top choice. Although we are not comfortable with Texas politics, UTD has a well-regarded program for his major (not CS), and when we visited (private tour with NM program office), he loved the campus and the vibe. He is also considering Nebraska, if he is admitted to the honors program.
We are also OOS & considering whether to visit UTD for our son, who was just named a 2024 NMSF. Can you please tell me how you got the private tour? Thanks!
You can contact the UTD National Merit program directly to schedule a private tour. admissions-nmsp@utdallas.edu
@1ndone (and anyone else looking at UTD) Let me know if you have any questions about UTD. Both my sons are NMF there and Iâm happy to share any info that I have.
If your student has any interests in doing any sort of research, I highly recommend their Clark summer research program. Itâs the summer before freshman year and is fully funded (including room and board). Overview - Clark Summer Research Program - The University of Texas at Dallas