The essays and school recommendations are important for getting an external (non-university) National Merit Scholarship. But for going to NMSF to NMF, they aren’t even looked at, except perhaps in borderline cases. So if your son has strong grades (historically no Cs) and a confirming test score, as long as there is SOME essay and SOME recommendation, the actual content of them doesn’t really matter for making NMF.
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Thank you, mdpmdp. His gpa is 4.0 uw/4.77 w. Confirming SAT and ACT scores. While the NM scholarships would be nice, he is focused on schools that have NMF packages. I appreciate the reassurance.
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@evergreen5 I can confirm this is definitely correct, both from talking to NMSC last year and how the deadlines played out for my kid who is a 2023 NMF. My D applied to BU and even listed it as a first choice in her finalist application in October. She also applied to University of Minnesota - which requires a first-choice designation by May 31 to received their $10K Gold Scholar Award for NMF. After getting a no thank you from BU in late March, she was able to change her first choice to Minnesota in mid-April and receive the Gold Scholar Award. She also ended up getting an additional $1K UMN National Merit Scholarship, which is really the money from NMSC. Neither one of these application was an impediment to her getting Fordham’s full-tuition scholarship for NMSF as well.
A NMSC rep explained that the earliest they post college-sponsored award is Noon CST on May 1.
Therefore, the rep advised that the first choice of a college be made by the end of April to avoid a possible scenario where an award gets posted to the student’s dashboard and therefore, shuts them out of getting an award from a different college.
They also recommended that any changes be made not only in a timely manner but with purpose. Each time you make a change, your application goes to the back of the line for notifications to the school. It’s essentially a reset, so I think this is why it makes sense for a lot of folks to start off with undecided.
Any amount above $2,500 that a university offers NMF is really a school-based scholarship, so it is best to reach out to the school with questions about how to navigate their requirements.
Good luck!
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Would someone summarize the next steps for me? What is the deadline and what needs to be provided by the school? Ours is still holding on to the letters - what exactly is in them? Some sort of log in?
The deadline is Oct 11 for the completed application with essay and the school needs to submit things (transcript and recommendation, I think).
The letter does include a portal login. The school should not be holding them - did they give a reason?
No reason - they just don’t feel hurried about it. I told him to go by the office and get it.
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We ended up choosing a full-tuition NMF scholarship at Fordham LC over full pay at NYU Tisch. It has turned out very well. He is pursuing a career in a field that is typically low paying. It seemed wild to spend so much money to get him a BFA degree in a field that truthfully doesn’t even require a college degree for success.
But one of his high school classmates (also an NMF) did the opposite – he is at NYU full pay (not sure of major but something in the humanities I think.) I don’t think this family has any regrets either, but I believe they have a LOT of money.
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Question on the college-sponsored scholarships – the info document states:
To be considered for college-sponsored awards, Finalists must meet all three of the following conditions. Finalists:
• must have notified NMSC that the sponsor college is their first choice;
• must have applied for admission to that institution; and
• must not have been offered any other National Merit Scholarship.
I’m confused on the last item. Does this mean if you are offered the National Merit $2,500 or a corporate-sponsored merit scholarship, you cannot receive a college sponsored scholarship? If so, how do you prevent yourself from getting offered one of these if the goal is to have a college sponsored scholarship?
Yes, but they are not referring to most of the large university scholarships (ex. USC’s half-tuition Presidential scholarship).
You can’t. For example, NMSC’s scholarship is $2500. If a student doesn’t receive that, and doesn’t receive a corporate scholarship, USC will award a student $4K on top of their half tuition Presidential scholarship. $4K is better than $2500, but you can’t turn down the $2500 and then ask for the $4K instead.
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Fordham is on my son’s list. I know Fordham is not a commuter school but would you say that 80% of the students are all within 2-4 hour drive home
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Go to the top of page 5 - and you can calculate yourself within reason. Unfortunately, they don’t break out every state. That’s 2020.
Here’s what they say from outside the tri-state area:
Students from NYC’s Five Boroughs: 20.7%
States outside of Tri-State with Highest Numbers of Students: California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia
The 2nd link is from a 3rd party site - so no clue how accurate. Obviously @fiftyfifty1 can best answer but here is some data to peruse.
It does appear the school is a lot more regional than I would have thought.
demographic_profile_spring_2020.pdf (fordham.edu)
Where are Fordham University students from? (collegefactual.com)
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Fordham does not require students to live on campus, and does enroll students who commute from NYC or nearby suburbs, but I agree it isn’t a “commuter school.” Some kids do go home on the weekends, but I wouldn’t consider it a “suitcase school” either.
Looking at the school’s 2021 demographic profile, it says that ~60% of students are from the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT), so probably most of those are within 2-4 hours from home. Some others from MA, PA etc who might be also be within 2-4 hours. It varies a lot depending on the Lincoln Center vs Rose Hill campus. Rose Hill has a higher tri-state population, while LC has a lower tri-state population and a lot more international students.
We are from the Midwest, and my S22 at LC says there are not a lot of students from the Midwest, but he doesn’t feel out of place. Of his randomly assigned suite mates, not a single one was from anywhere in the NE and not a single Catholic either.
Here is a link to Fordham’s 2021 demographics broken out by school. Note that Gabelli is listed separately from LC and RH, which is a bit confusing because they are not at some different location; most are at RH but some are at LC.
Feel free to PM me with any quetsions!
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Thanks so much, this is extremely helpful.
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Well said. I have 2 examples, (not NMF related) of close friends/family are grappling with spending close to $320K, one in graphic design and the other in script writing (a major within a broader film studies major). Both kids are trying to get freelancing gigs but what really pays their bills right now are, dog walking for one and full time non live in nanny for the other. I really hiope they find their footing in their chosen fields quickly or pivot into something that pays more or go all in become bigger dog walking / nanny businesses. This reality scared the living daylights out of me. Lucky for one of them that they have mutli generational wealth.
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Edited to clarify: Bumping this… specifically, at this time, wondering if any of the following have application waiver:
Univ South Florida
Univ Alabama
UT Dallas
Univ Central Fl
Texas A&M
Iowa State
Univ Arizona
Arizona State
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Here’s some links. I’m not sure how aggressive A&M, Iowa State, U of Arizona and ASU are. Of course, some like Arizona are generous for GPA, forgetting NMF.
You might add Tulsa and U Maine to the list too. FSU is generous too. Good luck.
USF National Merit Scholar Benefits | University of South Florida
National Merit Scholars – Afford (ua.edu)
National Merit Scholarship Program | UCF Undergraduate Admissions
Admissions - National Scholars | Admissions (tamu.edu)
National Scholars Program - Iowa State University (iastate.edu)
Is anyone able to help me understand the NM offering from Univ Arizona? It’s as clear as mud to me… says “value of the original Arizona Tuition Award”. When I look at the AZ tuition award it says “$1,000 to $32,000 per academic year” and I can’t figure out the amount. Thanks
It’s actually very clear.
The 1 to 32K is GPA based - so if you have a 4.0 unweighted, you get $32k. If you have a 3.9, $30K and 3.75 $20K.
I think the NM (depending on which level) is another $1500 (national semi) or $3000 for others.
In other words, national merit isn’t that big a deal but your UW grades (for all) is.
Thanks for the info. Sorry my post wasn’t clear. I was looking for application waivers to these schools. But you’re awesome for pulling this all together!
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I’ve been at the U of Az scholarship site for 20+ minutes and still am not seeing any sort of chart of info like you’re posting. Making it still very “muddy” to me… Would you perhaps have a link to the breakdowns you’re describing? Thanks