Clemson National Scholars Program 2020

Hi all! I applied for the National Scholars Program at Clemson and was wondering if anyone had insight on when and how finalist decisions are sent out. Just wanted to start a thread for this year’s applicants!

Son just received invite tonight by email. Said 36 invited. Good luck to all!

I just received an invite as well. Congratulations and good luck to everyone else!

@dancerleah @STEMFocus would you mind sharing stats? I’m wondering how close my son was

Also, congratulations! That is an amazing accomplishment!

Son just received invite tonight by email. Said 36 invited. Good luck to all!

@MelSpears

Sorry I missed your post.

1570 SAT, NMSF
perfect SAT2’s
4.0 UW
12 AP + Dual Enrollment (7 AP tests thus far, all 5’s)
State, regional, and national STEM recognition
Strong EC’s, including research and leadership
Background: OOS, URM, male

@STEMFocus thanks, and congratulations. My son has very similar stats. It has to be his essays that hurt him.

Hi @MelSpears

If it helps, our oldest son applied last year with essentially same stats, etc and did not get invite for national scholars. Any time you are down to a committee picking a small number of people from a large number of highly qualified applicants, worthy candidates will be left out. There is a luck of the draw aspect, and sometimes year to year, focus changes for what specifically they want. Please don’t second guess the essays, there is no way to tell, and highly likely his essays were in fact strong. Our older son still received several good scholarship offers from other schools (we applied to 10), and some unexpected offers because his research background was just what they were looking for that year, and all worked out fine. Best of luck to your son!

@STEMFocus , thank you for your kind words! It’s definitely hard at this point in the process to see the end product. He is my oldest, and all of the uncertainty is hard. I do have faith that things will work out as they should. Thanks again!

@melspears just to follow up on what @STEMFocus said, you can image how hard it must be to pick just 36 or so applicants from the thousands of high stat kid applicants like your son. Unlike admission it is a holistic approach that is used for the National Scholars Program.

Hopefully if you can afford it with just the OOS merit money and he loves it there he will have a great experience. If not I am sure which ever of the many options I am sure he already has that he ultimately chooses it will be the work out fine. Good luck

@burghdad, thank you for your kind words! We are in state, Clemson is definitely still an option. We are waiting for the honors college decision. When my son started the application process, I think he was set on going out of state. As the decision has gotten closer, he’s thinking he will stay in S.C. Which is fine with me ?