I’m going to be very interested to hear where everyone ends up! It has been such a journey selecting a school!
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Barrett is the honors college at Arizona State University. It is well-known and very well respected honors college. The school to the south is building their honors college but aren’t on par with Barrett yet. To which school are you referring?
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I edited and moved my post, not sure how to delete. Rookie here : )
I edited and moved my post, not sure how to delete. Thanks for your patience-fairly new to this 
I think they could easily address this by saying National Hispanic/African American, etc. merit scholars will qualify for this merit award if they receive an X or above on the SAT or an X or above on the ACT. They don’t have to do away with the program, just adjust the qualifications. For example, they could follow the way Fordham does it. I believe they have always offered good merit for NHMS but it’s competitive and involves several steps and criteria, so not a guarantee for each recipient.
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Sorry for my confusion but how do you know your junior is NRP? I thought current juniors don’t receive notification until late August? Could you please clarify? I think my son might qualify for NHMS (1300 PSAT in New York State) but not positive. Thanks!
FIU just came on our radar for my junior son. He loves that Wilkes Honors College has it’s own campus and less than 750 students. Does anyone have info on or experience with Wilkes Honors College at FIU? I didn’t realize FIU recognizes NHMS. Not sure my son qualifies for that distinction yet (1300 PSAT in NYS-transaltes to a 207 score) but this info is good to know.
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Well, unfortunately the Wilkes Honors College is at FAU (Florida Atlantic University), not FIU (Florida International University). Wilkes gets a perfect ‘5 mortarboards’ rating in John Willingham’s “Inside Honors 2020-2021” review book, so your son is correct in thinking it is worth a look. This page has info on the scholarships that FAU offers, in case any are a fit for your son’s situation:
Oops-too many acronyms for the Florida schools. Lol. We did look into FIU too and I’m obviously confused. FIU had alot to offer and checked many boxes for my son but they only offer a BA in psychology and he is insisting on a BS in psych because he’s a math/science kid and also feels it would benefit him going into a PhD clinical psych program. They do have a BS in Nueroscience, but not what he is looking for. And I was impressed with their Honors program (at least what we found online) so disappointed he took off his list.
So it’s likely Wilkes does NOT have merit for NHMS, but I did hear FAU is somewhat generous (which your link confirms) so he may apply and then we will have to run the numbers to see how things play out. We will try to visit some of the Florida schools in August (not the ideal time to be in Florida, but not much choice with our timeline.) He did visit Rollins last summer and LOVED it but would need strong merit and not sure they could come through. Thanks for clarifying FIU vs. FAU-dealing with Monday brain this morning 
Possible Florida schools we will check out:
Wilkes @ FAU
UCF (huge school but would consider if he could get into honors college-no easy task!)
Barry (Miami)
Nova Southeastern (great honors options and a direct entry PhD-competitive but sounds interesting)
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They told me the same thing-get a BS vs a BA. My school (ASU) offered both it was just a matter of taking the appropriate math and science to earn the BS rather than the BA in Psychology. I did but I honestly don’t think it made a difference though. I went the MA/LMFT route rather than the PHD route by choice but I don’t know how important the BA/BS really is for grad school. High GPA, student Research Assistant experience in undergrad is most important. I was an RA for two semesters in undergrad. That is key.
I hear you. I wish we had considered the Florida schools. They weren’t on my radar for my daughter. I’m keeping them in mind for my son for the future.
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You aren’t the first to say BA vs. BS really doesn’t matter for psychology grad school, but he is stubborn on this point. Says he’s “keeping an open mind” so maybe I can convince him to talk to someone in the FIU psychology department to explain the program and options better. Thanks for your input!
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For those who are worried about schools changing their program in the future, I don’t think Alabama (main campus) will be getting rid of it anytime soon. My DD received a letter from UofA Honors College last week inviting her to apply, which included an 8.5 x 11 glossy maybe 8 or 10-page brochure with the title National Recognition Scholars Guide in huge letters on the front. In all the schools that have sent emails or letters or even offered scholarships, this is the first one to send an actual brochure purely about the National Recognition program. And they still have one of the best offers with full tuition, first year room and I think a semester abroad.
-edit that: the study abroad is the National Merit scholar program. The NRP scholars get $1000 per year supplemental, all 4 years
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I NEVER thought Alabama would be on our radar but really hard not to consider a school so generous with merit. And they really seem so welcoming in their recruitment efforts. I would not expect such personal attention for such a big school. I heard they really “wine and dine” the students for Honors College visits. Does anyone know the difference between the Tuscaloosa campus and Birmingham? Is one better than the other for Psychology, for example? Dumb question but are they both campuses considered “Bama”?
It wasn’t on our list either. They don’t have my daughter’s major so I don’t feel too bad about missing out. But it’s on my list for my son! I’m not clear which campus is the one everyone is referring to either. Such a learning process!
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The main campus i referred to is Tuscaloosa. I think Birmingham used to offer essentially the same scholarship, but now they offer something much less, but it is stackable with other merit based on gpa etc. UA is ranked about 10 higher than UAB, so not much of a difference there. I think Birmingham is a little more urban. UAH (Huntsville) used to offer something similar, but they no longer do. I think Huntsville is also slightly more urban than Tuscaloosa. UAH is ranked over 100 lower than UA and UAB. When you hear people talk about Uof Alabama, they are probably talking about Tuscaloosa. I can’t speak to the majors at any of them. I have heard Tuscaloosa campus is beautiful and the Honors college is a nice perk.
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So I’m guessing this would involve 2 separate applications as they seem to be 2 different schools. I was thinking it was like SUNY University of Buffalo (where I live) which is one school but has 2 different campuses about 25 minutes from one another. So one application. I have a feeling my son would prefer the vibe and activity at UA even though UAB offers the more urban setting. Thanks for this info!
If he wants a large number of OOS students, and a great merit package, stick with UA Tuscaloosa for that BS, Psychology.
In large part because UAB award for NRP has been bumped down to just $2500/yr, vs the full tuition + perks at UA.
If someone else already posted this, sorry for the dupe info. Just going for clarity.
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Thank you. That’s a big difference in merit money. Appreciate this info!
So according to this link, a student who took the PSAT in October, 2021 in the Middle States (in our case, New York State) must have a 1320 to qualify for NHMS, correct? Or is this outdated info and new cutoffs have not been established yet? I though that the program was changed (lowered the bar, as some have described it here) to include about 10% of top test takers. But this says 250,000 Hispanics took the PSAT with 7000 being selected for NHMS. So that’s closer to 3%. I thought my son might have a shot with a 1300 but looks like 1320 is the cut-off. If anyone can clarify, please do. Thanks!