Thank you-I will definitely keep you posted! Yes, I agree. It’s hard not to take rejection or a waitlist decision personally, but it’s totally out of our hands. We never know what these top tier schools are looking for and we shouldn’t lose sleep over-analyzing decisions. I just stick with the “love the school that loves you back” message and the idea that our students will land where they are meant to be!
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Yes. It has been a constant drag to get him to listen to us profess and share all the things we think make CWRU a good option. Since then, Oberlin and UMD flute teachers have been giving him the hard sale. It truly feels like how I imagine recruited athletes feel when they are actively being sought out by more than one school.
We are hoping that when he travels to admitted students day and meets with the head of Music at an event later in April that he will perhaps come over to our side.
Otherwise, he’s wavering between the top music school Oberlin and a top school close to home and I think secretly, he wants to go AWAY for college and bc we live 5 mins from UMD, he that makes it less of a draw for him.
Good luck with your decision! Your daughter sounds fantastic! I"m so excited about her options!
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Wow!! So many wonderful options! So exciting!!! And I just saw the Bonner Lead thing this week too. What a great initiative even with the 10-12 hours of weekly volunteering.
And at close to $58K in merit and aid at Case, you’re very close to full tution! Add the Bonner and Boom!
Good luck with the decision. It sounds like our kids are in wonderful positions!!
I’m on other parenting groups and boards and they’re all complaining and upset and a lot of the ire is directed towards URM and our kids. Yikes!
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Thanks!! This is so important!!
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Sounds like your son is a very talented kid, and can’t make a bad decision with all the great options he has! Yes my D also had the “go AWAY” for college bug, which also works against UMD, sadly.
Can’t wait to see where your son commits! Make sure you share it here!
Yes, I think that’s why we feel so guilty that we might not be able to make Case work. They gave us the moon and the stars and it’s still about $7k above our comfort zone without going into unnecessary debt. The Bonner’s Leadership program is with Rollins College (near Orlando) so that would be an extra $3k at Rollins bringing us close to our SUNY options. But there’s literally no other merit pools at Case Western to pull from (other than hoping for outside scholarships) so he has to resort to sending a compelling letter as a last resort for extra $. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try, but I don’t want him to get his hopes up. My daughter is studying music so I remember some schools really wining and dining her so I’m sure he’s in a tough spot. Wanting to go away is natural (my daughter ended up at Loyola in New Orleans which is 19 hours by car and my son may end up in Miami which is 24 hours away! 
) but hopefully your son won’t end up too far from home. He’ll do amazing no matter where he ends up! Keep us posted here!
One more thought to share: your son should think about the “broken arm” theory that recruited athletes are also encouraged to consider. If he suddenly can’t play the flute - injury, or burnout - would the place he selects still be a good match for him? It happens more than you would think even to the most passionate kids, so he needs to look at the whole opportunity and be sure he could be happy there even as non-flute playing student. One of my son’s friends was a violinist at Oberlin, gave it up, and ended up transferring. It’s the reason my art D is going to a university instead of an art school, because a lot can change in college. Just another perspective on top of all the other considerations you’ve been debating!
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I know this is previous years thread, and I am following the thread for class of 2024, but I have a question for those who have gone through this past year. Seems that it’s being handled differently than for my daughter who was class of 2022. She had to submit an unofficial transcript to verify gpa. My son got the notification to apply this year and it only asks for school counselor name and email. If we relied on the counselor for information, we would most definitely be behind and out of touch. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be in touch or active with kids and these recognitions. My daughters counselor had never even heard of these recognition programs and heck, Florida even gives full Bright Futures scholarship will this recognition. Did anyone experience not getting the recognition because of a counselor not responding to a gpa inquiry? Do we actually know if BigFutures or College Board really do inquire regarding the students gpa? I definitely liked it better providing the transcript ourselves. Thank you!
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Very interesting. My 2023 son submitted everything himself when he was invited at the end of sophomore year and apparently that was a new process. The counselors did it in the past. It sounds like they’re going back to that. I also prefer sending in the transcript ourselves. I have a 9th grader who is on track for it.
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With my S23, I told the counselor about the award before they were announced. Two people from his school got it (out of 17, so pretty good!) but that year, they had the students just give an unofficial GPA and confirm a few things.
I was so worried that the application must involved more (a transcript, counselor etc.) that I emailed the contact at College Board for the Recognition Awards giving son’s name and ID number and asking if it was all in okay. The person kindly checked and wrote back with a confirmation that everything was complete.
Since it seems they are changing back to having counselor involvement, I suggest printing a checklist for your counselor of steps and putting a date on there about three weeks before it is actually due and asking her/him to be sure to do it by then as you are worried about the process. Then follow up before your early deadline with counselor. Then contact College Board about two weeks before the real date to be sure it is completed.
A hassle, yes, but it can mostly be done by email, which is good as it leaves a paper record…
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That’s bad if they are changing back to having counselor/school input. My D22 received it and last year at an awards event for seniors that noted National Merit Finalists/semi-finalists, commended, they had a place holder for College Board NRP and had something like TBD. My daughter had received her notification like 2 months prior and she had even notified her guidance counsellor. I find it hard to believe she was the only one. Which means there could be even more if the school was aware and raised awareness.
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No transcript or counselor form was requested for my S23 (although both were requested for my S19 as the process was different back then). S23 received an email to apply and that’s it. He didn’t have to ask his counselor for anything. I don’t know if CB reached out to the counselor to verify GPA or not, but I’m guessing that if the kids do well enough with the competitive criteria (PSAT score or PSAT10 score, and/or number of AP courses passed then) it seems logical that they’ll more than meet the GPA requirement.
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Just getting on this thread today. It’s been very enlightening reading about others’ experiences with the CBNRP. @martinezcs we appear to be in the same school district…my class of 2024 D currently has A&M on her list (she is a recipient of the AA NRP). Has anyone heard more from A&M - is the award now competitive or allocated on a first come first served basis?
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They never gave me a good answer when I asked in person to our recruiter and an employee with Aggie One Stop. I pushed a little further and asked if it was based on need. I was told no. My son applied in August and was accepted in September. If it was first come, first served, he should’ve received it. He was actually invited by College Board sophomore year to apply and received recognition in Sept of his junior year. He achieved it earlier than some who were awarded the $6k scholarship a year later. He is ranked 2nd in his class. I am disappointed in their lack of transparency and the timing of changing the award as it was after my son applied. We didn’t discover until December that is wasn’t guaranteed.
Thank you for the update, @tgd. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see if anything changes by the time ApplyTexas opens for the '24/'25 school year.
Yes, I recommend checking the scholarship website regularly. I’d also take a screenshot of it for a timestamp on the day your students submits their application. If your student applies and then they change any scholarship information afterwards, I’d show the recruiter and tell them you applied specifically for the scholarship and show them timestamp. I’m interested in their process next cycle.
I essentially had the same experience as @tgd, with no transparency. They just said it was not guaranteed per the website and when I tried to point out that change came significantly after my D23 submitted her app, the answer was that “no scholarship is ever guaranteed and subject to change.”
A&M has made the award competitive. It used to be automatic. They will review applicants and decide who to give the scholarship too.
ASU did a similar thing last year. When my daughter applied the CBNRP scholarship on asu website was full tuition for residents and OOS. Their scholarship calculator showed she could expect full tuition scholarship and estimated her cost of attendance for room and board. After she applied and was accepted they changed the CBNRP scholarship to only residents. OOS students were only eligible for a presidential scholarship with a max of $15.5k /year which is about half of the OOS tuition. She received that scholarship and she declined admission.
The scholarships available at time of applying aren’t guaranteed. They are only guaranteed when both offered and accepted. They don’t ‘actually offer the scholarship until after student has applied and been accepted. For example at A&M they are offered scholarships in the howdy portal and the student has to click to accept. If they don’t it goes away and they can lose it.
Who told you it was competitive? They couldn’t answer that for me in person at Aggieland Saturday in Feb.
It’s on the website: “National Recognition Scholarships are offered to the most competitive students who are named either a National Hispanic, National African American, National Native & Indigenous, or National Rural & Small-Town Scholars by The College Board and complete the scholarship application for Texas A&M. “