This makes complete sense in that when my older child went to A&M, their National Recognition Scholarship was still automatic BUT only the top 3% of Hispanic test takers were awarded the College Board NHRP award (and the College Board NHRP award was based soley on 11th grade PSAT scores). Now that College Board has expanded their NHRP to include the top 10% of Hispanic test takers on either the PSAT 10 or the PSAT and has also added the AP pathway, A&M changed their award to competitive–and probably still awards their scholarship to only the top 3%. My guess is that if the student scored in the top 3% on the PSAT, then they most likely performed equally well on the SAT and would also submit their SAT score. At least this was the case with our C23. I could be wrong, but I just don’t see a student applying test optional to A&M if they scored in the top 3%.
As often as they change the wording on their scholarships website, it’s hard to keep up. This wasn’t there in February.
It would help families for TAMU to state what secondary considerations (e.g. GPA, SAT/ACT score, EC, first come first served,…) come into play for receiving $ under CBNRP.
I’m not really sure what kind of checklist there would be. I’m simply assuming we put the counselor email and college board would reach out. I’ve already had my son speak to the counselor about looking out for an email that may request gpa verification, but I’ll reach out myself just in case.
Oh, I was thinking one you made for the things the counselor has to do. Like:
____ Upload transcript to suchandsuchwebsite with link
____ Fill out counselor section at blahblahwebsite link
Please have them uploaded by DATE (make such this is at least a week before the actual date)
–
I don’t know what the actual things are that the counselors have to do this year. These are just examples.
I try to make things as easy as humanely possible for counselors/recommenders when I need them to do something so they can work from the document with links and exact directions.
I mean, this is only for the person who said they didn’t think the counselor was reliable. If you have a great counselor like S23’s school, I would just send an email to get a confirmation back that she knows what she needs to do and the deadline and then one that it has been completed.
Edit: Oh, I see, you don’t know the exact checklist. I might then either contact College Board and try to find out exactly what needs to be done, or first just send the counselor an email explaining that you have submitted her name and ask her to complete it by fake earlier date because you just want to be sure it is all in order with time to fix things “if the technology doesn’t work right.” (You really mean in case she messes up). Then in the same email for her to confirm when she has it finished.
That’s what I would do.
I put this on the HSF thread too but thought some of you might find this helpful in a current or future search.
I know Case Western does not offer specific merit for NHMS but I just wanted to report our positive experience with CWRU. When we attended an open house a year ago, they really talked up the minority outreach and embrace of programs for underrepresented students. It all sounded great but we were a bit skeptical. Sure, diversity seems to be increasing at Case in recent years but was it all talk? I must say CWRU really showed the love. My son has a 1450 SAT score and 97% unweighted GPA, so definitely not the tippy top stats for Case. But he was given their top merit of $43,500 and a generous financial aid package. With so many very strong students waitlisted, he was very honored. Sadly, it was still about $7k above our budget zone, so we had pretty much given up on Case and my son was focused on U Albany (a much cheaper option and also an R1 university that he liked.) Case was my son’s top choice (after being waitlisted at Northeastern) so he decided to write an appeal letter to see if they could offer more merit or FA. It was heartfelt and sincere, but we were told they never say yes and often give a “polite no.” But he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. They could not give more merit since he had the max but they said they’d take another look at FA. To our surprise, they got back to him by the end of the day and offered an extra $5k in FA and $2500 in work study. Since our goal was $7k more, we were shocked that they actually came down in price to our budget goals! He is interested in being an RA so that could save us more money down the line. And they will stack outside scholarships (he won a $1000 one with potential for a few more including HSF.) He was invited to an exclusive yearly event-the diversity Unity banquet where they honor current minority students with scholarships for study abroad, etc. and have great guest speakers. So we attended the admired student day on 4/14 and attended that banquet in the evening. My son fell more in love with Case during the admitted student day and-wow-the banquet was a 5 star event! During the banquet my son was invited to their first ever diversity weekend (if he commits) with fun events which takes place 3 days before orientation and he would get to move into the dorm 3 days early-quite a nice perk! Needless to say, Case Western was not just “talking the talk” with wanting to increase and embrace diversity. I’m not saying that’s why they showed the love to my son. He does have a strong resume with volunteer work, leadership, etc. But they seem to be taking action to make the campus as welcome and inclusive to ALL students as possible. It was a definite pull factor for him, in addition to many other reasons he loves it. He hasn’t committed to Case yet but all signs are pointing in that direction, pending some odd twist we weren’t expecting.
Pitt also gets honorable mention for hosting a wonderful diversity event called MVP Multicultural Program. This included a very nice dinner, overnight accommodations, and even reimbursement for travel. The overall vibe of Pitt wasn’t for my son, but we were impressed with our visit and that outreach.
Thank you for sharing!! I had my good friend who also shares my birth month who works in DEI and is the head DEI at a law school and was the chief in another popular top 50 public university and she called around and did research on my son’s top choice and out of all, CWRU was #1 in terms of walking the walk!
She said that CWRU’s head of diversity is a black male who among other duties goes above and beyond to make sure BM students are nurtured and supported given their small numbers in the school while also doing a lot for all students of color and LGBTQIA and women too! She said she was most impressed with his initiatives, their programming, their genuine efforts, their response to bias incidents, their general approach to DEI!!! It was a great vote of confidence for sure!!!
We couldn’t attend the unity banquet because we went there the week before for their admitted students days and son had a music trip that weekend in NY. It looked like an amazing event!
And they also gave my son full tuition for music and the head of the music department met him up in NY when my son was at a music conference there this past weekend. The music studio professor has done a lot of research so for all those reasons, it was hard to say no but at the end of the day, son chose the higher ranked music school that had more of the options he liked but boy, were they a close second!
I could have sworn I saw someone post a phone number to contact the Recognition Program. Now I can’t find it. Anyone have it?
This is what I see:
If you have further questions about the National Recognition Programs, please call (855) 283-3815 or email recognition@collegeboard.org.
Has anyone heard from HSF? My son was notified he was a finalist in March and completed the Phase 2 application but has not heard back as far as whether winners have been notified. Just thought I would check here.
Wrong thread.