<h1>1 son's chosen school did not give any credit for NMF -University of Michigan. He had other schools that claimed they would give him credit but did not (not ones that he was really interested in anyway).</h1>
<p>Citymom ~ What I've seen by casually looking around is colleges giving between $500 and $2,500 per year to NMFs over and above what the kids would have gotten without the award. Maybe some schools are giving full rides, but I haven't really sen that, and when there is a big award (like Arizona State) the 4-year costs are not usually $200k...</p>
<p>My 'd' is a NMF and has received several scholarship offers that we are currently reviewing from $2500.00 to full ride + summer stipends. She scored very high on the PSAT and the SAT. She has a high gpa, has taken over 11 AP classes, community college physics class and lab, wrote grants, started clubs, volunteered etc. The Merit Scholarships are well deserved. And the other NMF's that we have met at some of the scholarship weekends have the same stellar stat's, work ethic, etc.<br>
The colleges do use the PSAT is as an indicator to identify students who are and will be successful. The scholarship weekends are a marketing tool to draw a larger group of successful students to the campus's with the hopes that the ones that are not given the scholarship will like the school enough to come. Thus boosting the schools stats.</p>
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From what I saw: the major thing determining why some strong students become NMF and others do not is whether their PARENTS knew that PSAT results can become big money later. Couple sample tests will turn a 210 (a standard unpreared score of a strong student) into a 220 (enough for NMF). The later steps are a formalityfor strong students (about 90% of semifinalists become finalists in most states, you have to screw-up big time in order to fail here). I know couple NMFs who are pretty average students and who never managed to push their SAT scores above 2200 and I know amazing kids with really high scores who are not NMFs. Just because they did't know that PSAT is important.
Naturally, good work should be rewarded. And good preparation to PSAT schould be rewarded. But is it really worth 200 thousands?
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<p>Good point citymom. Mine didn't either but I did. She will be getting ~$80K for top 30 US News, honor program, at a private school. It turns out the best fit for her overall. some of her friends did not have this option.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong. I am all for merit scholarship (especially because for us it is the only way to offset the tuition costs). And I strongly believe that scholarships for NMFs are a right thing. Well-deserved 2000 a year.
I simply do not understand when the value of NMF status alone is blown out of proportion. When a college awards full-ride scholarships to ANY NMF submitting an application and doesn't offer serious merit aid to much stronger applicants with other achievements (including kids with 2300+SATs or a set of 800s on subject tests). </p>
<p>While we are waiting on Fin. Aid, I was just thinking: why do some kids get HUGE merit aid and other kids with similar stats and Ecs get very little. Are there any secret rules here? Here are my hypotheses and observations:</p>
<p>1) Kids with low EFCs get more Merit Aid in private schools and are much more likely to get full rides in publics. Apparently private colleges understand that they will have to give them money anyway. And state schools probably assume that parents with EFC higher than COA will not care about paying a little.
2) Kids applying very early are more likely to get large scholarships. Do not know why. Demonstrated interest?
3) Merit aid process is much less hollistic than admissions. Numbers rule here (test scores and GPA). Not APs or ECs.
4) Having no class rank can prevent you from getting some scholarships.</p>
<p>I made NMF and I had a 3.6w and a 2070 sat. I was told by the National Merit office that they are looking for mostly A's and B's (I had one C+ in an honors class). Hope that helps.</p>
<p>imdamon: Great article. Thank you. I knew UF had changed its approach but had never read this information.</p>
<p>Interpretations?
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/454412-national-merit-scholars-2007-schools-have-most.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/454412-national-merit-scholars-2007-schools-have-most.html</a></p>
<p>Calguy22 ~ Thanks, that is very helpful. DD is in that ballpark.</p>