<p>HBCU's aren't the only institutions that like National Achievement semi-finalists. Remember, there are only 1600 NA SF's and 1300 will achieve finalist status. You'll see that the lists for both scholar awards are very similar.</p>
<p>UF will give a full ride to NA Finalists that designate UF as the top school choice.</p>
<p>I found this information on the University of Florida website:</p>
<p>January 3, 2005</p>
<p>UF RANKS NUMBER ONE IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES ENROLLMENT OF NATIONAL MERIT AND NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT SCHOLARS </p>
<p>GAINESVILLE, Fla. (January 3, 2005)--The University of Florida has moved to the top spot in public universities enrollment of both National Merit Scholars and National Achievement Scholars, as announced by the National Merit Corporation. Overall, UF ranks second nationally in National Merit Scholars and fourth nationally in National Achievement Scholars within its 2004-2005 freshman class. </p>
<p>With 259 National Merit scholars recruited, UF is behind only Harvard University in recruiting more National Merit scholars in 2004. In 2003, UF recruited 224 National Merit Scholars and ranked fourth nationally; in 2002 UF recruited 186 National Merit scholars, placing it fifth among all universities and second among public universities. This year, there are 8,258 National Merit Scholars enrolled nationally at 375 institutions. </p>
<p>UF's remarkable educational and social opportunities attract some of the nation's most talented undergraduates, said Dr. Joseph Glover, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. UF's ranking as the nation's top public university in enrolling National Merit and National Achievement Scholars is due to the rich academic environment created by an outstanding faculty, staff, and student body. </p>
<p>Merit Scholars are selected from more than 15,000 semifinalists nationally by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The students scored in the top one-half percent of high school seniors in their state on the Preliminary SAT-National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The top-ten ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Merit scholars, are: </p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard University--312</li>
<li>University of Florida--259</li>
<li>University of Texas--242</li>
<li>Yale University--224</li>
<li>Stanford University217</li>
<li>University of Chicago198</li>
<li>Washington University at St. Louis197</li>
<li>Princeton University192</li>
<li>University of Southern California183</li>
<li>University of Oklahoma170 </li>
</ol>
<p>In National Achievement Scholar recruiting, UF ranked fourth this year out of 166 participating schools across the country and first among the 76 public institutions. UF recruited 40 National Achievement scholars, ranking behind Harvard University, Yale University, and Stanford University. Due to a change in the methodology at the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, college-sponsored scholarships are no longer counted in the total number of National Achievement Scholars. </p>
<p>The National Achievement Scholars Program recognizes minority students who place well on the Preliminary SAT. The top-ranked participating schools, followed by the number of recruited Achievement scholars, are: </p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard University85</li>
<li>Yale University61</li>
<li>Stanford University57</li>
<li>University of Florida40</li>
<li>Duke University35</li>
<li>Howard University-29</li>
<li>Princeton University27</li>
<li>Washington University at St. Louis27</li>
<li>Massachusetts Institute of Technology22</li>
<li>Columbia University19</li>
<li>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill18</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania--18</li>
</ol>