<p>We'll give UAH a look, too. Although with apparently less than a week until decision time, we're not doing a lot more checking until we know what the NMF result is going to be.</p>
<p>I was wanting to go ivy, but I realized it just wasn't fair to expect my parents to shell out that much for college. I can finish higher in the class at a more local college and be better off for law-school.</p>
<p>Right now I'm considering UCF.</p>
<p>I would get annualy:
$9880 for NMF
$2500 NMS
$3000 Florida bright futures
$1000 my parents pre-paid plan</p>
<p>For a school whose tuition is roughly $3000</p>
<p>I would get all my general ed requirements wiped (because of IB) and I would automatically be accepted into the honors college because of NMF. I think that I'm going to pursue a double major in business administration and law-studies.</p>
<p>Not bad. It's a good 30 minutes away from home, and my parents said I could get an apartment and share it with my best friend. They said I could also trade in my car for something sportier... so I'm thinking about getting an Infiniti G35. </p>
<p>I did the math and I would make around 6000 dollars a year for attending college. That is NOTHING to complain about.</p>
<p>There are some amazing things for NMFs to do. Up until a few weeks ago I was blinded by the "Ivy or bust" mentality. But I discovered that there are other options that are much more grad-school-expense friendly. </p>
<p>Just a reminder to keep an open mind.</p>
<p>Uh, why not just go to UF?</p>
<p>I don't know what other colleges offer finalists, but I know that the U of Alabama a great deal if you name them first choice. They supply full tuition, room & board, mandatory fees, a $1000 towards study abroad after your freshman year, and a laptop computer. U of Alabama has a lovely campus in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It is an hour from Birmingham, three hours from Atlanta, and 4 hours from the Gulf beaches. </p>
<p>U of Alabama has an excellent computer based honors program, its communication department in in the top 10 nationally, the business school is very good with an excellent accounting department, and it has a pretty good football team.</p>
<p>esmith: I just got the book on Honor's Programs and I noticed that U of Alabama was the only one that got 3 separate honors listings -- including the "computer-based honors programs" but I couldn't tell what is the difference and why one is called that. Do you know?</p>
<p>The computer based honors program is different from a regular honors track. You take several computer language courses and computer science courses your freshman year, then in your sophmore year you are paired one on one with a faculty member in your area of interest, say, international business, or engineering, and you work as a computer oriented research assistant to him or her. If he publishes, you get credited, nice for grad school. UA has a website, <a href="mailto:honors@ua.edu">honors@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>ummm, UF definitely doesnt give full tuition for national merit finalists, only 5,500 per semester, when I checked, which doesnt cover even half of out of state tuition.</p>
<p>Im in state, and Ill be going to FSU. the campus is better, they have great facilities, their music program is one of the best in the nation. With all the scholarships I have from national merit and a merit scholarship that they gave me (without so much as an extra application, free 9600$) ill probably be making money at college. I actually attended a dinner for national merit at UCF, if youre going into engineering its great, and it seems like an expanding school, but it just wasnt for me. The NM scholarship is pretty impressive though, and orlando is a great area.</p>
<p>BlueDragon:</p>
<p>NMFinalist award for non-florida residents, if you select UF as first choice: $9,500/yr...PLUS waiver of non-resident fee: $13,000/yr...which brings total cost down to $3,040/yr (basically free in my book)</p>
<p>This is straight off of a flyer I got in the mail, twice.</p>
<p>in the selection for the people who will receive the $2500 scholarship from nmsc themselves, do they take into account which college the student will be going to (as in, if the school the student will go to doesn't offer full rides for nm finalists, will that help the student get the $2500)?</p>
<p>When will it: Are you a senior? When will juniors who have high enough PSAT scores start receiving such info from colleges that want them to select them as "first choice"?</p>
<p>jlauer95, I've been asking the same question. Granted, I'm in Iowa, but since I got my scores back 14 months ago, I haven't heard a peep from anyone but the schools I sent my SAT scores to (except Wash U, they're playing hard-to-get). The Finalists who graduated a year before me at my school were receiving info from Nebraska, Texas and the like. </p>
<p>I've also been asking myself the debt-free or prestige question.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm a senior</p>
<p>Semifinalist status is not officially released until the fall of your senior year (about a year after you took the test). That's when you'll start getting mail, but I didn't get mail from UF until Decemberish I think. Which means you should start researching, on your own, into what awards all the colleges have for NMFinalists. You get to pick your first choice in fall of senior year (when you are a semifinalist applying to be a finalist), but you can change it all the way up until May I think. I think I'm keeping my first choice on Baylor.</p>
<p>Whenwillit: But I thought you had to name your "first choice" during your junior year -- in the spring? Is that wrong? (I know that semi-finalist status isn't announced until September but I thought all those who didn't have an * next to their scores were considered "in the initial competition" and were asked to specify a first and second choice.) Am I misinformed?</p>
<p>I <em>think</em> what you are recalling is just an unofficial query on what schools you are considering or would like to receive more info on. No way is it your official designation of "first choice" school.</p>
<p>mom: That may be. But on what (and when) is that "unofficial query" done? Is that spring of junior year? And when is "official" designation of 1st and 2nd choice?</p>
<p>I am a parent of a NMF, and a NMF myself in the ancient past, and I can assure you that are going to get plenty of feedback. In the next 6 months you will hear from schools you didn't know existed. My son submitted the Common Application to all the schools that didn't ask for fees or supplements, in addition to the schools he really wanted. Just last week he got a full ride offer from one of the schools he just sent the Common Ap to. He got unsolicited mail from dozens of colleges, and got unsolicited full tuition scholarship offers from AZ State University, U of FL, U of Central FL, and Southern MS. Those are just the ones I can remember.
We live in Alabama, and U of Al has offered a full ride, and Auburn offered full tuition. I think Vanderbilt offers 10K to NMF who name them as first choice, but cost of attending is 44K, so that isn't much help.</p>
<p>Hey! What's with the Purdue bashing a while back? So sorry - the PU President decided he's tired of all the Indiana MSF leaving the state so he's offering great packages to Indiana kids. Hopefully my son will make it to finalist status (he's got a 222, still debating over whether to retake the SAT, he got around a 2200) so he can get a President's scholarship. Purdue has to compete with Notre Dame, IU, and Rose Hulman for the Indiana kids who want to remain in state and, based on the kids that were there when my older son was an undergraduate, doesn't have any problem attracting out of state. So why not make it a little more attractive for the in state kids? Purdue has to compete with the other schools for funding, too. And ND and Rose Hulman are sure out of our price range!</p>
<p>Arizona State University -</p>
<p>Residents:
$12,500 annual award renewable for three additional years provided you satisfy Renewal Criteria.
$50,000 total four-year value.
Nonresidents:
$21,500 annual award renewable for three additional years provided you satisfy Renewal Criteria.
$86,000 total four-year value.
This award includes the college-sponsored, corporate-sponsored or NMSC-sponsored scholarship award</p>
<p>Scholar Recruitment Office at (480) 965-3040</p>
<p>U. of Oklahoma---$76,500 scholarship package for all NMF.</p>
<p>You perhaps missed the point...Purdue treats IN-STATE NMF's really well, but if you're out of state, forget it. I met personally with the FA office, and was told how disturbed they are with the state because the guidelines for FA don't permit them to attract out-of-state NMF's. She told me that they have virtually NO out-of-state NMF's.</p>