I'm a finalist. Help!

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out. I found out today that I've been selected as a Finalist, and as I've got some pretty good ECs I think it's likely I'll be picked for a scholarship. The schools I've applied to are:</p>

<p>Yale
NYU
Harvard
USC
UCLA
UCB
(and accepted to Drexel w/ a $17,000 scholarship as a safety.)</p>

<p>I'm wondering which school to designate as my first choice. USC gives an automatic half-tuition scholarship to NM finalists that designate USC as their first choice school, and that's tempting. I've heard Yale/Harvard meet 100% of financial need, so designating either of them seems like a waste. I've contacted NYU about the amount of their scholarship (was that rude?) and hope to hear back soon.</p>

<p>As for UCLA/UCB, I know nothing.</p>

<p>I'm a middle-income ($100k) white male from southern california, and can't afford all the tuition but am not poor. What would you recommend doing in this situation?</p>

<p>I've included my stats below for reference. </p>

<p>Thank you!
JJ</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2180 M: 800 CR: 680 W: 700
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Math 2C: 800, Lit: 700, Chem: 670
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97 (Freshman year B+)
Weighted GPA: 4.8 (Acad. 10-12), 4.5 Total
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 10/493
AP (place score in parentheses): AB Calc (5) AP Lang (5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: Hardest Possible w/ ECs (2 Periods of Band (Marching/Symphonic), AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Phys, H Gov/Econ, ASB Student Leadership)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semi-Finalist, Academic All-American Water Polo 2 Consecutive Years</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
-High School Band (Student Conductor, Clarinet Section Leader x3)
-Water Polo (Varsity x3, Selected for Olympic Development, 1st Team All-Area, Highest Scorer x2, 2nd Highest All-time Career Goals for High School, 1st Team All-League, MVP etc., Significant Outside-HS Involvement on International Level)
-Swimming (Varsity x4, Most Inspirational, Coaches Award)
-ASB (Athletics Commissioner)
-Piano (Gigging Solo Pianist, 80-song rep., Self-published first album, also Started my own band, that I write the songs for)
-Recording Engineer (Internship at a local recording studio)</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: 2 years Senior Lifeguard (Certified), 1 yr USA Water Polo Referee (Cert.)
Volunteer/Community service: Teaching local kids to swim, performing with my church's worship group, Refereeing community games
Summer Activities: Extremely high level water polo (year-round), Worked a job, produced my album</p>

2

<p>*I found out today that I’ve been selected as a Finalist, and as I’ve got some pretty good ECs I think it’s likely I’ll be picked for a scholarship. *</p>

<p>Do you mean the one-time NMCorp scholarship of $2500??? I wouldn’t count on that. So, few are given out, and your SAT isn’t that high.</p>

<p>I think you need to choose USC as your first choice school.</p>

<p>I don’t think NYU gives anything to NMFs</p>

3

<p>You have to look at the NMSC website page:</p>

<p>[Forms</a> for Semifinalists](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/forms.php]Forms”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/forms.php)</p>

<p>Click on the student guide on the right. If you page through it, you will find a list of colleges/universities as well as corporations who are sponsors of National Merit Scholarships. </p>

<p>I believe USC is the only college on your list who is on that list, so mom2collegekids is correct.</p>

4

<p>NYU gives money, but I don’t think it’s very much.</p>

5

<p>Put USC as your first choice - that 1/2 tuition scholarship is the most you’ll get anywhere for NMF. The others on your list are either Ivies (no merit money but meet need) or poor (no money at all).</p>

6

<p>I THINK NYU only gives the “Baird” program. It’s nice, but it’s not money. I think they might give some of the $2000 type that are done through NM though…it’s confusing. The Baird program includes two trips that are very cheap ($300 to Italy type trips). Nice - but not the cash we all need. Anyway…NYU is my D’s first choice. So I’ve contacted them and they said they don’t need you to designate them until sometime in May. This is true of our state UNi too. So, check your deadlines for schools and don’t rush. .I think that, for MANY schools - you need not list them until you have your offers. If you want to see the NYU answer…go to their forums where I asked the question. This “WHEN” to designate first choice is a very confusing step. Don’t rush it (unless you have a clear deadline you have to meet).</p>

7

<p>Thank you all very much for your help.</p>

<p>Just to clarify - designating USC as a first-choice school, assuming that I get selected for the scholarship - would result in a forfeiture of all nmsq scholarship money if I did decide to attend, say, NYU.</p>

<p>Designating NYU as first-choice would result in a much lower cash scholarship than USC’s, and would result in a forfeiture of USC’s half-tuition scholarship, but as they don’t need to be told until late, I should hold off and see who offers what if NYU is my first choice.</p>

<p>Designating Yale/Harvard would be a “waste” as they meet all needed aid and the merit scholarship wouldn’t be worth anything.</p>

<p>Have I missed anything? Thank you all so much.</p>

8

<p>Does NYU give any NM cash scholarships?</p>

<p>If not, then no problem.</p>

<p>BTW…are you aware that NYU gives horrible financial aid? Even if you get admitted, unless your family can pay for it, you might have to decline anyway.</p>

9

<p>NYU might give a tiny bit, but not half tuition like USC. I think NYU does that $1000-$2000 type thing. Plus the Baird experience. </p>

<p>BUT…OP…do you HAVE to designate now? Does USC have a deadline? I would verify that with USC. They all WANT you to name them, so they are really weird about giving their deadlines. I THINK this might be easier than you think. Explain to them about waiting for all offers before deciding. You might be surprised. We have my D’s yellow card (daughter already put undecided) just taped up in our home office. Waiting. </p>

<p>Any, yes, I don’t think the HYPs give anything at all. They don’t give merit aid, only need based.</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>I would like the answer to this too. I’m still a little confused.</p>

<p>My D is a NMF, but she has not indicated a “top choice” yet because she wasn’t sure what it meant. Of her list of applied-to colleges, only Kenyon is on the NMS list of schools.</p>

<p>So, we’re assuming we should say that Kenyon is her top-choice. But if she puts Kenyon as her first choice, what exactly does that mean? If she gets a great scholarship somewhere else, she can still change her mind, no?</p>

<p>Sorry if this is the dumbest question ever asked here. :)</p>

11

<p>Not a dumb question at all.</p>

<p>If Kenyon is the only school on her list that gives a NM scholarship, the she should tell NMC that Kenyon is her #1 choice.</p>

<p>That will not affect anything if another school gives her a great scholarship that has nothing to do with NM status. So, if she were to get a Presidential or Provost or Dean’s scholarship based on stats (not on NMF), then…no problem.</p>

<p>Is that what you mean?</p>

12

<p>Yes! Thanks so much.</p>

13

<p>Hi JJ! 10 char</p>

14

<p>Am passing this along from a conversation with NMSC…</p>

<p>As of March 1, the first roster of NMF names with their first choice colleges will be sent out to colleges. Some colleges prefer or require that the NMF be on this list (I guess in particular perhaps those that offer “competitive” or a limited number of NMF scholarships), some colleges do not care (or have later acceptance deadlines for reporting their college as first choice). It would be important to check with the colleges under consideration to know where you stand.</p>

<p>On April 28, NMSC sends out college offers to students that have chosen a 1st choice college that offers NMF scholarships. At this point, a student cannot change his 1st choice and receive NMF monies from a different college. Up until the 27th of April, a student can change his 1st choice college and still qualify for the new college’s scholarships (if the college did not require being on an earlier 1st choice NMF roster).</p>

15

<p>In addition, I believe if a college does not have a deadline for declaring 1st choice and you have remained undecided (not indicating a 1st choice to NMSC), you can submit 1st choice to NMSC by May 31 and still receive the college’s NMF scholarship.</p>

16

<p>@universityquest</p>

<p>Thanks for your info! I’m just wondering though, where you got that information? You said “from a conversation with NMSC…” Could you clarify? Not trying to question your personal credibility, just want to make really really sure before I act on that information. :)</p>

<p>I’m in a similar situation to jj - though I’ve narrowed it down to two schools. I just can’t decide which one. If I don’t have to submit my first choice by March 1, I’ll have more time to decide, and also to see if I’m accepted to either/both before I make that decision.</p>

17

<p>Serfinity,</p>

<p>No offense taken :slight_smile: There are a lot of $ at stake for some colleges/scholarships. I talked with someone from NMSC by phone to verify some questions about deadlines, potential 1st choice changes, etc. and they gave me the info outlined in my previous post.</p>

<p>Later, I also found similar information stated in a box at the bottom of page 3 of the “Requirements and Instructions for Semifinalists” (a light yellow paper that was part of the semifinalist packet). It is also outlined on the timetable on the back of that paper.</p>

<p>The most important thing is to check the requirements/preferences for 1st choice deadlines with the schools that you are considering. Get a definitive answer as to whether the scholarship is guaranteed as long as you get your 1st choice in before May 31 (in which case you could go “undecided” until then) or whether it is required or advantageous in some way to designate 1st choice earlier. Just remember that if you do declare a 1st choice that you need to change it before April 28 if you decide on another college and want to be able to receive their NMF scholarship.</p>

18

<p>I have a somewhat different question:</p>

<p>Are your chances of receiving the NMSC one-time $2,500 scholarship impacted by which college you list as your #1 choice? For example, if a NMF has listed USC as their first choice college is it possible that NMSC would be less likely to grant that individual a $2,500 scholarship since the individual will be offered a generous scholarship by USC? Do you increase in any way your chances of receiving the $2,500 scholarship by listing “Undecided” or a college which does not offer NM scholarships? Or does your first choice school have no impact upon your chances because the $2,500 scholarship decisions are made completely independent of which school you may have listed as your first choice?</p>

<p>Any help would be appreciated!</p>

19

<p>For example, if a NMF has listed USC as their first choice college is it possible that NMSC would be less likely to grant that individual a $2,500 scholarship since the individual will be offered a generous scholarship by USC?</p>

<p>Since you can’t receive 2 NM scholarships, then if you name USC as your #1, then you wouldn’t get the NMCorp $2500, because you’d be getting the bigger multiple year one. </p>

<p>What would be the point of trying to get a one time $2500 scholarship, when a multi-year big one is available? Wouldn’t you choose the big one over the little one?</p>

20

<p>GreatWhiteNorth, the school you list has NO impact on the awarding of $2500 scholarships. NMSC will be paying out the $2500 no matter where a winner attends. If they attend USC, for instance, that means USC will get the $2500 payment and either 1) will reduce their NM scholarship by that amount (non-stacked); 2) stack it on top of their NM award; or 3) replace their much more generous award with the $2500 one (unlikely). Most likely is the first option (that’s what happened to DS at a different school). You should be sure you check with a school to verify how they’ll handle a NMSC scholarship so as not to jeopardize their NM award (this is why NMSC gives you the option to accept or reject their scholarship), but as for your original question, your school choice won’t affect whether or not you get the $2500 scholarship - it is a completely independent decision.</p>