<p>Just today I was at OSU for the Maximus Scholarship Competition and once again I am very impressed!</p>
<p>As a potential engineering student with many college acceptances from places like Purdue, Illinois, and even MIT, I really have just kept OSU as a safety option because they’re in-state and a great financial choice. But today, I must confess that OSU gained some HUGE points with me.</p>
<li><p>They were extremely organized. Everything ran like butter. Talking with various students, they all said they at first were also surprised how smoothly things run at OSU. We got to have information sessions for our specific colleges, meet deans from our colleges of interest, and so on.</p></li>
<li><p>It felt like OSU really tried to get every kid to have a personal dialogue with a faculty member or current student of their major. It’s nice to know that one doesn’t just get lost in the shuffle; every student I talked to said that their advisors, TAs, and even profs were always there for them whenever they came knocking.</p></li>
<li><p>The essay questions themselves were incredibly thoughtful, in my opinion. I’m pretty sure we’re free to discuss them here since we didn’t sign anything saying we wouldn’t. Also, after the competition, I asked a friend about his essay topics. Sure enough, they were completely different prompts (he went yesterday) so I assume the prompts will once again be changed for next weekend. The questions truly felt like they required careful analysis, deep thought, knowledge of today’s world, and general good writing skills.</p></li>
<li><p>I got honest answers. Every single student, faculty member, etc. I talked to today could give me their own personal favorite and personal least favorite thing about OSU. The answers varied from person to person, but no one ever felt like they were just trying to push OSU on us Maximus-ers.</p></li>
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<p>I liked it. I already liked OSU, so I just went to see how it would be. I'm a NMSF, so I probably won't be able to get any more $. I really did like their first year engineering experience. I was also very surprised that everything was organized and on time, despite having to deal with 300+ kids and their parents.</p>
<p>yes, OSU treats its honors students like royalty. they are really looking to move up the rankings and attract better kids. I agree, the Maximus could not have been better organized! And the one-on-one was very good, considering there were so many people there. You went yesterday... today there was twice as many people (good job on missing school though ;))
The faculty was also not bad, the speeches were pretty good -- esp the president (I never knew before that he had been the president of Brown and Vandy)</p>
<p>I forgot to ask:
How do you think you did and what questions did you do?
Do you know if they change questions for each of the 3 days? I would think that they would have to.
The Speaker... still... OSU cannot beat MIT in any way, shape, or form other than football. I guess the big factor is cost, but I would say that an MIT diploma is worth it--at least when compared to an OSU diploma.</p>
<p>yeah, it was pretty good, but i was kinda angry that the maximus/medalist thing can't stack w/ national merit. so basically either i took that test for nothing, or i waste my national merit status.</p>
<p>In regards to engineering, you are probably mostly correct. MIT and engineering are a no-brainer. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have gotten in. However, cost is the first big hurdle. Total cost of education at MIT is about 50,000/yr. versus 22,000/yr. at OSU. Plus, at OSU National Merit makes it pretty certain that I'll get free tuition. I have a shot at the Presidential which would be a free ride, or other scholarships like College of Engineering scholarships and outside private scholarships, all of which would be used to help out room/board costs. OSU is only a couple thousand at that point, and my summer job in an Air Force Research Lab is over 3,000/summer. So OSU is completely affordable, whereas MIT means definite, no doubt having to take loans, possibly substantial loans.
For a kid like me who plans on going on to grad school, it seems that it may make more sense to save $$ now and worry about "prestige" in grad school. And OSU isn't exactly podunk U, with an outstanding Honors program and the like.
On the other hand, MIT is MIT. Everyone I've talked to from there has been amazing, the staff there very dedicated, the academics the most challenging, possibly in the country.
So I have some big decisions to make. :-)</p>
<p>While it's true that the Presidential Scholarship can't "stack" with National Merit Scholarships, the Presidential Scholarship is more than NM. It's full tuition, full room and board (which you get even if you live off campus), books and fees, and miscellaneous expenses (ie, you get about 1500 extra a quarter).</p>
<p>Also, if you get the NM scholarship, you can use it (possibly) for other expenses, like study abroad or a laptop, if you talk to OSU's Financial Aid office.</p>
<p>When I went to Maximus, I thought the same thing: I have already have NM, so I can't possibly get any more $. But that's not true.</p>
<pre><code>Award amount
$1,000, or up to $2,000 with financial need ($4,000 to $8,000 four-year value)
Criteria
National Merit Finalists who designate to the National Merit Corporation that Ohio State is their first-choice institution are considered for this award.
</code></pre>
<p>Back to top</p>
<pre><code>Distinguished Scholarship for National Merit, National Achievement,
and National Hispanic Scholars
Award amount
Full in-state tuition; incorporates the value of the National Merit Scholarship
Criteria
* National Merit Finalists who rank in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes, and who designate to the National Merit Corporation by March 3, 2008, that Ohio State is their first-choice institution, are given priority consideration for this award.
* National Achievement and National Hispanic Finalists who apply for admission by February 1, 2008, are eligible for consideration for this award.
Note:
The Distinguished Scholarship may be combined with the National Buckeye Scholarship, as long as the combined total does not exceed the total cost of an Ohio State education. The amount of any other university-administered merit scholarships awarded to a Distinguished Scholar will be incorporated into their Distinguished Scholarship. However, Maximus Scholars who apply by the December 3 deadline are eligible to compete for the larger Presidential scholarship (see Maximus Competition).
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</code></pre>
<p>so i guess if you are nat merit, you just have to be top %10 in your high school class to get full tuit</p>
<p>when they select the 70 full tuit and 10 full ride, do they decide mainly from the essays, or do they still a lot at other pieces of our applications?</p>
<p>At the National Merit workshop I went to, they said that all Maximus awards were heavily dependent on the essays. The staff member pointed out that academically, we're all pretty top-notch since we made it to Maximus competition in the first place.</p>
<p>It sounded as though the essays were the most important piece, but other pieces, especially HOSA information (volunteer, extra curric's, essay, etc.) are also highly considered.</p>
<p>I agree completely that the Maximus competition at OSU seems very well organized. I actually did not go to the competition as I'm living in Seoul, Korea, but this location presented a number of problems with taking the exam (i.e. I obviously couldn't take it at 10 AM EST and I couldn't mail it overnight, it had to be 3-day mail) that the off-campus testing coordinators were very understanding about. I was nervous for a couple days before and after the exam over the logistics of the whole thing but in the end it worked out very nicely thanks to the efforts of the coordinators at OSU and my high school guidance counselor.</p>
<p>Hi, is there clear signs to direct you to the parking garage around the stadium? How far is the walk between stadium and the gathering place for the competition?</p>
<p>Instead of staying Columbus overnight, we will be driving up that morning and go to the competion directly w/o breakfast. From those who have been there, I will greatly apreciate if you could give us some comments.</p>
<p>Also, there is some mention of "one on one", could I understand that as an OSU student will be assigned to help us for the whole thing?</p>
<p>For last Saturday's Maximus competition (2/2), we came down from Cleveland on Friday and stayed overnight at a hotel over by the airport (about a 10 minute drive to campus). We thought getting a good nights sleep, not rushing things, and not having to take a chance on driving down in bad weather was worth it. The weather forecast for this Saturday calls for windy with rain and snow showers / highs in the upper 30s and lows in the low teens. If you are over an hours drive away, do you want to take a chance on coming in during bad weather? This is the last test date - there may be no opportunity to have it rescheduled if you don't make it.</p>
<p>OSU did a great job running Maximus. There were about 900 parents + students total seated in a large room in the RPAC. A nice continental breakfast was served from 8-9. Gordon Gee then talked to the crowd for a short time before sending the students to several locations to take the test from 10-12. We all met back at the RPAC from 12:30 - 1:30 for a nice lunch. After that you could visit the college of your major and any of the honors dorms.</p>
<p>There were dedicated buses available which shuttled visitors around campus while visiting. The normal $15 charge for parking at Tuttle garage was also picked up when you signed in for registration. One thing that surprised me was how "dead" it seemed on campus even though it is the middle of winter quarter. Most of the day the only people we saw walking around campus were other Maximus visitors.</p>
<p>Overall the visit left us with the distinct impression that Ohio State genuinely cares about each and every potential student, and doesn't want you to get the feeling that you are just an anonymous person in a very large crowd.</p>
<p>Also at last Saturday's Maximus, there may not have been an OSU student assigned to you "one on one", but there were literally hundreds of student volunteers guiding both parents and students to the various locations they needed to walk to beginning right at the Tuttle garage where you will park. If you follow the driving directions to Tuttle which are in the Maximus brochure you received in the mail, you will have no problem finding it.</p>
<p>As Zontar says, while you do not get any particular student assigned to you, the good people at Ohio State seemed to have just about every Honors student they could get their hands on. Students directing traffic into the parking garage (just follow the directions mailed to you, they're dead on), students guiding you from parking garage to RPAC, students holding door to RPAC, students to greet you, to register you, milling about to talk, sitting down at each table at the small breakfast, and more students at lunch, students to guide people exactly where to go for each portion of the Maximus experience.</p>
<p>All that time gives plenty of opprtunities to talk to students about what they think of OSU, and like I said, every single one I talked to gave me straight answers about what they like and don't like.</p>
<p>Dessert with the Deans, at least for engineering, allowed even more milling about to chat with current students and various reps from the different majors and a couple deans as well.</p>
<p>Oh, and be sure to dress for the weather! While the walk from the parking to the RPAC is short, for the students going to the essay-writing locations, dessert with deans, etc. there's plenty of outdoor walking.</p>
<p>Any free food the student got, the parent got. This meant the pastry breakfast, the lunch, cookies for dessert with deans, and yet more cookies at the final optional reception at the Kuhn Honors and Scholars House.</p>
<p>When your student registered for Maximus, they should have indicated the number of guests (usually just parents) attending so that OSU can ensure everyone gets a nametag and gets fed and such.</p>
<p>It was a good experience this past Saturday - we especially appreciated that everyone said hi with a smile. </p>
<p>Based on the statistics provided, OSU has made significant improvement from 1995 in terms of the quality of the students. The first year retention rate of honor students is very impressive. The huge size of the school also offers one advantage - you will be much more likely to meet a Buckeye in the country than any other school. </p>
<p>The lunch key note speaker rocks. He demonstrated that OSU has the fundation for a driven student to achieve big. However, we talked to at least two honors and they did not give good impression of the regular students and their dorms. </p>
<p>DD took a tour with her friend who is already OSU student. At the end, she wanted to switch her potential NMF #1 from OSU to another school. She thinks the campus was so huge but lack of green area. And they were only in the Taylor dorm.</p>
<p>I showed her the print of the lincoln tower and she is o.k. with that.</p>
<p>Is there a price difference between lincoln and taylor? Could we send in a deposit now to secure a space in Lincoln?</p>
<p>We were at the competition on Saturday, as well. We found it very well done. I was able to ask about how the test was scored, and thought that I would share what I learned with everyone here. I thought that the essays were the only factor in determining the scholarships, but apparently that's not true. The essays are each graded by 2 different graders, then the essay scores are combined with the standardized test scores and diversity and a "few other factors" are added in to come up with the final ranking. (Diversity here including OOS and Appalachian county of residence.) Then, 30 of the top 80 scorers who filled out the HOSA will be selected for the interview for Presidential. The top 70 scorers who don't get Presidential will get Medalist. Also, all 70 scholarships will be awarded-- ie. if someone turns down the scholarship, they will go to the next one on the list and offer it. So, it has happened that some students received notices that said that they did not win the Medalist, and then they received a later letter saying that they were now being offered the scholarship. </p>
<p>Also, students in colleges such as Engineering that have their own resources to award scholarships will receive a listing of the Maximus contestants from their department. I was told that Engineering especially has been known to be nice to Maximus scholars-- if you receive the Medalist, but not Presidential, they might add on top to bring you closer to Presidential or if you were close, but did not receive the Medalist, they might offer you full tuition from the Eng. college.</p>
<p>I found this all very interesting-- hope this helps!</p>