<p>Hi, I will likely be nominated by my school for the Morehead next year and I have some questions about it that didn't seem to be on the website:
-What's the initial application like? How many essays/letters of rec?
-How many semi finalists and finalists are chosen?
-Is there any other required action between being named a finalist and winning the scholarship that you have to go through? How do they decide which finalists are awarded the scholarship?
-What is the final selection weekend like?</p>
<p>Obviously, I doubt anyone has all of these answers unless they have gone through the entire selection process themselves, but any information would be appreciated. </p>
<p>The app is not that bad - but several essays, answers to questions, etc. The semi question depends on in and out of state. As understand, in states get interviews. Out of state - phone interviews. I do not know how many are semi finalists. About 110 or so are invited for the finalists weekend. About half get it. I would estimate that about 35 are in state, 10 out of state, 5 international. You can look at the scholar lists to estimate it. After the weekend - they let you know if you got it - you have a certain amount of time to accept or decline. Maybe 1 or 2 decline maybe none. Again - these are estimations, etc but are fairly close. If you make finalists weekend you have about a 50/50 chance. The final weekend is a slate of activities, and interviews. Take picture. Dinner. Some scholars are there. I believe two interview groups. But that is pretty far off. You can always self nominate if you don’t get the nomination. My son’s first year roommate was in state and self nominated did not get his school’s nomination. Just focus on grades, activities, etc … for now. Worry about this later.</p>
<p>“Maybe 1 or 2 decline maybe none.” </p>
<p>Do they publish the numbers of people who decline? Anecdotally, quite a few decline in favor of top privates.</p>
<p>I doubt quite a few … as usual, your negativity about UNC comes through. I’m familiar with the last couple classes and quite a few would be a stretch. No it is not published - why would it be? </p>
<p>Why wouldn’t it be? Colleges publish their yield stats, so why not scholarships?</p>
<p>If you look through past years on this link <a href=“Morehead-Cain | The nation’s first merit scholarship program”>http://moreheadcain.org/news</a> you will see that it is usually half and half in regards to IS/OOS. However, the OOS figure does typically include multiple international scholars as well. </p>
<p>Less than 15% of nominees/self-nominees were selected as semifinalists this year, according to the note I received.</p>
<p>Also, I am an OOS Finalist and my semifinalist interview was via Skype, not phone. Good luck next fall!</p>