<p>My D got her first offer in October and it was revised several times adding more money each time. We attended the NMSF event to meet all the important people and show our interest. Meeting her future department head was a key move because I know he advocated for her with the scholarship folks. Just remember, the first offer might be only a starting point. Gig’em and good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks SimpleLife!</p>
<p>^Oops!! To be clear, that was my CC friend, Debbie, who answered you! My son had a little different experience than her D’s. </p>
<p>Hi, summerrain2014,</p>
<p>My son, also an NMF, simply applied to A&M like everybody else, filled out the scholarship Essay C on Apply Texas, and attended an Honors event on campus the summer prior to his senior year in high school. He didn’t apply for Engineering Honors until he was already in his freshman year (but that was when there weren’t freshman Eng Honors seminars–some things have changed since then, and that might be one of them), and he didn’t apply for University Honors until much later either (maybe the spring or summer prior to entering college?). I really don’t think applying for honors of any sort had any affect on scholarship decisions at the time, and my guess is that applying for honors still doesn’t affect admissions scholarships, but I could be wrong. </p>
<p>My son also delayed his decision to declare his NMF first choice school until the last possible week. (Is May 1 the deadline? He turned his postcard in one week prior to that.)</p>
<p>He was torn, frankly, between MIT, another top private school, and A&M. He went back and forth between those 3 that last month. In fact, every now and then, he strongly considered another OOS public, too. He was weighing the engineering programs, honors programs, opportunities in his favorite extracurricular, finances, campus “ambiance,” distance from home, and hiring potential (in no particular order except to say that finances weighed heavily). And so, he put off naming his first choice school for NMF. </p>
<p>Honestly, unless your son is 100% certain that A&M is his first choice, I would recommend the same. What’s the rush?</p>
<p>Like Debbie’s D, my son received his first scholarship notice in the fall semester of his senior year. Then, like her D, more scholarship offers trickled in throughout the spring. </p>
<p>And yes, all there is to do is wait! 
My son did make one more scholarship-interview visit and one more really amazing, really thorough campus visit in the spring, in which he visited everybody under the sun in order to be as informed as possible. The scholarship interview was by invitation and not precipitated by any post-application effort on his part, and the thorough campus visit happened because the scholarship interviewers got him totally fired up for A&M!! That campus visit, in retrospect, pretty much sealed the deal. He loved everything he saw and everyone he met. But he was having a hard time letting go of the great things about the other schools, too. It was a stressful time for him (and me), as he weighed those final choices. </p>
<p>The good news is, he is absolutely thrilled with his decision! He loves A&M and takes enormous pride in the school and in his peers. I can highly recommend it! :)</p>
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<p>So does this mean that a high GPA in freshman year can result in increases in scholarship money without applying for additional scholarships? Also, were there any special opportunities for internships and research in the summer after freshman year? thanks</p>
<p>There is an application for continuing students scholarships, don’t know if Debbie’s D filled it out. I also have a 4.0 freshman student who got additional scholarship money awarded for his sophomore year. He did complete the application. For him, he was also involved other groups and activities. His is a one year scholarship - I believe most of these are one year terms- but maybe someone else knows otherwise.</p>
<p>^Thanks AGmomx2.</p>
<p>Yes, my D filled out the continuing student application. She received a new departmental award and her other departmental award was renewed unexpectedly. She did win an award in her major as an outstanding freshman. She did not try for an internship or research last summer, but plans to do so this next summer.</p>
<p>^Congratulations on your daughter’s success in her freshman year, Debbie7452! That’s really great news! If you don’t mind me asking, do you mean to say she was designated as an “outstanding freshman?” Is there such a thing within her department? Or are you kind of saying that as one of the most outstanding freshmen in her department last year, she was honored with an additional award? I’d just like to know for future reference on what’s possible in the realm of Aggie scholarships.<br>
Also, are you saying that she was already on a free ride plus stipend before she was awarded another departmental award? If so, that’s pretty darned cool and I’m sure it must have been well-earned!
Congrats again!</p>
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<p>My impression is that the vast majority of students don’t do research or internships between freshman and sophomore year. Foe engineering students, freshman year consists of just the fundamentals. Students aren’t even permitted to enter upper level engineering until after those fundamentals are out of the way, and I don’t think that happens often, or at all, prior to the first semester of sophomore year. So, a rising sophomore just doesn’t have much to offer in the way of research or internship potential. For that reason, I’m under the impression that most students put research and internships off until the following year or even the year after that.</p>
<p>SimpleLife…D’s department gave out an actual award for “Outstanding Freshman” in her major which included a reference book and a $25 cash prize and she was honored to receive it. She did exceed the cost of attendance this year with the new departmental scholarship. I thought she would have to give some back, but it turned out that the wording of the last award let her keep all of it. These departmental specific awards are re-evaluated each year and do not automatically renew. I do not know exactly what it takes to keep getting them, but having a 4.0 is always a good start :). She is not in engineering so I have no experience with that.</p>
<p>Agree with SimpleLife, there isn’t much opportunity for fresh/soph although some do get internships. We found they normally had an ‘in’ with the company if they were offered one. In the ‘research’ category, there are competitions available for both Engineering and Business. Sometimes you are invited to join a team or it is just advertised and you create your own team. They often involve prize money or scholarship money for the winners… an added bonus!</p>
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<p>I am not sure it would be prudent for Debbie to share that type of personal info on an open forum. However, it is good to know that there are additional scholarships that can be earned after freshman year and it seems like Debbie’s D has a pretty sweet deal too. Congratulations to both of you and your kids. I have to say, from your children’s examples, it looks like A&M likes to under promise and over deliver.</p>
<p>When you apply for scholarships at school, you are required to state all of your other scholarships - so actually the university knows what each student has been offered prior to awarding additional scholarships.</p>
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<p>Heck, yeah! Who wouldn’t be honored to receive it? Congratulations! Beyond the recognition, those reference books can be pretty pricey, too. Good for her.</p>
<p>@perazziman, I’m not sure I get what makes the question I asked any more personal than anything else Debbie has been sharing here and, besides, she already answered me a few posts ago. I do understand people’s desires for privacy, though. In fact, I’ve been pretty private and vague, publicly on CC, about my own kids’ scholarships. I’m constantly weighing whether I should be more specific on these forums, in hopes of being more helpful, or whether I should continue to protect my kids’ privacy. So far, I’ve gone mostly with their privacy. So, I do understand your concerns.</p>
<p>For instance, I am familiar with free-rides plus stipends, and with the continuing student scholarship apps, and with receiving additional scholarships in continuing years on top of existing free-ride plus stipend packages. But I was not aware that academic departments would honor continuing students who are already on free-ride plus stipend packages (to include departmental monies) with additional departmental monies in following years. That’s a pretty sweet concept, and it probably does happen for some, but it hasn’t happened for my kids, and from the sounds of it, that’s not what happened for Debbie’s D. I’m not concerned or complaining in any way. I’m grateful as heck for A&M’s incredible generosity, and I would be happy for Debbie’s D if that what happened for her. But my question was really just a matter of curiosity and in the interest of being a better informed CC user. </p>
<p>Regarding scholarships that supposedly don’t automatically renew, in our experience, those scholarships do renew year after year. Sometimes the name of a scholarship changes (like, an awarded amount from one department might now be called the Michael Edwards Memorial Award whereas last year that same amount was called the John C. Douglas Award – totally made up names), but the amounts have always stayed the same or (on rare occasion) increased. It appears that they’re simply reallocating the scholarships within their departments so that they can better spread the wealth. The only difference is my son writes his thank you letter to a different person or organization that year. I would imagine that if a student’s performance tanks, his/her non-renewable scholarships would be in jeopardy. But, based on our experience, if all things stay roughly the same, those scholarships tend to renew year after year. </p>
<p>Best of luck to all! :)</p>