@3scoutsmom Did your DS18 get the McDermott scholarship or was the “automatic” NMF scholarship UTD offers basically a full ride? By the way, what do "DS and “DD” stand for? I get the second letter is “Son” and “Daughter”, but what is the other “D”. Thanks
@liecdre D stands for dear…TU is that Tulsa University…I hear it has a great NMF package too.
@liecdre
DS = dear son
DD = dear daughter
DS applied to the McDermott and made it to finalist weekend but found that that McDermott wasn’t a good fit for him (too many strings attached for my comfort) he’s currently attending on the automatic NMF scholarship which is about about $100 a semester short of a full ride with the meal plan he picked and the required books. His stipend from the summer Clark program more than covered the small short fall. He’s also roomming with two McDermott scholars so in the end we feel he has the best of both worlds, great friends/connections and no strings!
DS20 doesn’t plan to pursue McDermott but hopes for NMF and if not he stands a good chance for the highest level of AES scholarship (oop about $5K a year).
If you DS goes for comp sci, make sure he applies for comp sci honors (cs2) you have to test into the program but it opens may doors.
@3scoutsmom Thank you very much! Yes, TU stands for the University of Tulsa. It’s backwards, but I guess it makes sense not to go by UT as there is a slightly bigger school that commonly goes by that name 
They don’t have a NMF scholarship exactly, but they have a “Full Ride” Scholarship (finding that it’s closer to $2k oop per year after all fees and books). However, the scholarship is competitive and a couple of my S17 friends that were NMF did not receive the scholarship. There are some strings attached to that scholarship as well.
Anyway, the information on UTD is fantastic. I am getting a bit of teenage attitude about looking at colleges right now. He does have other things going on that he is trying to get through (capstone project, some NHS hours, etc.). I am hoping that by mid September he is ready to hit the college search harder again (he did some research over the summer when he wasn’t working).
Thanks again!
@liecdre, you said your son was interested in computer science and neuroscience. At UTD, my DD was pursuing a double degree in CS and cognitive science which does include neurology. It can be done in 4 years because there is alot of overlap between the 2 degrees. He should take a look at it and see if it interests him.
@GTAustin Thank you for that information. That could be very interesting to him.
@liecdre if you can, plan to go to a National Merit Preview day at UTD, registration opens in January.
https://www.utdallas.edu/enroll/visit/events/national-merit-scholars-program-preview/
@3scoutsmom We will definitely plan on going to a NM Preview Day. I was just thinking that he needed to sort of make a decision before then in order to take advantage of the other opportunities and scholarships at UTD. However, with the McDermott not being necessary to get a “Full Ride”, then he could potentially wait until Spring. I assume he could also still qualify for the Clark program even if he applies in the Spring.
@liecdre apply as early as possible for the best options. You have to be accepted to UTD before applying for Clark, National Merit doesn’t guarantee acceptance to Clark but early application is a big plus. UTD uses the Apply Texas which should be open already. You can submit your application without paying the fee. Once you are officially a NMF they will waive the application fee but if you pay it they woun’t refund it.
@3scoutsmom OK. That makes sense. So, you have to be accepted, but not enrolled to apply for Clark. I missed that. I did not think my S19 would want to commit yet this Fall to going to UTD, but if it is just applying and being accepted, then that is great! Thanks again!
Are we the only ones looking at University of Idaho? My daughter wants to swim and most of the schools with big NMF money fall into two categories: schools without swim teams and schools with fast swim teams (Alabama, UF, etc) That leaves her Idaho and UNM for good swim fit. She filled out recruiting forms for both and has been communicating extensively with Idaho coach and they are bringing us out for an official recruiting visit in September. I know some others offer more goodies but the trade off of being able to continue in the sport she loves is probably worth it. The coach says he has money if anything falls through with NMF so maybe he can round out some of the missing goodies with a bit of athletic money.
Her first choices are still a couple top D3 schools that have great financial aid but this is a great option to have since the odds are not in anyone’s favor at those schools.
Someone mentioned Case Western. She is going on a recruiting visit there as well. Their FA is not as good but someone mentioned they have good merit?
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the University of Utah as an option for lots of merit money. Not explicitly targeted at NMFs (and they prefer high UW GPAs as well as good test scores) but they have 30 competitive full ride (Eccles) scholarships per year plus additional full tuition scholarships which are near automatic (or at least you can estimate what you are likely to receive on the NPC). OOS cutoffs are likely to be about 34-35 ACT for these.
My D18 is attending and loves it so far. Her largest freshman class has 31 students and her huge apartment-style Honors dorm room could feature in a catalog (according to our friends’ FB comments).
@Twoin18 - don’t they have a high GPA requirement to maintain scholarships? With a kid headed for engineering, I didn’t want him to be burdened with any school with a GPA requirement above 3.0. (The average freshman engineering GPA at a lot of schools hovers right around that 3.0 mark.)
@mountainmomof3 They do have what at first glance seems a high GPA requirement (3.5 for Eccles) and that is something we were initially concerned about until we found out they also have extremely generous grading policies in the first place. Over 40% of all students and about 39% of engineering students graduate with above a 3.5 GPA (see https://www.obia.utah.edu/data/student-data/gpa-percentile/) so it would be astonishing for a student in the top 1% of the enrolled students (Eccles is 30 out of 4000+) to fail to achieve that even in freshman year (we were told it’s never happened).
GPA requirements for the full tuition scholarships are slightly higher (3.7 I believe) but a good student is still unlikely to fall below that level unless they spend all their time skiing (and it’s also worth noting you can get instate tuition after the first year with a total COA of $20K per year which limits the downside risk substantially).
@Twoin18 good to know! Grading varies so much from school to school!
Hi @3scoutsmom - please could you elaborate on why the mc dermott wasnt a good fit & what are the strings attached?
@How is it collge application time already? I sent you a PM.
Parents: Congrats to you and your students for achieving national merit status!
Below is a link for a 2018 list from the NMSC of colleges that offered some merit money (sponsorship). The list starts on page 3. You can then check your preferred college’s website to see if they offer a larger package. While there aren’t many completely full rides, apply anyway to schools you are most interested in. We were pleasantly surprised that being a National Merit Finalist or Scholar opened doors we were unaware of; 3 of our colleges invited us to apply for additional scholarships which were substantial and by invitation only.
Thanks for starting this thread! My son had already been interested in U Miami before he knew he was a semi-finalist. We live in the PNW and he’s never been Florida so who knows if the location would be a good fit, let alone the school. He will study computer science and hopefully will find a school where that is easy to pair with a minor in economics. The school size, football and Coral Gables location sound appealing. Apparently OOS National Merit Finalists can (will?) receive the Benacquisto scholarship which I think covers COA at the most expensive Florida public school. However, I’m not sure of the details. Maybe it’s just tuition? Plus I don’t know if it’s competitive or guaranteed with acceptance. Any feedback on Miami would be appreciated!
UTD was not on our radar, but sounds very promising, especially for computer science. Although my son claims having a big sports team following at a college isn’t a deal breaker, I wonder if the UTD setting would not be ideal for him. Sounds like a bummer to not have a whole lot of school spirit. I’ve also read about the commuter campus feel not being great for OOS students. Although another post did say that in the honors dorm there are lots of OOS students so maybe being able to make those connections freshman year will make all the difference.
Looking forward to hearing more about these schools and others!
I need to convince my D that UA is worth looking at even though it is outside of her 6 hour radius from home. The bigger challenge may be getting my wife used to the idea!