<p>Ive heard that Florida does offer some money to National Merit Finalist..Does anyone know if this is true? If this is so, what is the amount?</p>
<p>They don’t offer that much anymore. In the past they offered a decent amount, now I am not that certain.</p>
<p>it’s 500 dollars a semester.</p>
<p>Yup, $500 a semester plus an extra $1000 for ‘research’ that you can apply towards a study abroad program.</p>
<p>If you’re a national merit finalist you need to accept the award they give you in order to receive it. If you didn’t know about the award then you probably haven’t done that yet, lol. I would contact UF ASAP because I’m pretty sure there was a deadline for accepting it, and idk if it’s passed yet. Good luck</p>
<p>The following information is based on the financial agreement our son signed, and registration information explained by the scholarship coordinator and a current National Merit recipient we met who is attending UF.</p>
<p>It’s $500/semester, contingent on a minimum of 15 credits per semester and maintaining a minimum 3.0 GPA. There is also $1,000 stipend towards approved research. If the student is awarded a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship from NMSC, the UF funds are in addition to the $2,500, making the total value of the scholarship $7,500. </p>
<p>One great bonus is that from the 2nd semester forward, the student is entitled to priority registration for their entire schedule, not just honors courses. Registration for the 1st semester is done at preview, along with all incoming freshmen. </p>
<p>In order to get the National Merit benefits, the student must name UF as their 1st choice school. The deadline is towards the end of May, allowing the student time to weigh all their college offers.</p>
<p>What exactly is “priority registration”? Does it mean you register with seniors or you just register before the rest of the freshmen?</p>
<p>I am an NMF freshman at UF and my registration time is the earliest they give. Other freshman register like 10 days after.</p>
<p>Out of state students are still getting in-state tuition, right??</p>
<p>D is applying to UF for next year and is a NMSF. I e-mailed Admissions at UF about possible scholarships for entering OOS for 2010. This is what they said,“…If she is named a finalist and names UF as her first choice school (at some point), as an out of state student, she will be awarded a tuition waiver for the non-resident portion of her tuition as well as a $2000 per semester scholarship. As a finalist, she would automatically qualify for the Honors Program and have priority housing in the Honors dorm, Hume Hall, if she chooses.” </p>
<p>I guess I should get them to clarify if the two grand can go to tuition or if part of the scholarship has other designations. Anyone heard anything different?</p>
<p>bikedad that sounds $2000 a semester sounds good! I wonder if that is available to in state kids.
I tried calling UF to find about scholarships available to NMF and damn they are hard to deal with!!</p>
<p>My son is a FL resident. The $500/semester is applied to his tuition and fees. After other funds are applied (Florida Prepaid, FL Bright Futures, advance deposits), any credit balance is refunded. The refund is though Direct Deposit if you set it up, otherwise mailed to student. Housing and Meals are handled through separate accounting.<br>
If awarded the NM Scholarship by NMSC, the one-time $2500 from the National Merit Corp. is sent by the National Merit Corporation to the school. UF then mails the paper check to the student.
For OOS, it sounds as though the scholarship has the value of an in-state student receiving the full FL Bright Futures scholarship.
My son is living in Hume and has met many, many extremely bright, wonderful students from the dorm/Honors Organization, in classes and clubs. He absolutely loves the school!</p>
<p>Suesta 2001 that is good news. Thanks.</p>
<p>Navarre1, I found the financial aide office to respond promptly through e-mails. You might try that route. Good luck.</p>
<p>I have some former students at UF who have told me that NMF’s are treated like gods. Even though my husband and I are Gator alumni, our daughter, a NMSF, is not planning on attending UF. All of us are concerned that the University is too big to offer as quality of an education to undergrads as some other schools can. I know most of my former students are happy there, but I know that for some of them it is the party scene and being able to be a “Gator” that makes it great. I have other former students who say that most of their undergraduate classes are online or are in extremely large auditoriums. Since it has been over twenty years since I have been up there I can’t vouch for any hearsay, but I can say that both my husband and I were appalled at how arrogant the admissions representative appeared when we visited for a tour. The tour guide was great and when I spoke with the admissions rep afterward, she was nice, but during the introduction to UF before the actual tour I wanted to hide my head as an alumni. Yes, I am proud to be a Gator, but I don’t think it makes me better than everyone else.</p>
<p>I emailed the admissions staff… I’m only a National Achievement SF (and I’m OOS, by the way… I know that definitely matters), but I’m assuming that the same applies for NMSF’s:</p>
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<p>Proud_mom, clearly you have a unique perspective as an alumna and you know what’s right for your daughter. I just wanted to point out a couple of things. First, NMFs are not ‘treated like gods’. A few years ago, UF gave significantly more scholarship money to finalists but that changed after studies suggested that NMFs do not succeed above and beyond other motivated, intelligent students. Aside from the financial benefits noted previously and the advance registration (a big draw for us), there is nothing extraordinary for NMFs. There is a recognition event coming up, but that’s just one gathering, one time, as far as we know.</p>
<p>As a former non-believer, I was also very concerned that my son would be swallowed by the enormity of the school. Son had many options when selecting a school, including a full-tuition+ merit scholarship at a prestigious, mid-sized top 20 university and a 2/3 tuition merit scholarship at another prestigious, small top 20 university. When we visited the school that wanted to shower approx. $180K on him, we all realized that it was not the right fit. The fields of study that my son was interested in were not being researched in any substantive way there and when son discussed his independent study with a professor, he was summarily dismissed with the remark that it would not be part of the curriculum. The student body appeared too homogeneous and perhaps, a bit pretentious. On the other hand, the small school was perfect in every way, except with all the money they offered, it still left us wondering how we would pay the balance. We did not want son burdened with $40K in debt for an undergrad degree and that would be on top of our own struggles to contribute much more than we had been able to save.</p>
<p>That left UF. We had visited several times and each time we were impressed by the faculty’s willingness to talk to us and let us know that they really enjoyed working with students. We were also met by friendly faces of students who were happy to offer assistance when asked. What tipped the scales for us were the vast research opportunities available. We knew how important that is for our son, considering his goals and his ultimate desire to pursue a PhD.</p>
<p>The size and scope of the school loomed in my mind as August approached and we kept telling our son that the difference between this and a small, private school is that at UF, everything is available to him but it is truly up to him to take it. No one is going to coddle him and professors aren’t likely to hang out with him after class. We were nervous because as truly brilliant as he is, we didn’t see him as someone who would fit into that highly independent, go-getter mold. </p>
<p>I barely recognize the boy who left my house a couple of months ago. He is participating in a variety of clubs, organizations and activities that fill almost every waking moment and getting top grades in his classes. He admitted that for the first time in his life, he may actually be challenged by his curriculum. He went in with 43 AP credits and has a mix of large and small classes. He was happily surprised by how very intelligent many of his peers are and he is learning a great deal about himself and others. He has made lot of new friends from different backgrounds and is gaining new perspectives now that he is out of his high school’s ‘bubble’. These experiences provide intangible assets for what he will need to navigate the real world once he is out of school. As an aside, he has been part of many social events without yet attending a party or drinking. It’s not something he chooses to do and while he does not begrudge others that party, he has made plenty of friends who do not drink for entertainment. </p>
<p>Thus far, while UF may not be right for everyone, we feel better than great about the choice and look forward to all that lies ahead.</p>
<p>^^^
Going to echo Siesta’s post a bit, I think, but still my 2 cents (or is that worth a penny these days). Anyway, D was valedictorian of her class, 4.0 u.w. GPA, coming with the max 45 credit of AP hours, 35 ACT, etc. She didn’t want to go too far from home so the only two serious schools for her in contention were GaTech and UF. (she’s an engineering major) We were seriously turned off by the same admissions shpeal (sp?) that you were when we visited UF several times. So much so in fact, that a part of me wanted her to consider UCF (where she was admitted with substantial merit aid and they have a FABULOUS honors college). However, we knew that UF was her 1st choice; it’s close to home; and it’s strong in engineering. I started feeling better about our decision after preview. D was recruited (based on her strong AP science scores/classes/grades) into an honors section of an enriched physics class. We debated whether to have her take this or honors calc 3, as they are only allowed one honors class. She emailed the professor who sent her the letter about the physics class and asked to meet with him before she committed one way or another during registration. Not only did he spend almost an hour with her and her roommate who was making the same decision, but he gave them a tour of the physics buildings, the various labs, his research areas … etc., etc. His enthusiasm and personal attention was what she needed to make her choice. She’s doing the honors enriched phsycis class and taking the calc 3. (against UF engineering advisors “rote” advice for all incoming engineering freshman during preview). The physics prof took the time to talk about her previous courses, how well she did in math and physics, etc. and encouraged her to go ahead and take Calc 3, as my engineering husband was also suggesting. (But hey … he’s just “dad,” ya know?). Eventhough she’d already been assigned the Calc3 as her honors class, he worked with the honors advisor to make it a smooth transition to switch the honors class. Overall, that experience made us feel so much better.</p>
<p>Currently, she’s in both classes and doing very, very well. But I will say she’s challenged for the first time in her life in math and science: she’s never had to crack a book before … now she’s working her tail off, but she’s got A’s so far in her courses. Because she’s starting with so much AP credit, she only has one very large class, and that’s one of the few Gen Ed’s she had to still complete. Calc is no bigger than her high school class (except on test day, lol, where miraculously a few more students appear), and the physics class was “capped,” too. </p>
<p>She’s also a very quiet kid but seems to have found her niches on campus with Cru and a Christian sorority she joined. Overall, she’s flourishing, but as Siesta says she’ll have to make sure that she’s taking initiative and moving forward in terms of becoming more involved in research, etc. She’s taking an intro to engineering course to help her narrow down what she wants then she hopes to approach profs at that point about research opportunities. </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>My daughter will make her final decision in March after considering a variety of college offers. We know she will probably go to UF for graduate school as she will be an in-state student with in-state tuition, but we are still wary about the undergrad program. I am glad that both Siesta2001 and zebes children are thriving at UF and I know that if my daughter ended up there for undergrad studies she would also thrive as she is a self-starter and self-learner, but I feel she will thrive at a number of schools she is looking at. One of the big selling points for her is getting her undergrad degree for free and saving our money for grad school. If UF offered the same merit aid to in-state NMF with all of the other stats and EC’s that they do to out-of-state students it would make a difference. In any case, I am still wary of such a large campus population and she is concerned that if she goes to UF it will be like she is still in high school as most of her friends, who should have no problem getting in, plan to go there. I think she wants to meet new people and strike out on her own. She even seems to not have a problem with going to a school different than her boyfriend of almost three years. She is my Miss. Independent.</p>