@BobWallace I really appreciate you as the keeper of the “list”, I for one would not have journeyed down the path I have with my son if it were not for our discovery of your golden “list”. It has been a potential life changer! I further appreciate your occasional “voice of reason” comments that help us stay grounded in this CRAZY process!
Thank you!
I have been trying to get my DD to consider UT Dallas among her NMF choices. Other than being in Texas (long distance, she is fairly liberal politically), it sounds like a great fit for her. Suburban campus, which she usually loves. Great metro area nearby. Diverse, everything seems to be new, especially the dorms, not a party or football school and has that nerdy is chic kind of reputation I hear from everyone, which she absolutely adores at Case Western. Just by luck, UT Dallas hit us with two NMF promotional pieces yesterday that she didn’t immediately toss, so here is hoping she at least takes a second look at it. (-:
@Skates76, I hope your DD gives UT Dallas a chance. Texas is a conservative state outside of Austin but UT Dallas is just practical minded. My D also has a liberal bent and I can see her there easily. It is extremely diverse with many cultures represented. There is also a public metro rail station close, which is unusual in Texas, that can take her many places in Dallas as well as the airport. Again, I hope she takes a look at it.
@Skates70 I’ve been poking around at UTD’s web site. First I think $6K for a semester abroad part of the NM scholarship is very generous! And then some of the little things impress me like laundry being a free, many other schools charge or have limits. It wouldn’t be a fit for D16 but UTD will be on S18’s list for sure!
Just FYI… I’m from New Mexico, and if you’re looking for engineering, especially EE/ECE, you might want to consider other places than UNM. It is ABET accredited, but how I’ll never know - the program isn’t run very well. Bad teachers, software issues in virtually every class, etc. And the administration overall (like with admissions and scholarships and such) can be pretty bad - just in my family we’ve had multiple headaches dealing with the school and I’ve heard stories from friends you wouldn’t believe.
That’s not to say that some of their programs aren’t excellent - I’ve heard that their Liberal Arts programs are good. It may just be engineering that is kinda screwed up.
Not many schools give full tuition for a 23 ACT. So, UNM caught my attention for students with very few other options except maybe Alabama State.
Do you know if the UNL IB scholarship stacks with the NMF scholarship to make it a full ride instead of full tuition? Thanks.
@nw2this Fair enough. I wish your student(s) the best with wherever they go.
@nw2this No, I don’t know if they stack scholarships for IB and NMF. I know for NMFs, it is full tuition plus $2000. Our cost is probably around $11K for now, but D just got her acceptance, so she will be calling the assigned counselor to find out more. I will post as soon as I find out.
For UNM and 23 ACT, I think those scholarships are very competitive and not easy to get, but I don’t know for sure.
@nw2this and @lonetreegrad I used this “UNL out of state calculator” on their website and plugged in a combined NMF and IB just to see, and it does not show a larger total (ie: stacked scholarships) …the most it shows is just the total a NMF would receive. Still worth a phone call though.
http://admissions.unl.edu/cost.aspx#oos-scholarship-estimator
Thanks @4kids2graduate D16 just received an offer for George Beadle Scholarship from UNL today. It gives her $14,500 per year scholarship. It states that she received it because she is a high-achieving out of state student. I assume this will be replaced by the NMF scholarship in Feb. It would have been nice to add this to the NMF, but I doubt that they stack both. I added D’s stats to the scholarship-estimator and came up with about $12K left. It does mention a few more scholarships right below the amount.
D is thinking about another school that offers full ride to NMFs. So, she is considering UCF and U Alabama. She doesn’t want to add both, just one. She already has enough colleges to apply. So which one do you recommend? Pros and Cons of each please.
We are in the pacific northwest, but S16 applied to both, along with a couple others in that part of the country. We will be visiting in late Nov. @mom2coIIegekids (I think) is the expert on U Alabama, but one kid from our HS attended there (not an NMF) and just graduated - he really had a great experience. I have two nieces in Florida that recently graduated from college (U North Florida, and UF) …they both have friends that attended UCF. Not one of the most prestigious Florida colleges, but they both said their friends really liked it there, and liked being in the Orlando area. So I have nothing profound to share - just those tidbits. Another full ride NMF is UAlabama at Huntsville. 6000 students (approx. 1/3 are in engineering I believe) - big tech industry in Huntsville, so for the STEM major - might be a good option to consider. My son spent a week at UAHuntsville this past summer, and said “I could spend 4 years here”.
Thanks @4kids2graduate. I should have mentioned before that I received a lot of great information from another parent (also from CC) about U Alabama a couple of months ago, but wanted to compare it with UCF. Almost everyone I have talked to, loved U Alabama. I just wasn’t sure if UCF is as good. I think D would like the Orlando location more.
Tough one.
UA US News Rank 96 vs. UCF 168
but
UCF Full Ride vs. UA Not quite a full ride
I have a nephew at UCF with a full ride for NMF. He is getting a degree in CE. He has had a good experience - research and a semester in Australia. I wish I could tell you more but I have not seen him because he has been busy and away. I know he has been putting money into his pocket because they pay for a meal plan which he does not use. I also know that it is a respected engineering school, usually higher ranked than UA is in those STEM areas. My H has worked with several EE and CE from there and respects their program and graduates. I do think UA would give you a more traditional college experience vs. UCF is a large university in a large city.
My DD has applied to several schools with either full tuition or full ride for NMF, Drexel, West Virginia and UCF being the primary ones (she has another school that offers the same thing based on test scores as well). The concern with WVU is that their offer is a set amount that does not appear to rise yearly if tuition goes up, though like Drexel it is reasonably close and unlike Drexel has a very low cost of living for R&B, but at the moment, and we know how quickly that can change, UCF has jumped up above her other safeties and into competition with some of her other favorites. Nothing I could do would ever get her to apply to an Alabama or a Texas school (UT Dallas and UAB being her best fits there), and believe me I tried.
D and our entire family have really been pleased with the way UCF sells itself, the programs they offer, especially their Medical Honors Program, and a lot more. They have definitely opened eyes in our house and we will be visiting next month!
@Skates76 - I couldn’t convince my older DD to go to school in Texas and we are from here! She took a full tuition scholarship to PItt which was based on stats not MNF standing. I don’t know if that was the school you were referring to above but if not, you should give it some consideration. Any degree in the medical area is top notch and I do know they have premed counceling thru the honors college. It has been a great school for my DD (she is in CE). The scholarships are competitive and getting more so, but my be worth the $50 app fee just to try.
@GTAustin Pitt, Case Western and U of Delaware are D’s top three choices at the moment and have been for some time. All offer competitive scholarships and we are in state for Pitt. She has eight schools on her list and UCF has probably climbed into the fourth spot behind those other three and tied with Drexel.
I went on to Univ. of Arizona scholarship website today and saw something I had not seen before. Possibly I just missed it but it shows that National Merit and Arizona Excellence can be stacked for full payment of tuition, so there is still hope. My D has already applied, so we will just wait and see what comes from UA.
GT Austin,have you considered ASU? National Scholar gets full tuition there according to scholarship estimator https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator