National Merit Scholarship chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Massachusetts - Amherst
1

<p>After getting smoked by my top seven choices, I'm seriously considering UMass, but probably only if I get the National Merit full ride. </p>

<p>Quick stats:
-2400 SAT, 2380 SAT II</p>

<p>-Near top of class but only that I'm top 10% is reported, grades went steadily from B average to A+ average from freshman to senior year, class difficulty maxed out, took a math class at Tufts and got an A+, 9 AP exams, 5s in the two I took last year (APCS AB, Calc BC)</p>

<p>-Have placed in the top ~50 class of class of '09ers in math competitions from Mathcounts to AMCs, 11 AIME most lately</p>

<p>-Programming/misc computer stuff for many years, won a game programming competition and cash prize, coded a full web application with Flash/LAMP and a fair bit of HTML/CSS work</p>

<p>-Founded and led SAT Prep Clinic and Math Team at my school (a teacher was more responsible for the latter's foundation than I was, though)</p>

<p>-Good athlete and musician to boot, MMA, skiing, tennis, violin (with music supplement, have played in various orchestras), guitar</p>

<p>Do I stand a good chance of getting the full ride? Thanks for the input.</p>

2

<p>I mean, I can’t say whether or not you will get a full ride, although you look like a VERY competitive applicant (much more so than me). It is somewhat competitive, although I don’t think it is extremely competitive to get an NMF full ride at UMass if you are an NMF.</p>

<p>That being said, you can get full rides (or close to full rides) at many other schools or OOS tuition waivers at schools like UF-Gainesville or UT-Austin, if those suit you well.</p>

<p>Good luck :-P. Btw, I was rejected from many of my top choices and I am also seriously considering heading to UMass.</p>