Thanks for the encouragement. My son is kind of shy. He didn’t ask for school counselor to review his essay. He didn’t know it’s ok to ask for that.
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If the schools that he got into are not affordable due to minimal financial aid, since your son is a National Merit Finalist, he should apply RIGHT NOW to Univ of New Mexico.
VERY affordable with their NMF scholarship.
One thing to remember in the US that’s different than in some other countries - it doesn’t really matter WHERE you went to college. Just getting a 4 yr degree pretty much anywhere and being willing to work hard will open doors for your son. He has clearly demonstrated willingness to work hard.
There are other colleges with rolling admissions still accepting applications that also have generous NMF full ride or almost full ride scholarships.
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thanks
thanks for that. We don’t know the university of New Mexico yet. We might do some research. We expected to get Northeastern University full ride for NMF, but got rejected.
I am just going to throw out a wild idea. It sounds like you didn’t know about Questbridge and you didn’t get the financial aid you need. On top of that, it sounds like your son didn’t have school review of essays.
Is it possible to take a gap year and sort out all these issues? The financial aid is the piece that is worrying. If it is not feasible for you/your son financially to go to college this fall, aren’t you better off having him reapply, research and make sure you apply and receive as much aid as you can, and improve on the essays?
His stats are stellar, but there may be several things to do to make things better.
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He should also consider applying (now) to University of Arizona. They offer very good merit aid to 4.0 GPA and above. Almost full tuition – so you would only have to pay room and board. They are still accepting applications.
https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/incoming-transfer
And if he has to write any more essays for scholarships or anything else, I would encouarge you to have him ask his English teacher or guidance counselor to review them.
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You might also see if you can still apply and qualify for Washington State University’s scholarship for National Merit Semifinalists — I think he could get full tuition plus aid, if he wants other affordable options.
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Also, Univ of Mississippi has a full ride NMF scholarship:
University of Alabama-Huntsville has really excellent out of state merit scholarships for incoming freshmen. Your son would qualify for one of these for sure, but he should apply now. It’s entirely done based on GPA & test scores.
Since your son is clearly into computer science and was born in the US (therefore, is a US citizen), then he’d VERY easily be able to get a lucrative internship at one of the defense industry contractor companies (i.e., Lockheed, Boeing, and a boatload of others) which hire UAH interns. I mention the US citizen thing because often times, those sorts of companies would be looking for US citizens to hire due to the top secret nature of the work. Getting a top secret clearance takes several months, so that wouldn’t happen while he was an intern, but definitely would after getting hired upon college graduation.
Also, their dorm rooms are all single student per room in a suite-style set up.
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Yes, UAlabama Huntsville would result in an excellent internship. Tagging @MITChris for any advice he may offer
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By the way, UAH’s fall 2022 application deadline is 6/1.
For any of the NMF scholarship schools that offer full rides, be sure to read the fine print on their websites and act quickly because your son would need to declare his school to the National Merit Foundation by 5/1 & be admitted to that school by 5/1, if memory serves me correctly.
There’s still hope! There are thousands of very successful people in this country who never went to Top 20 schools.
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thanks for your advice. It’s really an eye opener suggestion.
thanks
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thanks for so many opportunities suggested
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No!
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One more to consider -
Univ of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Their NMF scholarship info is at
https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/nationalscholars/
covers full tuition for up to 5 yr, 4 yr of on campus housing, a $3500 stipend per yr for 4 yr, $500/yr for books, and a 1-time amount of $2000 to use either toward a summer research project or study abroad.
Their website says: " Students recognized as a National Merit Finalist by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation who are admitted, provide a copy of their official National Merit Finalist letter via email to scholarships@ua.edu and list The University of Alabama as their college of choice with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation before May 1, 2022" …and then it lists what’s included in the scholarship, which I already listed above.
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That could be obstacle for the colleges that didn’t admit.
What does your son want to major in? Looks like he’s leaning in a computer science/engineering direction.
If your kid was MY kid, honestly, I’d take a serious look at UAH. It’s a smaller school - about 7700 undergrads. Diversity is pretty good. This school definitely attracts a nerdier set of students. There’s no big rah-rah football team, but that might not be an important factor for your son. He’s VERY likely to find a whole BUNCH of other kids like him at that place. Huntsville, AL is this unique smaller city that’s pretty cosmopolitan due to the space & science industry & NASA that employs a LOT of very educated STEM workers in the area. More diverse than other areas in the South.
UA in Tuscaloosa is considered to have a pretty decent engineering & STEM program, too.
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Some facts and thoughts about two of my friends: One went to MIT and got both his BS and PhD in math there. He works in a government job and probably earns between $120,000 and $150,000 per year. The other went to Frostburg State for his BS and University of Maryland for his MS, both in mechanical engineering. He is self-employed as a forensic mechanical engineer and earns over $500,000 per year.
They are both successful. They have careers they love and are comfortable living within their means. The Frostburg State guy was first generation and low income, so his family was thrilled that he got into a low-cost state school, and he made the most of that education. At no point did his dad think he had “no future” because he went to a school that most people in this country have probably never heard of.
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This is a very interesting observation. One thing I had missed is that in the original thread of activities/awards, they all seem to be individual-based rather than teams where leadership can emerge. The top schools really want to educate the next generation of leaders, and so evidence of teamwork and collaboration could be things that they seek here that may not have been apparent in the application… Just by additional 2 cents…
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Please get some applications in tomorrow to schools which are still accepting applications and have great awards for National Merit finalists. Please.
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