<p>patrickd & Bob: You are the best. You have reinforced what we were thinking. It is very helpful to have the lists & thank you BobWallace for your hard work in compiling & updating. It really helps newbies like me going through the process.</p>
<p>Hard to leave Virginia Tech off this list. Admin much harder to VaTech that West Virginia as just one example</p>
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<p>Bob - list looks good except that University of Rochester is generally similarly ranked for various engineering programs along with Northeastern, BU and UMass.</p>
<p>I wanted to note that the Alabama NMF scholarship does NOT have a Dec 1st deadline for application. That deadline is only for those who donât progress beyond NMSF. NMFâs can get still get the scholarship if they apply within the next few months. I think the deadline is April 30th. By that point, must name Alabama as #1 choice.</p>
<p>Iâm not sure I fully comprehend the intended meaning of the posting about Virginia Tech, but to the best of my knowledge they do not offer significant National Merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Wait, I donât think the Presidentâs Endowed Scholarship at Texas A&M is given based upon the National Merit competition. It can be given to non-Merit Finalists (one of my friends got it) and Iâm pretty sure not all Merit Finalists get it⊠I also got it as a semifinalist, but thatâs different from being an actual finalist. I think that by âtypicalâ they mean that in general, a NMF would have good enough credentials to earn that scholarship.</p>
<p>Wyvern, what is your interpretation of this statement on the Texas A&M website:</p>
<p>âNational Merit Finalists who select Texas A&M University as their first choice institution are guaranteed to be offered the awards listed in the table below.â</p>
<p><a href=âhttps://scholarships.tamu.edu/national_scholars/national_merit.aspx[/url]â>https://scholarships.tamu.edu/national_scholars/national_merit.aspx</a></p>
<p>Texas A&M is packaging multiple scholarships to make it free tuition. NMF recognition sounds very specific and the other two are being thrown in to make it 10k per year guaranteed.</p>
<p>The two other scholarships, Presidentâs Endowed and TAMU sponsorship may be given to other students as qualified but guaranteed to NMFs.</p>
<p>Vandy gives 5k per year to National Merit matriculants.</p>
<p>Oh ok, thanks for clarifying, texaspg.</p>
<p>Hi tootired, That is great news on the offer from Miami, a little surprised that they beat an offer from CWRU (where I studied engineering in early 80âs). IMHO college rankings are useful, but only as a start. If your visit tells you that the size and other attributes of Miami feel right for your student (not too big, not too small state school, small college town, etc.) then you are not likely to be sorry. Miami has strong relationships with many employers, if your student successfully completes an engineering program with good grades and is flexible on location, then employment at graduation will be as likely from Miami as from another engineering school. Case may be ranked higher, but returning student rates (and happiness) are much lower.</p>
<p>Re engineering, though not awarding NMF money, the SAT scores your student will have, combined with a high class rank and GPA, may get comparable merit aid not contingent on need, and some of the engineering programs also have their own merit money at their own discretion. The WSJ has them in the top 25 colleges for employment after graduation, gigantic alumni network worldwide, etc., so if you like gigantic state schools they are worht consideration. Good luck all!</p>
<p>Just heard from a friend that UCF does not have as much funding any more. Their website is now very vague about the scholarship amount.</p>
<p><a href=âhttps://admissions.ucf.edu/national-merit/[/url]â>https://admissions.ucf.edu/national-merit/</a></p>
<p>"Once you are named as a National Merit semifinalist, you will be considered for a scholarship upon admission to UCF. If you are a Florida resident, this is in addition to the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship.</p>
<p>If you advance to finalist status, and you designate UCF as you first choice by the deadline, you will receive an increased scholarship amount.</p>
<p>Out-of-state students are not eligible for Bright Futures, but we have other, additional scholarship opportunities available. These awards are also in addition to any state, federal, or private funds for which you may be eligible."</p>
<p>The brochure on the same page (<a href=âhttps://admissions.ucf.edu/files/2012/09/NatMerit_2013.pdf[/url]â>https://admissions.ucf.edu/files/2012/09/NatMerit_2013.pdf</a>) still says:</p>
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<p>The reason they donât have as much funding is because they spend it all on marketing. A whole tree at least to our house. And we never contacted them at all, all unsolicited. Still coming, a couple times a week.</p>
<p>MY son (2013 NMF) and I visited UCF last month. I was impressed with the school and very, very impressed with the honors program. Itâs funding is different than most big NMF scholarship schools, but if you choose lower cost (but still very nice) housing options and not excessive hours each semester, it is truly a full ride (maybe even "extra money) the first 2-3 years and a nominal cost the last 1-2 years.</p>
<p>The NMF scholarship package is a straight up $18,000/semester (out of state) credit to your college account for the unofficial portion and $750/year official portion. You can move off campus after freshman year and use the scholarship $$ for an off campus apartment. The (slight) downside is the $18,000 is fixed, so as school costs rise it doesnât go quite as far. The NMF students we ate with told us their Scholarship amounts - i donât remember the exact values but the sophomoreâs was about 8% less than the $18,000 and the junior a little less than that. They said it was still enough, with careful management, to cover all their expenses.</p>
<p>The sophomore/junior NMF students we ate lunch with were most enthusiastic about the individual mentoring of faculty members and the depth and breadth of the Honors program. Met with the head of the Honors program and was very, very impressed with her and the direction she was leading the honors program.</p>
<p>Met with engineering and theater departments. The engineering facilities seem excellent and they have strong ties to local job market for coops and internships, but the advisor we met with was kind of blah - I still think itâs a great engineering program but that interview was not a selling point. Theater meeting was good - Our problem with UCFâs theater dept is it is too good - son wants to minor in theater and be involved in performing and backstage work. Their department is so strong that opportunities for non-majors are limited.
Feel free to post or PM me if you have any questions</p>
<p>OK. Here is my confusion which I seem to be in a constant state of these days. My D is a NMF. Of these schools listed with all the great offers is it too late to apply? I have seen the word âguaranteedâ so does that mean she could still get in at this late date? She has applied to ASU, will she for sure get in? What if she wants to go to Alaska? Could she still apply and be assured she gets in? Is it just who she lists first on the form that is due soon? She really wants to go to Wash U in St. Louis so would she loose any money if she were awarded a scholarship by choosing a different school? What if she lists Wash U and does not get in? All of you have been so helpful. This site is amazing!</p>
<p>Many schools will allow a late application from a NMF but not all â you will have to contact them one by one to find out. For the benefit of others reading this thread, ideally you anticipate NMF when you learn of NMSF status and apply to those schools with great offers that interest you. </p>
<p>She should not have to list a first choice school until the end of April. So she can wait until she knows where she is in or not. Once she is awarded one scholarship, she canât be awarded a different one, so she should not choose until she knows where she wants to go. She can put down âundecidedâ for now.</p>
<p>Thanks, Mathmomvt.</p>
<p>OK. Here is my confusion which I seem to be in a constant state of these days. My D is a NMF. Of these schools listed with all the great offers is it too late to apply? I have seen the word âguaranteedâ so does that mean she could still get in at this late date? She has applied to ASU, will she for sure get in? What if she wants to go to Alaska? Could she still apply and be assured she gets in? Is it just who she lists first on the form that is due soon? She really wants to go to Wash U in St. Louis so would she loose any money if she were awarded a scholarship by choosing a different school? What if she lists Wash U and does not get in? All of you have been so helpful. This site is amazing!</p>
<p>I donât know what ASUâs policy is, but I do know that if she applies to Bama, she will get accepted and will get the NMF scholarship. She doesnât need to name Bama as number one school until the end of April, so she would know by then if she got accepted/money from WashU.</p>