Northwestern and National Merit Scholarship Money

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am a senior and have applied to Northwestern and was named a National Merit Semifinalist. I have seen a number of CCers that have described themselves receiving scholarship money from NU by marking NU as their first-choice college on the National Merit application. Currently, I have am marked as undecided, however I am seriously considering changing the 'Undecided' to Northwestern because I love the school and wouldn't mind receiving some scholarship money along with admission.</p>

<p>My question: Have any of you (or someone you've known) received any scholarship money from Northwestern for National Merit? If so, how much did you receive? Is a full-ride a possibility?</p>

<p>Thank to all replies!</p>

2

<p>I e-mailed them a while ago ... they give 2K a year renewable</p>

3

<p>^ I get the money, Ohioguy is right.</p>

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<p>But do they give full rides?</p>

5

<p>No, they don't. USC gives 1/4 of their class merit-based scholarships, ranging from quarter to full. If you are looking for merit-money, take a look at USC. It's not as good as Northwestern overall but not a big difference esp. if you like LA and don't mind a bigger school (~2x the size of northwestern).</p>

6

<p>The schools that give the most money for national merit are usually public state schools. I know the University of Oklahoma gives 87,000 plus a laptop and a school in arizona gives 92,000. (Forgot the name)</p>

7

<p>it's too late for most substantial scholarships.</p>

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<p>I left mine at "undecided" and ended up just getting $2000 from the National Merit people (not from Northwestern itself), whereas a friend who had it and applied ED ended up getting $2000 every year from NU. If you really do think you're going here, it's definitely worth it to make the switch</p>

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<p>^^ agreed. 8,000 > 2,000, basically a little less than room and board.</p>

10

<p>Last year, May 1st was the deadline to make the final "First Choice" decision. During the month of April, S changed his from one university (one that offered much more Nat. Merit $) to NU (which offers $2,000 per year, period) after he decided to go to NU. He mailed the card and faxed it to National Merit. (BTW, he is very, very happy.)</p>

11

<p>If everything but the work study is in grants, then NU takes the NMerit money out of your work study, right?</p>

12

<p>Not sure- contact the fin. aid office. Usually Work Study will never get cut out, from my understanding.</p>

13

<p>Huh. I need to ask the financial aid office what’s up. I was a National Merit Finalist and changed my first choice school by the May 1st deadline, but I got $2500 from National Merit rather than anything from Northwestern. I checked the Northwestern website and it doesn’t sound like the money they give is renewable, and they say it’s $500-2000 and that not everyone gets it. It seems like that money is a lot less certain than people posting here have made it seem.</p>

14

<p>If you are awarded a National Merit Scholarship (the $2500 one), then you can’t get money from NU. The NU ones do vary in amount, it seems, but they definitely are renewable.</p>