If you’re a National Merit family considering the OU National Scholars offer, keep in mind that the office has been known to oversell the amount of support they provide students. If you visit campus, they may tell you that the office is there to provide support for everything from class selection to roommate problems. That’s just not the case, particularly when National Scholars kids have serious problems with academics or mental health. And, let’s face it, National Merit finalists are, like many “gifted” students, more likely to have depression or ADHD or other serious problems bundled along with their intellectual gifts and intensities.
From a former National Scholars student with serious depression issues: “‘The big thing advertised when I was touring was that OU had this National Scholar’s office that was just going to do all they could to take care of National Merit Scholars. I don’t think that’s something they should promise because they don’t follow through with it,’ Marks said. ‘It was like they put so much of their resources intro recruitment that they are not paying attention to how the rest of us are doing.’”
Keep this in mind if your National Merit student has issues with depression or other problems that might cause concerns or problems during the transition to college. The Scholars Office is a recruitment operation, not the support system it sometimes describes itself being.
@Xosob1 Really? the student had a known mental health issue and she nor her parents set up local support, instead she waited until her prescriptions ran out and expected the National Merit Office to handle it? I really doubt the validity of this story. My DD is a National Merit Scholar at OU and recently developed issues related to depression. She sought out a local councilor and after the second visit, the councilor referred her to a psychiatrist at Goddard where she was seen with in a week (this was this November!) She would never have expected the Scholars Office to handle to for her.
I don’t get the “across state lines” bit at all, the doctor at Goddard asked that my daughter follow up with her doctor at home in TX over Thanksgiving because they wanted her seen every two weeks to adjust medication as needed. She’s has had zero issues with this or any other prescriptions issued “across state lines”.
The Scholars Office is not a 'parental replacement’office and they are not equipped to provide MEDICAL CARE, what did you expect them to do?
Our experiences at OU lined up more with the family in the article. We certainly didn’t expect the Scholars Office to be parental replacements or medical help. But what the office said about even practical support with academics during our visits has proven to be oversold in almost every instance. Glad your daughter has not had a bad experience, despite the depression issues, but if there are academic problems resulting from her depression, the Scholars Office will be of limited or no help–if your experience is like ours or like that of the family in the OU Daily article.
Who sent this student off to school w/o a way to refill her meds? That’s just negligent. This is like sending someone off to college w/o a way for them to get their insulin.
No, you can’t refill a prescription for anti-depressants, ADHD, etc. across state lines unless your pharmacy is part of a larger network (CVS and equivalent). Even so, some states allow the refill from an OOS provider, some don’t. You certainly can’t show up at a pharmacy - even an in-state pharmacy - unless an unexpired e-script or equivalent is on file.
We have two children attending college OOS in separate states who take ADHD and/or anti-anxiety meds, and each state has different laws on this issue. Someone needed to help this young lady understand how to continue getting her meds once she went away to college. There are several options, including getting a 90 day supply or getting them filled and mail-ordered. A simple call to student health at OU in the late spring / early summer would have given her plenty of time to set up a plan of action.
This isn’t about OU National Scholars dropping the ball - this was about an ill-prepared kid with a chronic medical issue setting herself up - or her family setting her up - for failure. Unbelievable.
Hi, OU NMF students. My daughter is graduating in a month and just picked OU over a top 5 business school. I am really struggling with her choice, NOT because I do not think OU is a fine school, but frankly due to the size of the school she gave up and its overall culture (very small, very supportive). I am really hoping to hear from some parents who have kids in the NMS program at OU or from students who are or were in it. We would have struggled to afford the top 5 school and my daughter would have had to borrow $22,000 (total) and I think she made the decision primarily on the difference in cost. Can you tell me what your experience or your child’s experience has been like? I am really concerned she did not make the right choice, especially when I read stuff like the posts above. We would be coming from OOS.
My friends son is a Jr in the program. They seem very happy with it, and he is doing well. He also chosenit over some parental objection- Mom is President of a tech company, and they could have paid for GT (his first choice originally) or even a private, but the kid is very analytical and didn’t see why they would pay more if they had a choice. Wants to save it for grad school at MIT. And I thjnk he was flattered by the attention.
She hasn’t mentioned any increase in cost; he was full ride ++ money for computer, $2500 for writing one paper, like that. They are also OOS.
@Gudmom the fees did go up but his scholarship didn’t change. It’s the new scholarships which are much lower for OOS and really make OU unafforadable for many incoming National Merit students.
That’s too bad, because it was definitely the money that made the kid take the offer - he hadn’t even applied. I don’t know if they will be able to keep pulling in the numbers of NMF that they have been, when many of them have offers from more prestigious schools.