I think almost every school uses every tool they have to solicit more apps. But, I think either NMF has become more common or more families found out about USC’s NMF scholarships. So, they probably could fill a whole class how many times over with the NMFs who apply by the scholarship deadline, paying out way too much $. Thus, I think they pick the NMFs they take very carefully. Maybe you fill an stellar research/engineering seat, a geographic diversity and computer whiz spot, a trombone player, etc. etc. We’ve seen so many NMFs rejected and kids with 32-36s but no NMF accepted. I wonder if there are any stats on this. The couple NMFs we know who got the scholarships might have had a shot at Stanford et al, but went for the USC scholarship instead.
I disagree that this is the case. I do believe NM status simply doesn’t carry a whole lot of weight in terms of admission at USC. Certainly, they offer the scholarship, but they are more interested in other aspects of the application than NMF status. I’m sure the scholarship attracts applications from many, many NMF hopefuls, and thus, many are bound to be rejected. This is not because they are NMFs, but because the competition is a lot more fierce and the application review is more holistic than some appear to think. Of course, I am not an AO at USC, so this is only my opinion, for what it’s worth.
I’ve shared this before but when we did a tour of Duke the AO said kids at these top schools should not think they got rejected but rather the ones admitted got selected. The schools realize that the majority of the applicants have what it takes to succeed if they were admitted.
My D finally got her NMF certificate in the mail today! It isn’t likely to matter all that much monetarily but the recognition is nice. I’m very proud of her.
@mamaedefamilia Growing up I thought NMF got money!!
@evergreen5 Does the same hold true if you are deferred or postponed somewhere? My S21 was accepted at Purdue, but "postponed at University of Michigan.
NMFs do get money.
Not everywhere of course!
Right! It’s a choice.
Are you asking if you deposit at Purdue and later get accepted to Michigan? Yes, you can withdraw from Purdue and enroll at Michigan. But, it may make more sense to wait to deposit at Purdue until all your RD decisions are in - Purdue probably doesn’t expect a response before May 1.
Correct. There is no benefit from depositing at Purdue early. Wait until all the decisions are in. Purdue is not like some other state schools that use deposits to determine housing priority.
They do! But it varies a lot depending on where you end up enrolling. It could be anywhere from $500 to full ride from participating colleges. Or a single award of $2500 from the foundation, if your kid does not enroll at a participating college. Or a corporate award, if your family is connected to a corporate sponsor. My impression is that the college-based awards were more generous and more widely distributed for our generation.
The arctic freeze has hit DFW. There is white stuff falling from the sky…lots of it! And it’s sticking. Roads are sheets of ice. We lost power at our house.
Texans are not equipped to handle this mess…whichever one of y’all opened your gates, take it back please lol
The Devil’s dandruff!!!
Yes, my brother was NMF in early 80s and I recall a lot of full ride scholarships! My D18 was NMF and many fewer. This reflects colleges moving toward need-based aid over merit which I support (even though my D18 was chasing merit!)
@momofboiler1 - I realize that there is no regular housing priority. But, my hope is to enroll him in a living learning community which is first come, first serve. We are also considering early start which has limited capacity too.
My concern is that If we wait for all other decisions to come through, we might miss the opportunity to partake in the above mentioned choices.
Same here at Mississippi.
Just as my kid is poised to go back to in-person classes and we’re gearing up for a snow day! 
National Merit can be very deceptive. I was a National Merit Scholar and won the national award $ you can use at any school(1992), but it was a small amount(now it is proportionally even smaller compared to tuition), and I remember it was very surprising when we realized it would just be deducted off what the schools offered to cover need. I was a Pell grant recipient with tons of need–schools that covered my family’s full need(more rare back then) did not reduce the EFC any further with the NM money I won. Which is OK! The school I picked had a very low EFC which made it less than my state flagship(UNC) at the time, and then I got a full ride to the flagship but my parents let me attend my dream school because it came in at what they had anticipated spending anyway. It just was surprising the NM wasn’t a further deduction. From what I see on these forums, the financial aid/merit process is certainly more opaque than it should be, NM included.
Also, aside from the bigger/full ride scholarships, the actual NMSC awards have remained relatively static in amount while college costs have skyrocketed. For example, in 1985, the NMSC award was $2000. It increased to $2500 in 2001 and remains that amount today. $2000 was a significant amount for college in 1985! $2500 made more of a dent in 2000 than it does today.