Schools Enrolling Most 2018 National Merit Scholars

Based on Data from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation 2017-2018 Annual Report:

  1. USC–276

  2. Chicago–249

  3. Univ. of Florida–231

  4. Harvard–195

  5. Alabama–185

  6. Vanderbilt–182

  7. Texas A&M–178

  8. Univ. of Texas-Dallas–175

  9. Northwestern University–172

  10. Stanford–157

  11. Univ. of Oklahoma–156

  12. Arizona State Univ.–151

  13. MIT–147

  14. UC-Berkeley–124

  15. Yale–124

  16. Northeastern (Boston)–118

  17. Penn–111

  18. Duke–106

  19. Georgia Tech–105

  20. BYU–95

  21. Texas-Austin–90

  22. Princeton–90

  23. Maryland–88

  24. Univ. of Central Florida–83

  25. Cornell–78

  26. Emory–77

  27. UCLA–77

  28. Columbia–69

  29. Notre Dame–69

  30. Univ. of South Carolina–68

  31. Dartmouth College–67

  32. Boston University–60

  33. Case Western Reserve–60

  34. Brown–58

  35. Rice–55

  36. Johns Hopkins–49

  37. Auburn–49

  38. Clemson–45

  39. WashUStL–45

I may have missed a school or two.

It would be helpful if posters shared the scholarship amount awarded by each school. For example, I believe that the National Merit Scholarship awarded by Northwestern University is just $2,500. Some universities award a full tuition & fees scholarship for NMS award winners.

Missed:

Michigan–80
Univ. of Cinn.–77
Baylor–76
Kentucky–66
Georgia–56

Michigan State–53
Indiana–51
Fordham–48
Tufts–48
Mississippi State–45

Rutgers–40
Harvey Mudd–40
Virginia–38
Georgetown–38
Caltech–37

Carnegie Mellon–37
Ole Miss–32
RPI–32
Ohio State–32
Carleton College–31

Any NMF who is accepted to USC (and not all are) receives a 50 percent tuition (Presidential) scholarship. I’m sure this is why USC leads the list. It is also possible that a NMF there may qualify for other scholarships, including smaller ones but also the full-tuition Trustee scholarship, which requires an interview.

I believe Alabama is $199,000, which covers almost everything.

Since non-resident tuition, fees, room & board totals about $39,300 per year, the NMS award at University of Alabama must cover 5 years of study at non-resident rates plus housing & board.

@Publisher. Alabama’s NMF scholarship covers 5 years of tuition and can be used for grad school or law school after finishing undergrad, 4 years of on-campus housing, $2,000 for books, $2,000 for study abroad or research, and a $3,500 per year stipend for the first 4 years.

It’s fresh in my mind because my NMF son just decided to go there in the fall!

@Publisher -

Arizona State - 100% tuition guaranteed to cover any increases in tuition over the 4 years. Actual package is a blend of NMSC sponsored aid ($500 I think) and New American National Merit Scholarship (~$30k for OOS tuition). R&B is roughly $13k freshman year to be covered by the student (and his parents).

Notre Dame - No aid for NMF. Need-based is given even for families with up to $250k/yr. In our case, aid given gets close to EFC from FAFSA. My DS is maxing Sub and Unsub Fed loans ($6600 this year I think). The balance is slightly less than our EFC.

@publisher - yes, there is a 5th year of tuition covered at UA, a $3,500 stipend/year, $2,000 international study lump sum and I think money for books.

Does anyone know the University of Florida benefits / scholarship for National Merit Scholars ?

Florida schools have the Benacquisto Program for NMF. It is a state program, not specific to UF. It is full COA.

https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/PDF/factsheets/FIS_FAQ.pdf

Does anyone have information about the NMS award for Texas A&M ? University of Oklahoma ? Michigan ?

OU really cut their NMS awards (recently, so might be after this report). All I remember about A&M is that they require you to maintain a high GPA (3.5) to maintain the NMS scholarship.

Not sure UMich or Cal specifically provide scholarships for NMS. Quite certain UMich doesn’t give big ones for NMS.

A&Ms award for finalists is $30K over all 4 yrs plus 3K if you need the 5th year.  NMSF $13k. total. 
NMF OOS would qualify for instate tuition. NMSF wold need another eligible 1K scholarship to qualify for instate tuition.(no easy feat)

http://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarship-Programs/National-Scholars#0-NationalMeritScholars

@Publisher - all University of California schools dropped out of NMSC a few years ago. It would have been more expensive for my DS to go to UCLA (in state) than Notre Dame. I don’t think Michigan does a specific NM scholarship.

Fascinating.

It’s obvious that bigger schools offering full or partial rides are buying these students in bulk but what’s surprising is some smaller schools getting high number of scholars without throwing money at them.

^ Some students choose prestige (and in some cases, fin aid) over merit money? I don’t see what is surprising about that.

Riversider, these figures do not include the need based aid that students qualify for… so a kid with high need, getting financial aid AND the National Merit Award might be getting a MORE generous package than the numbers can explain…

What is the reason some schools throw money like confetti to get National Merit Finalists while others don’t offer a single dollar? For example Texas, UT gives $0 dollars while UTD gives full rides, both part of same system so why such opposing policies?

@Riversider: Astute observation. Great question. My guess is that the University of Texas at Austin doesn’t need to offer incentives, while UT-D does in order to elevate its stature within the state & in the nation.

An example can be found in the world of law schools. The top three ranked law schools–Yale, Harvard & Stanford–do not offer merit scholarship awards, yet lower ranked law schools, including those consistently ranked at numbers 4, 5 & 6 (Columbia, Chicago & NYU), do offer merit scholarships in an attempt to attract the best students away from the top 3 ranked law schools.