I have concluded that “holistic” means “mysterious.”
@prodesse comment of the day on CC! I agree completely
@usma87 I wonder if there is an upward trend of more NMFs taking advantage of the large NMF scholarship awards offered by the half tuition/full tuition/full ride schools? For example, Baylor is making their NMF Full tuition+ award a competitive award starting next year instead of automatic for all NMFs. It would be hard to believe NMF status doesnt come into play at the big scholarship NMF schools.
100% correct.
“Holistic” translates to ‘we pick whomever we want, for whatever reason we want’
Holistic means we don’t have to have a particular reason for picking your child!
@LvMyKids2 Or even, “We don’t have to have a particular reason for rejecting your child!”
And the reality is its holistic across the class and not necessarily the student. If the school doesnt need anymore white male engineering majors from California, none of the applicants stats really matter at that point. Nothing particularly holistic about that from that particular applicants perspective. Simply a numbers game.
My son was rejected by U of Chicago amd MIT. He will be getting his Undergrad at Florida State on a full ride Benacquisto Scholarship due to his NMF status. He hopes to attend U of Chicago or MIT for Grad School one day.
Majors that require an audition or portfolio are certainly not going to admit a student based solely on NMF status: music, visual arts, theater arts, architecture etc.
True. But NMF or high stats can influence the financial aid or other scholarships given. (Admission rates for the top musical theater programs are well below ivy league levels.)
@ccsouth - It is very likely that the switch at Baylor will reduce the NMF student interest. It definitely feels like some schools hope to boost their stats and prestige by offering the great financial package. Just an cynical observation on my part. As to the discussion from @TomSrOfBoston and @prodesse - I would be shocked if NMF status carried any weight with the “audition/portfolio” majors. But, the holistic/mysterious approach means anything is possible.
My DS is NMF ACT 35, 4.6W GPA, 11AP classes, Chemical Engineering major.
Rejected: USC
Accepted: Caltech, Harvey Mudd, UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCSB (Regents), UCD (Regents), Cal Poly
Waitlisted: Stanford (then admitted)
UCSB Chem E major is the top of the country and only accepts up to 50 students. So we were shocked that USC rejected him. Could be the “fit” played a major role. But we are not dwelling on the one and only rejection.
@aggie92 would you mind mentioning which nationality your son is and if you are 1st generation or URM? thanks
Why? Are you implying that my DS wasn’t admitted to those colleges based on his merit?
We are a middle income family (no Cal grant or Pell grant eligible) living in CA without a hook.
@aggie92. That’s an impressive list of schools that your S was admitted to. Where will he attend?
@aggie92 congratulations to your son on great acceptances. USC rejection doesn’t make sense. Did he complete his application? Did he not rush through essays? Something is not right.
“Something is not right.”
USC is the ONE college on that list that really DOES care whether hi stat kids WANT to go there.
If his essays did not reflect that wish, then I’m not surprised that USC passed on this student.
@aggie92 USC rejection is probably not about what he didn’t have but what he did have. They estimated he’ll have better options and its not likely he’ll pick USC and even if there is a 5% chance, he’ll, he’ll be costly with his NMS status. I’ve read here and on Reddit etc about many top students getting rejected if they happened to be NMS. They rather pick someone who won’t mess up their yield and would pay full tuition, not ask for NMS money.
What I find funny are comments about NMSF being one PSAT score. For some it is just that but good percentage of these students are very accomplished in other ways as well. What some of more accomplished NMS seem to lack is some sort of genetic, geographical or financial type disadvantage. Ivy level schools want diversity and they try to tip the scale to make up for disadvantages other students had to deal with.
D was actually awarded the National Merit Scholarship last year. She was not rejected by USC, but USC only offered her spring enrollment to her second choice major.
She was also rejected by Harvard and waitlisted by Princeton, and Wash U. She was accepted to MIT, U Chicago, Northwestern, Georgetown, Duke,etc. She is rising CS premed sophomore at Vandy (with full tuition merit scholarship).