<p>yay I just got the letter in the mail saying I'm a National Merit Finalist!
This is another 13k from UT, correct? (4k the first year, 3k the next three)</p>
<p>In response to anxiousmom's question about GPA...my son received a $6,000 per year scholarship from the COE. It also has the dreaded 3.5 GPA stipulation. Don't worry, anxiousmoom. Your son's stats are great. I'm sure he'll do well.</p>
<p>He might - or he might be enjoying wine, women and song too much to keep up the good work, (or the college-experience variation; beer, girls and football!) But he also just got accepted to Rice yesterday, so now we will some other wonderful possibilities to consider. :)</p>
<p>I just spoke to some nice folks at UT.</p>
<p>Regarding the engineering scholarships - the student must maintain a 3.5 GPA. If they dip below that number they are put on probation for one semester. If at the end of the probation semester they are still below the 3.5 then they lose the scholarship money forever (no way to get it back even if GPA later rises to 3.5). If they can pull their GPA back to 3.5 at the end of probation semester than all is fine and they continue with the scholarship.</p>
<p>I did not ask if they get the scholarship money for the semester they are on probation - if someone else calls that might be a question to ask. </p>
<p>Another possible question, how many times can student be put on probation? Can they dip below 3.5 once, bring it up the next semester to get off probation and then dip below 3.5 again later on?</p>
<p>UT NMF scholarships are $4000 for the first year and $3000 per year after that. They are in addition to the engineering scholarships. Student must maintain a 3.25 GPA to continue with the NMF scholarship. UT checks GPA at the end of the spring semester. If student's GPA is below 3.25 at that point they have the summer semester to pull the GPA back up. If still below 3.25 after the summer than the UT part of the scholarship is lost forever (NMF folks pay the first $750 of the amount and UT picks up the rest so student would continue to get the $750 per year).</p>
<p>This is what I understood from my discussions with the folks at UT. If anyone has different information could they please share it. Thanks</p>
<p>My son was admitted to both Turing and Dean's Scholars programs, but has not heard anything about scholarship offers. He, too, (like Anxiousmom's son - congrats!) got into Rice ID, but no scholarship offer there. We are all thrilled about the acceptances, but money will be an important factor in his final decisions. I haven't checked carefully, but it seems that the UT scholarship offers posted all came from Engineering; perhaps others come later??</p>
<p>Yeah I believe it's only engineering that sends out scholarships on Feb 1.</p>
<p>i was accepted to ds and plan II, and rice ID (with no scholarships.. booo). and i'm not a good candidate for finaid. so now, i have to decide whether it's still worth applying to rice/baylor, when in the tiny tiny chance i actually get in, i still won't be able to afford it. ut is looking better and better, since i'll get the valedictorian tuition waiver for 1st yr. and the natl. merit $13,000. gaah, decisions! </p>
<p>congrats to swkmom's son! you're the only other cc'er who i've seen accepted to ds so far. ds is looking extremely appealing :)</p>
<p>Make sure you apply for financial aid at Rice - they have pretty good F.A., even for people with fairly healthy incomes. We'll be waiting until all f.A. packages are in to make our decision, but we're leaning towards Rice, even though it'll be a stretch. My daughter already goes there, and we know how great the opportunities, support, mentoring, etc. are at Rice. UT is great, too, especially if you have plan II, turing scholars, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the note. Congratulations to you, too! I'll pass your congrats on to son. Did you attend the Honor's Invitational in January? Son did on Jan 26th. </p>
<p>I'll be curious to see whether he gets any scholarship offers besides National Merit (he won't be getting the valedictorian award like you, since he's 4th or 5th in class.)</p>
<p>Looks like you're premed - ? Son is math/physics/CS right now. If he ends up at UT (money's an issue), I think the DS or Turing programs will reinforce this leaning, but if he goes to Rice, I suspect he'll renew his interest in bio &/or chemistry.</p>
<p>Thanks! Yeah, I attended the invitational on Jan 19th. I am indeed premed. Money's an issue everywhere (sigh), but hopefully UT will pull through for us all with some scholarships. </p>
<p>Oh, and anxiousmom, thanks for the advice. I did already apply for finaid at Rice, so I guess just wait and see! Rice really is lovely. Growing up in Houston, I've known it for 18 years. =D</p>