<p>Thanks for the comments on ASU!</p>
<p>Thank you so much, Celeste. Human Event seems to be something ASU is really proud of, And DD loves big ideas. Lazy Slackers aside, does it really seem to be a highlight?</p>
<p>She sat in on a human event class during her initial visit and was taken by it. Now that she is in it herself she reports funny things to me. Right now it’s Augustine’s confessions and how closely she identifies with him. Awhile back she was sending that Socrates has great ideas but he’s so full of himself, thinks he knows better than everyone else, that she can’t take his ideas as seriously as they deserve. And Gilgamesh is an idiot. How did he get to be king when he is so inept at handling people? Silly stuff like that. It reminds me of the first time I read Odyssey. As I got into it, my initial gut reaction was ‘This is one of the greatest works of lit of all time? These guys are just a bunch of pirates!’ Of course, it goes deeper than that, but there is that too. She is enjoying it. Somehow didn’t cover those ancient classics in any of her HS classes. Except most of Shakespeare she knows from a theater group she was in for a few years that did exclusively Shakespeare/Shaw/Dickens.</p>
<p>They have a writing center especially to help students with the writing they need to do for these classes. It’s staffed by juniors and seniors who have been through the classes.</p>
<p>There is also a computer lab staffed by comp. sci. majors there to help kids with anything at all computer related.</p>
<p>They have a special office to help students apply for the big national scholarships like Goldwater and Fulbright and walls lined with photos of Barrett students who have won them. They are so proud to be one of the top schools in the country for getting Fulbrights. </p>
<p>They claim to be #1 in country in enrolling NHispanic Scholars.</p>
<p>She has so many advisers. One regular adviser in music, one adviser in Barrett. An honors adviser in music dept. Once math major is declared she’ll have an honors adviser there too. To help with things like honors theses and setting up contracts with teachers to get honors designation on courses. And finding research opportunities, internships, and just everything.</p>
<p>Barrett has so many people working in just about every possible capacity. They received a big endowment a few years ago from the Barretts (Craig-Stanford prof/former Intel CEO and Barbara-just about everything imaginable from pilot/astronaut to ambassador to Finland.) Barbara received her degrees from ASU and apparently has a soft spot for her alma mater.</p>
<p>I’m a NMSF and my safety school is the University of Arizona, which I think deserves a mention. They offer $30k/year for NMFs, which is a pretty good chunk of the $40k out-of-state cost. It’s a fairly strong school, particularly (I think) for engineering/science, which is what I’m interested in.</p>
<p>ASU sent me a letter saying they would pay for my flight to go tour Barrett… Reading the above posts makes it really tempting to head down there for a weekend and check it out!</p>
<p>On a side note, does anyone know of any good schools that offer both sizable NMF scholarships and a strong program in engineering physics/applied physics? I’ve been searching but haven’t found much yet.</p>
<p>For physics I would look at Texas A&M and Drexel.</p>
<p>Thanks again, Celeste. Human Event sounds pretty cool.</p>
<p>evanatch, if you do go, you should really do the overnight in a dorm. They don’t do them Friday or Saturday, but can do Sunday. It gives you a better feel for what life is like there than just doing the official tours and meetings. Though I thought the skateboard tour looked fun, but D demurred. The kids are really friendly. Your host will probably introduce you to everyone on his floor. Engineers are grouped together in dorms so you would have a chance to talk with kids about what the major is like, could request an engineering major host. We were there for several days and they invited her back another day to eat breakfast with them and walk together to a class some were in that she was scheduled to visit, and to go to more activities like Thursday night swing dance. </p>
<p>Barrett is loaded with engineers. At orientation, when they broke kids out into groups and first asked for engineers, half the kids stood up. I don’t know anything about the quality of the school, but I read they received a $50 million endowment a few years ago, always fund-raising at ASU and trying to build up the university. </p>
<p>ASU opened a School of Sustainability 6 years ago. It’s a popular 2nd major and the ASU president’s field. They have prominent professors and seminars with well-known speakers. Parking garages have solar panels and there are windmills on some buildings. The whole campus is an arboretum with unusual plant specimens from around the world, all labeled with info. They’ve tried rooftop gardens but I think the heat caused some problems with that project.</p>
<p>Incoming NMF/NHS/NAF can apply for an extra scholarship- Gammage, $3K/yr. They only award 4 a year though, so tough to get as counting the NHS, there are well over 100. Don’t know how many apply. Essays of course. If you have strong ECs and especially some remarkable community service it’s worth a shot.</p>
<p>ASU is always near the top in USNews’ 'up-and-coming- list, #2 this year. President Crow has put enormous energy into remaking the school, building it into a top class research university. That’s a big enterprise. I don’t know that they are there yet, but they’ve made a good start.</p>
<p>We didn’t look at UA as ASU had the music school with a prof D was interested in working with, but her cousin used UA for her safety. I understand it’s a fine school.</p>
<p>Arizona and Arizona State are both good engineering schools.</p>
<p>US News only ranks grad programs in physics. That’s an imperfect indicator of what might go on at undergrad and USNews is imperfect in general, but another data point anyway.The highest ranked NMF scholarship school in physics is UMN-Twin Cities. The head of their honors program is a physics prof.We had a long meeting with him, very strong personality. They have a great math program as well. The only others in top 50 are UArizona, Texas A&M, and ASU, in that order.</p>
<p>Came across a JHU physics program ranking that I don’t understand at all that puts UMN very high- 6th, UA not far behind and then ASU and Texas A&M down near 50. No other NMF schools up there.</p>
<p>QS world rankings puts Texas A&M, UMN, and UA in 101-150(alphabetical group?) and ASU in 151-200. No other NMF schools.</p>
<p>Don’t know how applied these depts are. AT ASU the math dept is very applied. I talked with professors there and looked at lists of NSF grants. The boards are full of biomedical imaging and climate modelling research. In physics at ASU, looks like they have 3 groups. Biophysics is one and has its own degree option. Then there is cosmology and the biggest by far is nanoscience and materials science group. Is that what you are thinking of?</p>
<p>More data points-</p>
<p>QS World rankings:
materials science: ASU and UMN in 101-150, and UA, Drexel and Texas A&M in 151-200.</p>
<p>mech. eng.: Texas A&M is #50, UMN 51-100, and ASU 151-200. No UA</p>
<p>elec/electronic eng.: Texas A&M, UMN 101-150, and ASU 151-200. No UA</p>
<p>AcademicRankingWorldU physics
UA #20, Texas A&M 51-75, UMN 76-100, ASU and Oklahoma State 101-150, UMississippi and UOklahoma 151-200</p>
<p>ARWU engineering
Texas A&M #22, UMN #27, ASU 76-100, UArizona, UCF and UHouston 101-150, Auburn and Drexel 151-200</p>
<p>UKTimes World Top 100
eng/tech UMN #38, Texas A&M #66
physical sciences UMN #49, UArizona #80, Texas A&M #91</p>
<p>Should add that some of these rankings can be a bit weird depending on methodology. ARWU uses #Nobels/Fields among faculty/alums and papers published in nature/science and citations, a pretty limited way of ranking. But even so, there are certain schools that turn up no matter the criteria.</p>
<p>I’ve been checking math for my own benefit and thought to share here in case it helps anyone with their lists, but for people who abhor lists, please ignore.</p>
<p>QS World math: Texas A&M and UMN 51-100, ASU 101-150</p>
<p>ARWU natural science/math: UMN #36, UArizona #39, Texas A&M #41, UHouston 76-100, ASU 101-150</p>
<p>ARWU math: UMN #12, Texas A&M #15, UHouston 76-10, UCF 151-200</p>
<p>UK Times Top 50 World math(2011):UMN #4, ASU #21, Texas A&M #45</p>
<p>US News Math Grad Programs: UMN #18, Texas A&M #40, UArizona #43, NEU #59, ASU #63, UHouston and UN-Lincoln #68, UKentucky and UOklahoma #76, Oklahoma State, NJIT and UNM #89, Auburn #104, Drexel, UA-Birmngham and UCIncinnati #111</p>
<p>I’ve been including schools that are pretty much at least full tuition/fees available to OOS. I guess I should remove Auburn/Cincinnati, and NEU. Not sure.</p>
<p>@taben1112
I believe admission into the Honors college was automatic, but I think I filled out an application for it just in case.</p>
<p>Related to this, what schools offer generous scholarships (e.g., full tuition or more) for National Merit Semi-Finalists?</p>
<p>@jpalomino: I posted this on another thread but Fordham, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State and a couple of HBCU (historically black colleges-NC Central and I think Florida A and M) are ones we found. Fordham’s is competitive but I think the rest were automatic. I think there are more but it takes some searching.</p>
<p>Related to this, what schools offer generous scholarships (e.g., full tuition or more) for National Merit Semi-Finalists?</p>
<p>Are you concerned that you wont’ make finalist? </p>
<p>Alabama awards full tuition to semi-finalists that don’t make NMF, but that deadline has passed.</p>
<p>Are you sure that you won’t make finalist? If you do make finalist, then Alabama’s NMF scholarship is still available…that application deadline isn’t til April.</p>
<p>HSgrad…I don’t think Auburn’s is for full tuition for OOS students.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, are you sure that Alabama’s NMF scholarship is still available? DS was so disappointed that he missed the Jan 6 scholarship deadline.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16465904-post833.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16465904-post833.html</a></p>
<p>4bears…</p>
<p>Yes…that Jan6th deadline does NOT apply to NMFs. NMFs and NAs have a MUCH later deadline…it’s either April 30 or May 1.</p>
<p>So apply!!!</p>
<p>I was just sent the rankings by one of these schools, and the state schools that give a full ride and attract the most NMFs are Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Minnesota (in that order).</p>
<p>Minnesota doesn’t give a full ride for NMF, or even full tuition. For in-state students, the top Gold Scholar Award (not guaranteed) is close to full tuition. For OOS, it is a little more than half tuition.</p>