<p>Universities buy lists of names from NMSC.</p>
<p>My older daughter is a NMF and she decided to attend the University of Oklahoma, since they have a great advertising program and that’s what she was interested in. Oklahoma offers a fantastic NM package. It’s not a completely free ride, since we are from out of state, but we pay less than $4000 a year, so that’s a great deal. She loves OU and Norman, and is very glad she decided to attend there.</p>
<p>S1 was NMF in 2007. He checked out Arizona State, which is very generous to NMF, but it wasn’t what he wanted. He’s at Dartmouth which he loves. There was no NMF money, but Dartmouth has been very supportive.</p>
<p>My daughter chose Auburn and had a great first semester there. Her package included tuition and fees, standard housing, $1500 one-time laptop allowance, $4000 for study abroad after sophomore year, $1000 a year stipend starting sophomore year because NM awarded her $2500 freshman year so Auburn’s standard $1000 a year stipend was replaced with that freshman year and another $3500 per year from her chosen college (Science and Math). She has $3000 in outside scholarships for her freshman year that she won’t have the remaining three years. </p>
<p>She lives in upgraded housing and her scholarship money covers the extra plus the meal plan, books and spending. I haven’t had to give her any money and I won’t until sophomore year and then only a little, unless she gets more outside scholarship money.</p>
<p>My daughter plans on using her college fund for grad school and she loves knowing she earned her UG and isn’t having to rely on us, although we do provide a car and the costs associated with it. She is in the honor’s college and has had great professors, has made great friends and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.</p>
<p>^Pretty much the same thing with my sister at bama</p>
<p>I know that Oklahoma has one of the best NMF scholarships, and a few years ago a local college coach liked the school a lot… and felt it was still improving even more.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, that’s correct. Thank you for clarifying, I should have been more clear.</p>
<p>Colleges With the Most Freshman Merit Scholars, 2008
Number
of scholars Number sponsored
by institution
Note: The table shows the total number of Merit Scholarship winners and the number whose scholarships were paid for by the institution, not by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation or other corporate sponsors. The rankings were determined by The Chronicle from an alphabetical listing appearing in the 2007-8 annual report of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Source: National Merit Scholarship Corporation
Harvard College 285 0
University of Texas at Austin 281 213
University of Southern California 254 216
Northwestern University 239 191
Washington University in St. Louis 228 161
University of Chicago 222 148
Yale University 213 0
University of Oklahoma 178 147
Princeton University 175 0
Arizona State University 169 143
Rice University 169 104
University of Florida 166 134
Texas A&M University at College Station 161 119
Vanderbilt University 147 107
Stanford University 147 0
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 142 106
New York University 127 100
Ohio State University 120 98
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 114 0
Georgia Institute of Technology 105 70
Duke University 99 0
University of Pennsylvania 98 0
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 91 58
Brigham Young University 90 66
Carleton College 88 66
Brown University 88 0
University of California at Berkeley 85 0
University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa 83 72
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 79 65
Dartmouth College 78 0
University of Tulsa 77 59
Columbia University 74 0
Baylor University 70 56
Emory University 68 51
Tufts University 68 56
Purdue University 67 55
Cornell University 66 0
Harvey Mudd College 62 42
Tulane University 62 50
University of Central Florida 62 48
University of Arizona 61 43
Indiana University at Bloomington 60 44
University of Nebraska at Lincoln 60 49
Michigan State University 58 47
University of Michigan 57 0
University of Georgia 54 41
St. Olaf College 53 45
Iowa State University 52 42
University of Notre Dame 50 0
Oberlin College 47 34
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville 46 39
California Institute of Technology 46 0
Georgetown University 46 0
University of Kansas 45 36
University of Washington 43 27
University of Texas at Dallas 42 33
University of South Carolina at Columbia 40 25
Grinnell College 39 30
University of Maryland at College Park 39 31
University of Cincinnati 37 28
University of California at Los Angeles 37 0
Macalester College 36 32
Case Western Reserve University 35 24
Clemson University 35 25
Denison University 34 28
University of Kentucky 34 29
Bowdoin College 33 29
University of Missouri at Columbia 33 29
Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge 32 25
Johns Hopkins University 32 0
Auburn University 31 21
Boston University 30 21
Fordham University 30 19
Miami University (Ohio) 28 20
Pomona College 28 6
University of Virginia 28 0
Claremont McKenna College 27 23
University of Miami 27 19
University of Rochester 27 21
Carnegie Mellon University 27 0
Kenyon College 26 21
University of Idaho 26 17
University of Iowa 26 22
Wheaton College (Ill.) 26 17
Furman University 25 15
University of Wisconsin at Madison 25 5
Colorado College 24 20
Scripps College 24 14
University of Mississippi 23 19
Mississippi State University 22 17
University of South Florida 22 19
Washington and Lee University 22 13
University of Tennessee at Knoxville 21 17
West Virginia University 21 20
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 20 16
Virginia Tech 20 15
Swarthmore College 20 0</p>
<p>even though the above figures are from the HS class of 2008, the numbers of NMF students at the above colleges have not changed significantly over the last few years.</p>
<p>^^Not in every case. The University of Cincinnati has started offering significant scholarships to NMFs (full in-state tuition and room, plus $1500 for travel or a laptop.) This year they had 50 of these scholarships and I believe 45 or so takers. Next year they are offering 60 such scholarships. The number of NMFs on campus has increased significantly since 2007-08.</p>
<p>^^ wow!that’s a great scholarship!</p>
<p>D1 was a semi-finalist, I assume she was a finalist too but I don’t remember. She attended Oberlin where she received a trivial college-sponsored scholarship. She turned down a more-than-free ride at the state U (sob, sob).</p>
<p>Then we moved to NY, where the NM cutoff is higher. Both D2 and S missed the NY cutoff by one point, whereas they would have made it if we hadn’t moved. Or even in different years in NY.</p>
<p>A lot go to state flagships - they get pretty good money and public praise.</p>
<p>menloparkmom–my S got letters from several schools detailing their almost free ride offers. IIRC Alabama, Arizona, Oklahoma…places he didn’t care to go to, but he could have.</p>
<p>Menloparkmom, thank you for posting NMSF 2008 info. So if I understand it correctly on the left is total number of NMF scholars, including number on the right that is for nmsf money awarded by college. Out of 15000 NMF, how many end up with either one time $2500 or college sponsored - about half? Not sure what to do at this point - his schools inclide WUSTL, NU and OSU. WUSTL you have to be accepted first, same with NU. Did not get invited to OSU medalist interviews for president/medalist, so it is not likely S goes there now. So I am thinking of not designating a college choice with NMSF by March,1, see if he gets $2500 and then see what happens. What are the changces of getting $2500 do you think - what does this depend on? Thank you.</p>
<p>There are few $2500 scholarships- as I remember it, they are awarded to extraordinary students who enroll in colleges that don’t sponsor NMF scholarships[ like HYP].Most students are awarded smaller scholarships from NMF.
I would advise waiting to see where he decides to go, before sending in the final " first choice" designation, as it does not have to be sent in to NMF until after the May 1 college decision deadline.</p>
<p>edit- according to NMF there are 2500 winners of the one time $2500 scholarship.
As I said, I believe these go mostly to students who matriculate at colleges that don’t sponsor NMF scholarships. </p>
<p>“Working in teams, Selection Committee members evaluate the applications
of all Finalists using a holistic review process to select the 2,500
distinguished winners of National Merit $2500 Scholarships.”</p>
<p>But students can earn a LOT more from the direct college sponsored scholarships- my son was awarded $1000/ year for 4 years as USC[ he was also eligible for their 1/2 tuition/ $80000 scholarship, but won a full tuition scholarship there instead]</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/annual_report.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks, Menloparkmom. But the catch is that you need to designate first choice by March,1? Aren’t the $2,500 ones awarded in March - so NMSF definitely does not know where you marticulate yet. And, can you designate after May still? Oh welll… too confising and, in the end, this is not make it ot break it money compared fto full COA.</p>
<p>.But the catch is that you need to designate first choice by March,1?
NO, NO, NO
And, can you designate after May still?
YES
Aren’t the $2,500 ones awarded in March?
I never heard that. This is what NMF says-
“On a rolling basis, beginning in late February and ending in June, Scholars are notified at their home addresses. Their high school principals are also notified.”
So this means that the $2500 awards are probably given out regardless of where a student is going to matriculate, so they don’t need to designate their final “first choice” college. However most students DO need to designate their first choice college [ in May] in order to have NMF sponsor[ fund] their scholarship.
A student can’t receive 2 scholarships from NMF.
I would imagine that most top students will take the more “prestigious” $2500 award and call it a day, as they are also more likely than not the same students that end up getting accepted at the HYPS type colleges[ that $2500 award doesn’t preclude a student from accepting a merit scholarship offered by a college to entice NMF’s to accept admission, in addition to the $2500]</p>
<p>Our son is a NM Finalist. On Friday, he got three letters from schools asking him to list them as his first choice school and offering him a nearly full-ride. These are not schools where he has applied; they were allowing him to apply now. University of Oklahoma, University of Kentucky and University of Texas at Dallas.</p>
<p>However, none of those schools meet the “has a nuclear research reactor on campus” so they aren’t on his radar at all.</p>
<p>But lots of options for finalists if one of the NM full-ride schools has the major you are pursuing.</p>