@mamaedefamilia
Again, thank you. Your input and opinion is valuable and appreciated. A few thoughts:
I won’t dismiss it, but certainly not an expectation. Good news is the few Bs should be confined to FR and SO. But again, and I know you know I know ( ), insight to prior peers’ results is not encouraging in this space.
It’s a good point, we will certainly look at each WUE school. My data on them is probably a bit old. I just don’t see that being the option we take, but we won’t rule it out. It’s too bad ASU Barrett is not an environment he sees himself at, because I think he may have a shot there. The size, proximity, and city are just … the opposite of the only criteria he has :)) .
We know someone going to Grinnell, it would be an option, and schools like it. Washington U is another one to explore - but I assume merit there may be tough. Vanderbilt is of course among my ideals given his “unknown” criteria (right now), but again, I think Merit there will be too selective.
His plan is to take the June subject tests. Leaning to 3 at this point.
Would you mind sharing the LACS she applied to, in particular those for which she was a finalist for top scholarships? Private message would be fine of course.
“insight to prior peers’ results is not encouraging in this space.” @DavidPurdy
what "insight’?
All a NMSF has to do to become a NMF is have their PSAT scores exceed the state cutoff score, and are confirmed with hi SAT scores[ check], NOT have C’s or D’s on their transcript[ check], and write a short essay that his HS counselor sends with a LOR to NMSC in Nov. . The forms for the essay and LOR come to the HS in late Sept.
THATS ALL!
those are the ONLY reasons why a qualified student would NOT advance to NMF status.
Has your DS’s HS counselor NOT done his job in the past?
Perhaps past students have chosen to not writte the required essay because they were only applying to colleges that did NOT sponsor NMSC and thus would not receive a scholarship?
or???
@menloparkmom
Glad you asked - thanks for that. I assumed, in addition to essay and recommendation letters, there was an evaluation of more ECs and or further dissection/raising bar of test scores to whittle to a target number. (Seems clear it was a bad assumption). Knowing that these peers would have certainly received recommendations and written proficient essays, and knowing their scores are close enough to my son’s to be indistinguishable (right now), I concluded it was not an encouraging outlook. Since the timing is such that we have not gone through this yet, it seems some of my assumptions were wrong.
For example, you have stated that the student must “NOT have C’s or D’s on their transcript”. The National Merit Finalist Language I read on their web site is not so clear or forgiving. " Have a record of consistently very high academic performance in all of grades 9 through 12 and in any college course work taken. Your school must provide a complete record of high school courses you have taken, grades earned, and course work you will take in grade 12."
A thought on big schools – and here I’m thinking about ASU and its Barrett honors college:
My son went to a giant state university (the University of Maryland), and I wondered whether he would find its huge size overwhelming. It turned out that he didn’t. And I think there were two reasons: (1) he was part of a special-interest program for freshmen and sophomores, which gave him opportunities to be part of a smaller group with shared interests (this was not an honors program, but an honors program would provide a similar experience); (2) it was the state university of his own state, which meant that he knew lots of people on campus.
I mention this because it might be worthwhile for your son to visit ASU and also look for opportunities to talk to students who go there – especially those in the honors program. Perhaps the guidance counselor can link him up with some graduates of his high school who go there.
It may very well turn out that ASU is not an appropriate choice for him. But if he were my kid, I would suggest that he shouldn’t veto it without doing a little investigating. He might be surprised at what he discovers.
@DavidPuddy
I am surprised too about your observations. In our high school too it is very rare for someone not to advance and certainly has nothing to do with ECs.
One of the semifinalists I knew this year who had a somewhat less than perfect GPA (but no semester Cs) and very minimal EC moved onto finalists this year.
I thought you were referring to the students getting national merit awards, not just finalist status. The vast majority of semi-finalists become finalists (about 15000 out of 16000) and those that don’t typically either don’t bother to write the essay or other follow-up work, choose not to take the SAT, or have really bad grades. I don’t think that even one or two Cs in a high level course would keep a kid from finalist status.
The actual receipt of a scholarship is different:
In addition, there are various awards by corporate sponsors, but these are only for a certain subset that either have a parent working for the company or live in a certain area.
Beyond that are the college merit awards, for colleges that participate and finalists that list the college as their first choice.
So only a bit more than half of the finalists get a scholarship of some sort.
I bet most of the previous years grads became finalists, but maybe they did not get money (especially if they chose to go to a school that didn’t participate).
@DavidPudry,
the 8500 Finalists who did NOT receive NM scholarships are those who 1] enrolled at colleges that DONT sponsor National Merit Scholarship Corporation, or do not have parents who work for companies that sponsor NMSC [ in other words- they dont send $$ to NM]
OR- 2] they were NOT given one of the special $2500 one time awards from NMSC, that are awarded regardless of the college the student enrolls in .
Here is a link to NMSC and instructions that you should follow–
find the box labelled" for sponsors">
2015-2016 annual report> download and scroll down to
pages 10-15 , which shows the list of colleges and companies that support NNSC and the # of sponsored scholarships awarded that year. BUT if you scroll down to pages 15-16, you will see where those scholars ACTUALLY enrolled and see colleges such as HYPS listed, but with no * next to the number of scholars attending.
The 2400 students at HYPS [and assorted other colleges] without the * were winners of one time $2500 scholarships.
Students who DO enroll at NMSC sponsoring colleges WILL receive NM awards- which can be VERY generous. That is why we are encouraging you to look closely at those colleges.
@mom2and has good advice. The son needs to use this summer wisely. My daughter (with lower stats) was rejected from our state’s Governor’s school between Junior and Senior year. She applied for internships in a field directly related to what she thought she’s like to study in college. The internship was a great experience for her, solidified her college major, and formed the basis for her college app essay. She got into the college she wanted with merit aid (but not as much as you are seeking). That is where the NMF or NMSF comes in.
I think the college admission process these days rewards focus. Colleges (whether they say so or not) seem to be looking for students who know what they want to major in, have ECs that support it, and can write a clear plan for how their college studies will advance career or academic goals.
This is what I looked for when I was doing grad school admissions 20 years ago. It is tough on 17 year olds who should be trying out different activities in high school and use the college years to explore different majors. Some of the LACs (like the one my daughter is attending) are still committed to that model, but her admission process was made much smoother by having a clear academic focus.
The son should also do an application essay workshop in August. It is much easier to get the essay mostly finished over the summer, then the advisor can read it and make a few suggestions. Many of the merit awards have early deadlines.
@DavidPuddy - I think the smaller colleges suggested here sound like great options to research. However, you may find that your son’s opinions/wants change over the next several months. About a year ago, I did some college visits with my D (then a junior) and she was sure she did not want a large school. We visited more LACs over the summer, but the realization about our financial limitations started to sink in more and we did an official visit to our state flagship at the beginning of senior year. She liked the school and has come around to seeing some of the benefits, including being part of the honors program. While she would still prefer to go to a smaller school, she will probably end up at the flagship and make the best of it. Since she missed out moving on to finalist for full tuition at U. Richmond and didn’t get the really big scholarships at some other schools (always knew it would be a long shot), she would probably rather choose the honors college option at a great flagship over a less prestigious small college. But at least she is coming around to the idea that the choice can be a good one for her, even if it is not her ideal school.
), insight to prior peers’ results is not encouraging in this space.