<p>Oklahoma is highest per capita, and top 10 overall.</p>
<p>"Oklahoma is highest per capita." Really? Could you kindly show the steps to back up that conclusion?</p>
<p>Rice has a lot of NMS - some college sponsored and some NMcorp sponsored. My DD received a NMcorp sponsored one, but I don't see why it matters if they are college sponsored or NMcorp or outside corp sponsored. Basically the qualifications for all are number driven - and it is pretty much a crapshoot who gets what. In some cases, college sponsored ones are much better, with more $$$. I believe 24% of incoming freshman are NMS.</p>
<p>Can anyone please link to (or cite) recent sources for these figures we are hearing about different colleges and how many National Merit Scholars they have?</p>
<p>It's linked to on the first page of this thread.</p>
<p>"Could you kindly show the steps to back up that conclusion?"</p>
<p>no</p>
<p>From the OU website at <a href="http://www.go2.ou.edu/national_scholars/%5B/url%5D">http://www.go2.ou.edu/national_scholars/</a></p>
<p>"The University of Oklahoma is #1 per capita among public universities in the number of freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled, and in the top 10 of all public and private institutions in the entire country. OU is home to nearly 700 currently enrolled National Merit Scholars.</p>
<p>Almost twenty years ago, The University of Oklahoma made a commitment to the recruitment and retention of National Merit Scholars with the creation of our department, National Scholars Programs. The University's commitment has not wavered, and our national rankings in the recruitment of some of the nation's most outstanding students attest to that fact. Our success was built on a number of important factors; some of them include the personalized attention we give our Merit Scholars such as early enrollment privileges and specialized academic advising, our Honors College, study abroad opportunities, and an exceptional scholarship package."</p>
<p>I know a student who took this deal. She started with 7 AP courses and tested out of some classes, so she went in as a 2nd semester sophomore. Since she would only be there 3 years they let her spend last year in Japan, all included in her NM scholarship package. She absolutely loves it. (And turned down some top ranked schools)</p>
<p>I'm not sure what "#1 per capita" means. Clearly Harvard has the largest number at 396 and the Carleton College website cites Harvey Mudd as having the greatest percentage of entering freshmen at 26.74%. OU doesn't even have the highest percentage of entering freshmen among state schools. They claim to have 700 currently enrolled, but given UT runs over 250 freshman admits per year, I'm not sure that even qualifies as the highest total among state schools.</p>
<p>I admit I'm looking at 2002 data.</p>
<p>Here's data for 2003 and back from the University of Florida: <a href="http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings/students/merit.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings/students/merit.pdf</a></p>
<p>And what they say for 2004-2005: <a href="http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2005news/meritschol05.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2005news/meritschol05.htm</a></p>
<p>I'm sure UT isn't happy to loose their "title" to Florida.</p>
<p>Yeah, showing the work would be comparing the number of National Merit Scholars admitted to the number of all freshman admitted, or some similar comparison for all undergraduates currently enrolled. I was sure (and I had looked at post #1, back when this thread was first posted) that Oklahoma has a larger enrollment than Harvard (most state universities do), so I thought it hardly likely that Oklahoma had the highest per-capita figure for National Merit Scholars. And it surely doesn't. First among state universities isn't even for sure for that school, and it's unclear to me that that figure matters to an applicant who is looking not only for smart classmates but also for a huge library and outstanding art museums on campus and a few of the other things that Harvard offers.</p>
<p>Per capita means per person. Obviously OU has a greater per capita than Texas (which has double the # of students).</p>
<p>"huge library and outstanding art museums on campus and a few of the other things that Harvard offers."</p>
<p>OU has a museum of natural history that boasts the largest single gift to a public university ever in respect to art. (Over 250 million dollars worth.) I'm not saying that OU competes with Harvard or anything, just that OU isn't bad in that respect.</p>
<p>"Per capita means per person. Obviously OU has a greater per capita than Texas (which has double the # of students)."</p>
<p>Per capita what? Which is to say, you mean more National Merit Scholarship Finalists as a per centage of enter freshman? Or total students?</p>
<p>Per capita means either: total NM Scholars divided by total students OR incoming frosh scholars divided by total incoming frosh. I notice that schools promote the stat that helps them look the best.</p>
<p>But notice that the publics are talking about National Merit Scholars (8,000) not National Merit Finalists (15,000). There seem to be 3 ways to advance from "NM finalist" to "NM scholar" - from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (about 2,500 students), from corporations (which mostly go to about 1,000 employee children), and from the school (about 4,500 students). From what I've seen, some schools give scholarships to NM finalists but others like the HYPS don't. Is that right? </p>
<p>So if schools like Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma shower NMFs with money, they suddenly become NM Scholars, and make their own stats look good. On the other hand, other schools may have even more NMFs but relatively few scholars because they don't give out scholarships. </p>
<p>If this is the case, it seems we ought to be comparing NMF totals not NM Scholars.</p>
<p>"If this is the case, it seems we ought to be comparing NMF totals not NM Scholars."</p>
<p>Best suggestion I've heard on this yet, tactics22.</p>
<p>
[quote]
some schools give scholarships to NM finalists but others like the HYPS don't. Is that right?
[/quote]
That is right, tactics22. Unfortunately, none of the schools my son is seriously considering offer National Merit Scholarships, although he just learned today of his Finalist status. Oh well, we can hope for one of the 2,500 through NMSCorp.</p>
<p>Yes, my son, a NMF, got full boat offers from all those public schools (OK, TX) without showing any interest whatsoever. He went to Caltech, no NM money, but 51 of his class of 235 were NMF.</p>
<p>I realize this is an old and probably dead thread but many of the statements about UT don't match with UT's websites or with my knowledge of UT. UT has several honors programs that actively recruit National Merit Finalists. One of these programs is Plan II Honors, a separate degree plan within UT that particularly appeals to those who plan to attend graduate school (law, medicine, business, etc.). Plan II's freshman class has approximately 180 students of which typically 70 are National Merit Finalists. Thus, in an average year, 38% of Plan II students are National Merit Finalists. Plan II classes are generally small - anywhere from 3-30 people per class - although Plan II students can also take regular UT classes including large survey courses (such as taking an American History course to satisfy the State-mandated history requirement). </p>
<p>UT offers very little money beyond the basic National Merit scholarship available to any National Merit Finalist. However, the scholarship package covers most of the UT tuition since it is not that expensive to go to UT, especially compared to private schools. Generally, a UT/Plan II National Merit Finalist scholarship amounts to approximately $4,000 a year and covers tuition. The student pays room, board, books and incidentals, typically using personal funds, grants, or student loans. In addition to Plan II Honors, there are several other UT honors programs that also attract National Merit Finalists. I think these programs offer the same basic scholarship packages.</p>
<p>Oklahoma, Arizona State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and others offer much larger packages to a National Merit Finalist. In the past, these packages ranged from $60,000 to $120,000 and cover tuition, books, room, board, and some even pay for graduate school and study abroad.</p>
<p>DRJ4 ...</p>
<p>From my increasingly suspect memory . . . isn't it UT-Dallas that aggressively recruits NMF's?</p>
<p>DudeDiligence:</p>
<p>Thanks for your input. I was so focused on UT-Austin that I never thought about UT-Dallas, but you're right. As recently as last year UT-Dallas offered up to $52,000 for National Merit Finalists naming UT-D as their first choice school.</p>
<p>Glad to see this thread revived. Would also like current CC posters to post where their NMF S or D picked as #1 choice.</p>
<p>jlauer,
My S picked Swarthmore, ED. Was offered a full ride, unsolicited, from a couple of schools. We were extremely fortunate that we were able to make the financial choice to have him attend Swat, where the "fit" was better for him.</p>