<p>a friend forwarded us the list of Fairfax county NMF’s who won NM money from their colleges (the NMFs who enrolled in schools offering such money)</p>
<p>There were several going to VTech. None for UVA and W&M which I guess do not offer money to NMF’s as VTech does. </p>
<p>A few were going to OOS publics. one to UF, and one to Oklahoma, where IIUC he is getting a free ride.</p>
<p>Several were going to privates - a bunch to Oberlin, and our DD, to RPI.</p>
<p>And yeah, over half the above list was TJ grads.</p>
<p>I am not 100% certain, but I am pretty sure the NMF’s at TJ who did NOT get college NM money divided among elite privates (mainly ivies) and UVA and W&M.</p>
<p>This is just a guess, but I would think that many NMFs plan to go beyond a bachelor’s degree and the idea of graduating debt free from undergraduate school is appealing. Some kids take pride in the fact that they can pay their own way by accepting a scholarship even when they know their parents would/could pay for the higher priced school.</p>
<p>Of the five NMFs whose families I know personally, all of the kids went to public universities. All of them fell into the category of families who would be full-pay or get very little aid at schools that did not offer merit $$$.</p>
<p>Just throwing out my opinion – no basis in fact – I am a public high school grad & private college grad – my 3 kids all go to private elementary/high school.</p>
<p>I think the private kids tend to go to private college for 2 reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Comfort level with size of school – most private high schools are small and many have discussion based classes. This churns out a different type of student who prefers the “gray” area, discussion and essay tests vs bubble tests.</p></li>
<li><p>Private High Schools tend to have college counselors – not a guidance counselor with college as only a part of the job. These college counselors are more in the know of small private schools that can give big merit money. I know my kids high school may have the top student applying Ivy or top 20, but most students apply to top 70 private colleges and get merit aid.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I personally chose a private college because of 1 – my public high school graduates less than 100 kids a year. The thought of the likes of Penn State paralyzed me.</p>
<p>As a counterexample, more than half of the kids graduating from my son’s 200-student high school are going to large state universities. I’ve heard many of them say that they found a small school stifling and were excited about going someplace with more social opportunities and less individual visibility.</p>
<p>At my kids’s public schools, each school has on the order of 2-4 dozen NMSFs each year. About half go to the flagship, about half go private. NMSF isn’t the reason, though. Our state has a Distinguished Scholars award to the tune of $3000/yr which has been automatic for anyone making NMSF. It applies to any instate school, public or private. Some kids also get NMF money.</p>
<p>The real decision maker for these kids is how much $$ they get from the flagship – the flagship gives out generous merit and many of these kids get significant $$. Application trends among these kids is generally to apply to tippy-top schools (which the parents feel are “worth it” and to the flagship. Many who get the big merit awards from the flagship plus Distinguished Scholar plus NMF (which totals full COA) take the limo to the flagship and never look back. This includes kids who have turned down MIT, Ivies, etc. </p>
<p>Kids who choose Chicago, Tufts, WashU, Emory or top LACs are considered somewhat unusual.</p>
<p>I find this deeply insulting to graduates of public high schools. Very mean-spirited, IMO. It also misrepresents the kind of college experience top students can expect at the best public universities, and in the honors programs of many more. I graduated from a public high school and went to the University of Michigan as an undergrad (honors program, philosophy major) and found exactly what I was looking for there: extraordinary opportunities to explore the “gray” area in small, discussion-centered classes with essay exams and/or papers—not a single “bubble” test in my 4 years of undergrad, except for GREs, LSATs and such. </p>
<p>As someone else said, by and large the public universities in the Northeast are not very strong. In states with excellent public universities the combination of price, quality, and proximity to home & family is often compelling for a large fraction of the very top students, who would have plenty of other choices but can usually find just what they need at their state’s public flagship.</p>
<p>I don’t think that Longhaul meant to be insulting at all; it was simply a generalization based on personal experience. There are plenty of small public high schools as well; I attended one in Iowa some years back. However, in many areas (where I live now, for example) the public schools are enormous as are the class sizes and teacher loads. For survival, the teachers have to do more multiple choice tests and other methods that streamline grading time. Additionally, public schools are bound by all the state testing requirements that private schools can just ignore.</p>
<p>I did not mean it to be insulting and sincerely am sorry it came across as such.</p>
<p>As MD Mom stated, the same is true in our area – the large high schools use many test generators with multiple choice tests, the smaller schools around here do not. Many families assume the same is true in college. The LACs often promote their schools as being discussion based. In my (limited) experience, the folks in my small locale just assume the same is true in colleges. I am in the NE/Mid-Atlantic portion of the country and that may explain what you are saying if our public schools are not as strong as other areas.</p>
<p>My son was a NMF this year and decided to attend a VA public university. His school (TJHSST in VA) had 149 NMSF–not sure how many actually made NMF. It was a difficult decision for him. He looked at all the offers for possible NMF scholarship schools, but didn’t feel the schools that offered the scholarships would challenge him enough. I disagreed with him, but what do I know, I’m just the parent! He did receive a small NMF corporate scholarship, but it wasn’t enough for him to be able to attend the private school that he really wanted to attend, which offered no merit based aid. </p>
<p>I think a majority of his NMF classmates will attend private schools.</p>