<p>Hi parents,</p>
<p>I am allowed to notify two colleges about my national merit status, and I am wondering which ones to pick. I am aiming for Stanford, MIT, Caltech, but I've heard that they don't really give aid for this award. I live in California, so would I be better served notifying some state schools about my status? I hear that many state schools give financial aid for National Merit. If so, which state colleges? What would you recommend in this situation?</p>
<p>mm arizona state gives full scholaships to national merit scholars</p>
<p>I wouldn't notify the prestigious schools you mentioned if money is any sort of issue for you. Those schools certainly don't throw money at National Merit Finalists; I don't think they even care if you select them as one of your top two schools. They don't have to worry about yield and thus don't track student interest. </p>
<p>Here's a list for schools that give full rides (or nearly full) to NMFs who list them as their top choice: <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html%5B/url%5D">http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html</a></p>
<p>Most of the schools which offer substantial scholarships to National Merit Finalists/Semifinalists will find you. D is a NM Scholar this year and received boat loads of mail offering scholarships, most from schools she never expressed any interest in.</p>
<p>ramsfan - since you're in Cali, you might consider checking out which UCs give aid... for instance, at UCSD i believe it's only $500.00 per year, but you may receive other extras, like library & housing privileges (sp?). see the UCSD website under scholarships. GL! from a chargerfan!</p>
<p>How do you tell whether a school tracks interest or not?</p>
<p>lola-cho, what do you mean by "NMFs who list them as their top choice"? If someone makes finalist status, but does not list a school on that list as their top choice, he/she will not qualify for scholarships?</p>
<p>ramsfan-</p>
<p>Here are a few schools that are fairly highly rated that are not on the list above and look to recruit NMS types:</p>
<p>Boston University
Carleton College
University of Southern California
Tulane
Emory</p>
<p>These are all privat schools. USC for example has set aside 100 full tuition scholarships and 150 half tuition scholarships. These usually go to NMS types.</p>
<p>I would suggest doing 2 things:</p>
<p>1) Getting an online subscription to USNews. Investigate each college that you are interested in. Check the "Tuition and Financial Aid" section the USNews lists for the school.</p>
<p>2) Go to the website for each school and look for their scholarships and their criterea.</p>
<p>Once you chack the school for #1 what you are looking for is how your stats compare to yours. If you are in the top 25% of their SAT range and you have an appropriate class rank then you should have a good chance at some merit aid. For example, here is the information on Tulane:</p>
<p>Non-need-based aid
Avg. merit award
(% awarded aid) $16,402 (28%) $15,306 (29%)
Avg. athletic scholarship
(% awarded aid) $24,738 (3%) $28,469 (3%)</p>
<p>I interpret this as meaning that the top 28% of their applicant pool get an average of $16,402. That is a significant discount off the full price of about $42,000. Anyway, good luck with your search and don't make your decision just on the money.</p>
<p>School,
I have pasted the following from the National Merit site:
REPORT OF A SPONSOR COLLEGE AS FIRST CHOICE
Consideration for a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award is limited to Semifinalists who qualify as Finalists and who also:
1. report to NMSC that a sponsor college is their first choice (see the list of college sponsors enclosed with your materials);
2. have applied for admission to the sponsor college; and
3. have not been offered any Merit Scholarship award (corporate-sponsored, National, or another collegesponsored award). No student will receive more than one scholarship offer from NMSC. A college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award can be used only at the institution financing it and therefore is
canceled if the winner changes college choice.
The following schedule relates specifically to college-sponsored awards:
March 1 through May 31, 2005: A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as first choice by March 1 will be included in the first group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration. Periodically NMSC will notify sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college or university
as their first choice.
NOTE: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after mailing a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, the Finalist cannot be offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist who has
previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may choose to notify NMSC that he/she is now undecided; such notification must be received at NMSC, via mail or fax (847-866-5113), before April 20. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college
choice that NMSC receives by May 31.
April 20, 2005: NMSC will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers.
May 31, 2005: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as first choice. Because it
is necessary to end the competition in a timely manner, only college choice reports that NMSC receives by
May 31 will be used to identify the final group of candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards.</p>
<p>I assume the deadlines and such are for seniors? I'm a junior. So far, I've only been commended. I should make semi (very) hopefully, finalist, but do the 2 colleges I choose to recieve the commended letter affect anything?</p>
<p>Oh and thanks for the info! I hope I'll be able to make good use of that next year. Next year.... <em>happy sigh</em></p>
<p>I decided to pick University of Arizona and UC-Davis. Arizona provides 19.5k a year for out-of-state students and has a pretty good program considering the amount of aid they're dishing out. The UCs in general aren't generous at all, but I decided to pick Davis just because its my backup school and I want to save what money I can just in case. Thanks for the advice everyone!!</p>
<p>i just didn't care, i picked my 2 top choices, if nothing else it lets them know i'm looking</p>
<p>Good choice on Davis, ramsfan. As an NMF ( and given that you have a fabulous GPA etc) your chances for a Regents Scholarship at UCD will be excellent. In an attempt to entice top students, UCD has the best Regents Scholarship plan of the UCs - a minimum $7500 merit scholarship per year for 4 years, or up to a full ride, depending on need. In addition, you could be eligible to live in the Integrated Studies honors dorm - a beautiful new dorm - and take GE courses in small classes taught by the best faculty who love to teach. Bonuses include priority registration every quarer, long-term library priviledges, etc. My son chose UCD Regents and ISHP honors over Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD and is very glad he did.</p>