<p>I did well on my PSAT and will likely become a NMF. Could I put any of these colleges be on my safety list? Auburn, USF, OU, Arizona? </p>
<p>Am I missing any other colleges that give good merit aid for NMF?</p>
<p>Check out the NMF Scholarships sticky thread. Although what is being currently offered could change by next year, it gives you an idea of the schools that will likely have substantial money for NMF. That list will save you SO much time. Bob Wallace is awesome! I believe that he now links you to an external doc,as the file got too long for the new CC rules.</p>
<p>Definitely put Arizona on your list, it should be more than a safety school however (don’t just base that off of acceptance rate). UA is a public ivy - exceptional education (rivals UCLA, Cal, etc.) and it is pretty affordable if you are OOS. Zona also gives stellar financial aid, hope you look into it!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I will check into Arizona</p>
<p>So are these schools are pretty much guaranteed acceptances for NMF? (Assuming GPA, EC, etc. are all up to par.)</p>
<p>Look through the list. They change from year-to-year, but those that offer a non-competitive full ride (or close to it) will likely all have auto-admit. When S1 applied at OU, he did not even submit his transcripts before they gave him an offer.</p>
<p>Other schools to consider: Kentucky and Alabama.</p>
<p>I will beg to differ with an6rew about Arizona. My sister got her Master’s there. Not a bad school, but it is on par with a state flagship public university. USNews ranks it 120 and OU 101. Forbes put OU at 273 and Arizona at 272. UCLA and Cal are both in the top 50 on both lists. (not a fan of either school, just the facts)</p>
<p>@Torveaux World University Rankings has Arizona as #37 in the U.S. and #50 in the world. So I beg to differ as well, but all rankings are different, and I hate rankings. U of Arizona compares to the prestigious UC’s, that’s a fact.
To me, rankings don’t matter, and it seriously does not matter where you get your undergrad degree as long as you work hard and get involved. Based on your overall body of work during your undergrad experience you can impress any recruiter/job no matter what the name of the institute you attend is. Go to the school that offers the best program for what you are interested in, as well as the school that you will be happiest and enjoy your experience at. </p>
<p>I agree that rankings can wildly vary and many are based on dubious data that means nothing about your education will pan out. Most of it is due to the effort of the student and the quality of the individual professors in the courses taken by that individual. However, rankings are all we have to go on without personal experience.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are looking, but our process to help my son find a school involved taking all of the available rankings and averaging them to adjust a bit for some of the bias. Not perfect, but better IMHO than any individual ranking system. </p>
<p>The World University Rankings <a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2013#sorting=rank+region=+country=257+faculty=+stars=false+search=”>QS World University Rankings 2014: Top Global Universities | Top Universities;
<p>This shows University of Arizona at 212 in the world. By comparison, Cal is 25, UCLA is 40, and UCSD is 63.Davis is 85 and UCSB is 103.</p>
<p>This is overall rankings. In other words, if you know you want a particular program it would be more useful to filter to see how they rank by subject area. </p>
<p>And again, I do have 2nd hand knowledge of Arizona. Nothing wrong with the school as a solid safety for NMF kids. I also think that most California and East Coast schools are highly overrated merely due to their locations. So comparing to the UC schools (other than Cal and maybe UCLA) is probably on par with my viewpoint. But don’t try to pretend that UofA is a top 50 school.</p>
<p>Aside from that, I am a firm believer that there are not enough significant differences among most of the top state and private schools to warrant debt to attend when cheaper options are available.</p>
<p>I agree that rankings can wildly vary and many are based on dubious data that means nothing about your education will pan out. Most of it is due to the effort of the student and the quality of the individual professors in the courses taken by that individual. However, rankings are all we have to go on without personal experience.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are looking, but our process to help my son find a school involved taking all of the available rankings and averaging them to adjust a bit for some of the bias. Not perfect, but better IMHO than any individual ranking system. </p>
<p>The World University Rankings <a href=“QS World University Rankings 2014: Top Global Universities | Top Universities”>QS World University Rankings 2014: Top Global Universities | Top Universities;
<p>This shows University of Arizona at 212 in the world. By comparison, Cal is 25, UCLA is 40, and UCSD is 63.Davis is 85 and UCSB is 130.</p>
<p>This is overall rankings. In other words, if you know you want a particular program it would be more useful to filter to see how they rank by subject area. </p>
<p>And again, I do have 2nd hand knowledge of Arizona. Nothing wrong with the school as a solid safety for NMF kids. I also think that most California and East Coast schools are highly overrated merely due to their locations. So comparing to the UC schools (other than Cal and maybe UCLA) is probably on par with my viewpoint. But don’t try to pretend that UofA is a top 50 school.</p>
<p>Aside from that, I am a firm believer that there are not enough significant differences among most of the top state and private schools to warrant debt to attend when cheaper options are available.</p>
<p>U. Texas at Dallas gives an automatic near-full-ride to NMF’s who list it as first choice. Definitely good for a safety school</p>
<p>
All of those schools are safeties for you assuming you apply by the deadline. </p>
<p>Ole Miss.</p>