Interesting that yet another college is dropping the National Merit scholarship, on nmfscholarships.yolasite.com it is still erroneously listed though. Here is a lengthy justification:
Can’t say I agree with this approach, it’s nice to have something objective with so many kids getting As at high school despite greatly varying standards.
Also, I note on WPI’s site that they still offer automatic $20k merit for any Valedictorian, how the heck is that fairer than basing it on a PSAT performance? Plus, they still mention the scholarships based on test scores… just not the PSAT I guess - makes me wonder if there’s something else behind the decision.
As a Massachusetts resident that knows our state colleges reasoonably well, I really don’t consider this a big loss. Both BU and Northeastern are far superior to WPI, and both offer national merit scholarships.
WPI is clearly satisfied with remaining a regional school, a tough position given the national stature of so many nearby colleges.
Northeastern don’t advertise any automatic National Merit scholarship, they just mention up to $30k which I suppose you’re also eligible for without National Merit.
The fact is that it is one less college (out of not too many in the northeast) that had any sort of automatic merit for NMF. It seems to be losing importance year by year.
As far as I know, Northeastern pretty explicit in its scholarships for NMF - the other scholarships are a completely different section, and max out at 25K. In practice, nearly all NMF’s get the full 30K.
You are kidding, right? As the article says, the NMF is based almost entirely on the results of one test on one Saturday. What is being Valedictorian based on? 3-4 years of multiple papers, exams and presentations spread out over many different teachers and courses. They are not remotely comparable.
My problem with Valedictorian being the measuring stick for scholarship is that what it signifies can vary so much, to be Valedictorian at a school that has 20 NMSF every year is a remarkable achievement, to be one at a small school with much lower ability students does not tell you much at all about the Valedictorian. It just seems random, at least NMF is some objective nationally standardized measure.
Also, just because the PSAT is done on one day, don’t discount the similar amount of hard work that went into having the ability to do well in it. I’m sure there’s a very high correlation between NMF and Valedictorians at schools that produce NMFs.
Interesting and good for WPI! Although I am delighted that my 2 oldest children have been recipients of merit scholarships from WPI, I found it odd that a test optional school that boasts such a strong philosophy for being test optional would then offer a NM scholarship. Seemed a little hypocritical. The good news is that WPI is fairly generous with merit scholarships to top students, so if your child becomes a NM finalist and has the rest of the package (grades, class rank, ECs, experiences, etc), they will likely be offered decent merit. As for the disagreement of some regarding automatic merit for val / sal, keep in mind that, at least in my experience, here in New England, schools that rank typically have 1 Val (student ranked #1) and 1 Sal (student ranked #2). As stated in the linked article, WPI’s message is pretty clear:
“… our intent was to send a clear message to students, their families, and our colleagues in college counseling: Admissions decisions at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are based on how students perform academically in four years of high school; they are not based on how they scored one Saturday morning on a four-hour test.”
As a lifelong New Englander, I couldn’t disagree more with Hebegebe’s assessment in post #1. All of the schools s/he mentions are very good but comparing WPI to Northeastern and BU is comparing apples to oranges. Northeastern and BU are large, urban research universities with embedded engineering schools. WPI, on the other hand, is a medium sized engineering school that also offers some other programs. So much of which school is “better” comes down to fit. In my household, WPI has been the superior choice compared to Northeastern or BU. Child # 1 chose WPI over Northeastern, RPI, and other selective schools. Child #2 wrote off Northeastern early in the process (after being accepted as a NM finalist) but kept WPI in the top 3. He ended up at UChicago when he decided to study math and physics as opposed to engineering. We’re going through the process with child #3 now who plans to study engineering. WPI and Northeastern are both on her list. She tends to gravitate toward larger, more urban schools, so it will be interesting to see where she ends up (and where she gets accepted!).
As far as national name recognition, my recent WPI grad was delighted to see that the Wall Street Journal recently ranked WPI as the #1 school combining research and teaching. http://webreprints.djreprints.com/3958800474422.html
Although the average person on the street in Ohio or Oregon may not be familiar with the school, hiring managers and grad school admissions committees from across the country sure seem to be so I’m fine with the average person being clueless. Having another kiddo at U Chicago, we’re used to it!
My kid goes so a single gender title 1 Blue ribbon school which is very small and filled with girls from very low social economics. The school has both middle and high school. D21 could stay there for high school and certainly be val but she is going to go to a much larger and competitive high school with much more rigor and certainly won’t be val or sal.
However she will be prepared for college much better. . She hopefully will be NMF.
We agree that was their message. I just believe it is a flawed one, particularly as it relates to scholarships for Val. A Val in one school might not be remotely comparable to another one. For one thing, all else being equal, it is easier to be a val in a small school than in a large one. But things are not remotely equal. The average student in D’s high school is beyond the 90th percentile and it is far easier to make NMF than to have the highest GPA (the school doesn’t rank anyway). And there are schools at the opposite end where a VAL there would struggle at a moderately competitive school.
Your kids are clearly talented and WPI was fortunate your kids seriously considered or attended WPI.
IMO what matters for strong students is having a sufficiently large cohort of peers at or above their level so they are challenged. Neither BU or Northeastern has an overall student body comparable to Harvard or MIT. However BU and Northeastern can attract students through scholarships including those for NMSF to create a strong honors program cohort that is every bit as strong as the average MIT or Harvard class. I just don’t see the same thing happening at WPI (too small, and test-optional doesn’t help), but perhaps I am mistaken.
I don’t disagree that class rank is a very imperfect way of determining merit, but using the results of a one sitting 4 hour test is imperfect as well. At the end of the day, WPI is a private institution and can use any means it chooses to disperse merit aid. As to whether changing from offering automatic merit >/= 20K to NMFs is a good idea for the school, I guess time will tell. I’m sure the school will change it’s tactics if it looks like the quality of it’s applicants is going down hill. My bigger point is that I would not write off WPI if your child is a NMF but not val or sal. I would bet $ that if they are a top student with good ECs, they will be offered a merit scholarship in the the vicinity of the amount previously guaranteed.
I was curious about perception vs reality so spent some time looking at Common Data Sets for the 3 schools initially mentioned by @hebegebe. I initially put the data into a table but could not paste it retaining formatting. I looked at 2015 - 16 and 2012 - 13 for all three schools (I chose 2012 - 13 because I could find the data for all schools and out of curiosity since that was the cohort for my oldest at WPI). Here are some highlights, leaving out acceptance rate and yield since those numbers are pretty easily manipulated (but if you’re interested, acceptance rate is lower at both BU and NU, yield is higher at WPI) :
SAT CR: 630-720
SAT Math: 650-740
% in top tenth of HS class: 63
BU
25 - 75%:
ACT (composite): 26-30
SAT CR: 570-670
SAT Math: 610-720
% in top tenth of HS class: 57
WPI
25 - 75%:
ACT (composite): 27-32
SAT CR: 560-670
SAT Math: 640-720
% in top tenth of HS class: 66
Northeastern’s stats are overall better than the other 2 schools and it’s not surprising that WPI’s stats are skewed toward higher math scores, although the ACT composite scores are pretty good. Of course, being test optional, WPI only reports the scores of those students who submit them. All in all, though, I think the stats show that bright kids will find plenty of peers in their cohort at WPI (as well as the other 2 schools). Anecdotally, back in the day my husband chose WPI over Tufts. One of my older D’s close friends is from California and chose WPI over Harvey Mudd. WPI is very popular with local students, probably because of it’s strong affiliation with FIRST. I am always amazed by the number of bright kids who are denied admission each year. Is it a great school for everyone? Absolutely not. My son would have done fine, but is far better off out in Chicago due to both his academic interests and intellectual curiosity. But I don’t think that Northeastern or BU would have been the best fits either.