@nw2this Alabama (either way), OU, TAMU, UTD
Hey, Guys Texas Tech is a full college experience with Big 12 (which is a Power 5 conference) sports and Greek life with a full ride for NMF 
University of Kentucky also offers free ride for MNSF.
@VANURSEPRAC Texas Tech also requires a 3.5 to renew the scholarship. Very dangerous, especially for engineering kids. From what Iāve heard, many lose that scholarship.
You become a finalist if you get the scholarship from the school, so being a finalist canāt be a deciding factor in whether you get the scholarship.
That is incorrect. You become a finalist from the NMS corporation, if your application is accepted (senior curriculum, school recommendation, decent grades, essay, confirming SAT scores, etc). This happens somewhere around February of your senior year. You become a scholar once you accept a package.
@nw2this I think youāre confusing Finalist with Scholar. Once you are recognized as a Semifinalist, you have to submit a Finalist application which includes an essay, recommendation, transcript, and SAT score. Approximately 15,000 of 16,000 SF are then confirmed as Finalists. From there, you can receive one of three scholarships - the direct scholarships from NMSC, a corporate scholarship, or a college scholarship. Once you receive a scholarship, you have official Scholar designation.
@nutmeg_shippy I stand corrected! :">
@VANURSEPRAC ā¦Yes my S would love to attend Texas Tech however the 3.5 GPA to keep the scholarship does scary my a lot. He seems to be okay with that and loves Tech but I am nearly as comfortable. @flatKansas ā¦we are in the same boot as you. I have heard that UTD is more of a commuter collegeā¦is that true?
@Tgirlfriend Iāve heard the same thing about UTD, but since its strong in CS (and in a great area for tech) I figure its worth a look.
When will we know in Sep for NMSF? D is doing rolling admission with PSU application on Sep 13th (free application that day!). I think she is a lockin with 224 in PA, but want to get notification before we put that in application.
Yes, you will know by Sept 13th
UTD: D21 and I went on a tour while she was there for camp. she liked the smaller campus than Tech. She loved the apartments that are right there so she can walk to class. She also really liked the dorms.
To me it felt more like an office park and since it was in the summer I could not get an accurate feel.
Tech is pretty much empty in the summer.
About the stupid 3.5 gpa. I donāt know why Tech makes it so high. NMF kids are very bright kids who are most like to major in hard majors like engineering/cs and it punishes them. Donāt they want those kids to succeed and raise their ranking???
Donāt understand it.
@Tgirlfriend I think maybe I can give a little insight into UTD. A family member of mine is there now and has been there for a while. (Now getting his masterās degree.) He is a commuter and I think that the culture around UTD definitely encourages the commuting aspect. I visited there and it seems to be the most introverted campus Iāve been on. I think youād have to really try to get plugged in and make friends, maybe more than other places. Especially places like Tech.
The dorms though, if you donāt commute, are the best dorms Iāve ever seen.
@VANURSEPRAC KState has the same 3.5 renewal on all its scholarships. I donāt understand it either. 
For those of you looking at OU watch out for the fees! Unless you are looking for a specific major that is amazing at OU like meteorology or Arabic itās might not be the best deal. TT seems to have the most generous NM package with a true full ride, including transportation and stipend for incidentals. My Dās fees for her first semester at OU will be $4108.50 (17 hours).
We are seriously looking at UTD for S18 (likely NM). We have visited and he liked the feel of the campus. The dorms are great!
@3scoutsmom $4k per semester?! Wow! I knew the fees added up, but not that much. Thanks for the heads up, Iāll do the math for my D. It may not be worth the application fees as sheāll probably have better options.
Again, TT is very generous, but its very difficult to keep the required GPA to renew. Too risky, imo, especially if you canāt afford to be full pay if the student loses the scholarship.
@itsgettingreal17 the fees and room and board went up something like 12% this year! OU is still the right choice for DD16 but the increase really took us by surprise! Whatās hard about figuring fees for OU is that you really need to know which classes your kid will be taking to figure out the fees.
@3scoutsmom Is there any possibility of a departmental scholarship on top of the NMF package?