It has to fit within the provided space, approximately 3,500 characters. Click the preview button to ensure it fits within the space. My DD used her Common App essay.
We know my daughter made it in GA – she’s well above the cutoff. But crickets from the school, nor have I seen any local newspaper announce a list. (I have seen other counties in our state announce.) I know our school has often announced in their weekly newsletter – they wait until the official senior formal yearbook pics are in from the photographer, and I know those aren’t in yet, lol.
I did see a Reddit thread where someone was posting lists by state, and my daughter is indeed listed there under her school, along with four other kids. Pretty sure it’s an accurate list – small school and I know all the kids.
Does anyone know when the deadline is for semifinalists to submit the finalist application? (Surely the school won’t let them miss it, but I don’t know why they haven’t at least told the students.)
Also, she felt comfortable submitting her college applications today listing NMSF under honors. I hope that wasn’t a mistake, but she was finished and wanted to get them off her plate.
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October 8th is the deadline. In DD’s high school they want them to complete their portion by the 1st, and then the counselors will complete their portion and transmit to the MNSC by the deadline.
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Thank you so much for the info! D26 will be asking her college counselor about it tomorrow – that deadline is much sooner than I expected.
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hi there, we are looking at the UT Dallas package which seems to fit what my son is looking for and will allow him to potentially complete his masters in 4 years. has any of you visit? any comments on things we should look at when we visit? (either at the university or Dallas in general?)
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There is a member who posts on the Big Merit thread mentioned earlier who had two sons go through UT Dallas, and both are super successful and doing well. She’s got some good insight – go check that out.
My daughter also applied to UT Dallas – it was the only one of the full-ride NMF scholarships that really made sense for her. We did look at quite a few of them.
We haven’t visited – I wanted to take her to an open house soon, but she has too much going on this fall. After she gets acceptances in hand, we’ll plan on going to an accepted students day.
I think the student body is fairly nerdy (which is a positive for my kid, lol) – the school itself has a good reputation. I’ve heard that there are a large number of commuters, and I’m not sure if/how that changes the vibe of the student body. Mine is heavily into marching and pep band, and even if it’s not a full-on rah-rah sports school, she’ll want to see if there is enough school spirit to justify being in a pep band.
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thank you! yes, I read the prior review. what is your daughter studying? we are looking at visiting in October.
She applied for Media Arts and Design – she wants to do UX/UI type stuff and some game design. What about your kiddo?
If you do make it out there in October, I would love to hear what you think!
My son is interested in accounting/PPA or electrical engineering, so we will visit both faculties when we are out there, I will keep you posted.
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I believe the poster is @3scoutsmom . Paging her.
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3scoutsmom here! For those considering UTD please feel free to check out my prior UTD NM posts. I’m happy to answer any questions. If you are considering UTD as a NM scholar please try to attend one of their Scholar’s Days, you do need to register for the event but you’ll get your registration fee waved if you go. Scholars' Day
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Thank you for sharing your kids’ experiences very helpful. We will plan on visiting in October and may have more questions. FYI to those applying, UTD were willing to waive the application fee for NMSF. They told us to complete the application but skip paying the fee and to email them to continue processing the application.
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Well, shoot – my D26 already applied and paid the fee! 
We made that mistake with the first kiddo too, and no they won’t refund it. In the grand scheme of things it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what you’ll be saving!
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full list of NMSF is out on reddit! crazy some kids still have not got their letter to login.
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can you share a link to the texas lists
Here is the Reddit thread I saw –
@Eleileen My D26 just got her letter today from her college counselor. Counselor claimed the school just got the information yesterday, but the letter is dated August 26, so I suspect it got buried on someone’s desk. But she can work on the application this weekend – and then meet with the counselor on Monday to make sure it’s all squared away.
Woohoo! We got our letter on time but our counselor is brand new as a HS counselor, so I am telling my son to get his application done asap so I can remind the counselor to get his part done. We are STILL waiting on counselor letter/report for common app requested beginning of August! We are low-grade looking at applying for TAMU and looking into their Brown scholarship but the size of the university is a bit overwhelming for my son and their school spirits seems excellent but also a bit too much for my quiet, nerdy, non ra-ra kid. I am curious which other universities did you visit/look into? We are looking at going to Tulsa as well by Oct/Nov as a backup plan for a scholarship (& visit is required for that.) Alabama looks enticing for its 5 year scholarship & potential law school but location and distance has put it lower on our list.
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I’d recommend you look into UT Dallas as well. Their NM scholarship is a full ride for 8 semesters. Because of AP/DE credits from high school, combined with UTD’s Fast Track program, both my boys were able to complete both their BS and masters degrees fully cover by their scholarship.
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Unfortunately, D26 doesn’t have another school on her list that offers the big NMSF scholarship like UTD or Tulsa or Alabama.
We live in Atlanta, and most kids here are aiming for a big SEC school. She wants something that is the opposite of southern sorority culture – she couldn’t be less interested in that vibe. And then, she wants to join marching or pep band, and Alabama’s band is just too much – too big, too competitive, too much commitment. She really doesn’t want to go there.
Plus, she’s looking for a niche major that isn’t offered most places. Alabama doesn’t really have anything for her. Which is too bad – because their scholarship really is fantastic, and I know they attract NMSF from all over the country because of it.
Tulsa has a major that is maybe tangential to what she wants, and they do have a small marching band that would be good. But she doesn’t want a school that small, either, and she has no interest in being in Tulsa. I was even trying to talk it up by saying that’s where S.E. Hinton (the author of The Outsiders) went, but nope, she doesn’t even want to explore it.
The schools are on her list are Georgia Tech (in-state for us, free tuition with good state merit), RIT, WPI, Miami Ohio (an outlier in terms of environment, but the Emerging Tech program is really attractive), Pitt (an outlier in general, band is prob too big, but she likes the programs and loves the idea of being in Pittsburgh), and UTD.
We’re hoping she will be selected to interview for the full-ride scholarship at Miami Ohio – her stats are well above average there. She does have a $96K scholarship already at RIT that was awarded when she was a junior – but the school will still be at least $50K a year. WPI gives good merit to women, as far as I’ve heard, but we’ll see. I think Pitt is stingy with merit.
She would not consider Texas A&M (I didn’t know they had a big scholarship) just from size alone, both of the school and the band, I’m pretty sure.
So that’s where we are. We’re lucky enough to be able to pay for whichever school she chooses – right now she’s most interested in RIT and Miami Ohio – but ohhh it would be nice if she’d choose UTD! She’s willing to look.
(Also, my D22 is applying to UTD for grad school, so it would be crazy – and awesome – if they ended up at the same place.)
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