My DD has been accepted into TAMU Engineering (Comp science) and has been offered Brown Scholarship which basically would make it full ride.
I have read about how the brown scholarship has its own name recognition and prestige. Can anyone chime in with recent experience with Brown scholarship ?
The full ride is a big pull for us but we dont want to take any hasty decision and want to make sure the Brown scholarship is a good one.
Youâd be CRAZY to turn down the Brown!
It is ALL THAT and then some.
Basically a Golden Ticket!
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Following this thread
Are you biomedical ?
You get a 10 week internship at Houston Methodist. In general internships donât come east so thatâs a plum.
The only downside, if any, are the gpa requirements to maintain. But kids do. I first learned about this a year or two ago. Iâm not an insider but it seems pretty unreal - beyond most full rides.
A&M is a great name without soâŚthis only makes it better.
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No, computer science engineering but scholarship includes a fully paid UK leadership trip in summer, honors engineering, and study abroad opportunity
Check on the internship. Maybe itâs at the Houston Methodist but in your area.
The trips are great. But not a deal breaker
But the internship is the gold. Thatâs critical.
Congrats and good luck.
We have a friend, current Jr at A&M-double majoring in Business Honors & Acct-who is a Brown Scholar.
Trust me, itâs a truly phenomenal program!
Golden ticket, all doors will be opened.
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My child is comp sci major and was given the same scholarship. So far we are leaning towards taking but we are waiting for some other results and to see if there are any admissions to honors programs. I have been very impressed with the foundation and TAMU. It was not even a school on the kids radar until they changed the ETAM process for NMF. Good luck to your daughter on her decision.
quick question please: TAMU application opens in August but we donât get notified from National Merit until sometime in September. We would like to be in the running for the Brown Scholar. I was curious if it made sense to apply after DD has been named a NMS? Donât anticipate any issues based on her scores. thanks for any advice!
It NEVER pays to wait for anything at A&MâŚespecially when submitting application.
Student needs to plan to submit the first week in August. Even if they donât make NMSF or Brown, they want to be in the 1st round of acceptance, to get earliest admission so they can pay housing deposit.
Apply by August 8th (hundreds will apply at 12:01 a.m. August 1stâŚI personally think thatâs overkill), but definitely apply the first week in August. Line up teacher recommendations now, have transcript and test scores ready, start working on essay.
Since test scores strongly indicate NMSF, I suggest working with a college guidance person, to make sure application is Top Notch. The Brown Foundation doesnât play around-they select the best of the best, and selection is way more than just test scores. Application needs to SHINE!
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My kid applied after the priority deadline and is an incoming Brown Scholar but I wouldnât suggest it. We had a lot of trouble getting them accepted to engineering by as quick as friends since the application took awhile to process and went after early deadline for engineering. We didnât realize the priority deadline for Brown was earlier then the early action A&M engineering deadline. We did not know much about Brown but are blown away by the opportunities it is going to offer. We really did get lucky they were picked to interview and awarded the scholarship.
My child had a very perfected common app essay and kind of reworded that for the scholarship essay. It was very engineering focused and a very niche topic that fit that prompt perfectly that may have helped get the application noticed for Brown past the priority deadline. I think there is somewhere on the application where it asks if you think will be named a national merit semifinalist.
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Hmmm, never considered hiring a college guidance person. Do you happen to recommend anyone? Appreciate the reply and advice. We do need a little help with the essays. It is overwhelming a bit!
Not sure where you live? Google âcollege guidance counselorâ and see what pops up. Also ask school counselor & English teacher if they recommend anyone.
It will be 
well spent, especially with high scores (and potentially NMSF!) Just helps to have an extra set of eyes- someone to proof all spelling, make sure all needed items required are submitted, knows how housing deposits work at every school, scholarships & honors programs to apply for (and if there are additional links to submit- i.e. Brown Foundation), help to organize thoughts for essays, etc. A professional can also suggest schools that give hefty (or full ride!) scholarships for NMSF, that you may not be aware of.
Start this search & application process asapâď¸Needs to be a fulltime job this summer, ready to submit everything (for all schools) in August. Once senior year starts, life gets hectic & crazy.
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As others have suggested, I wouldnât wait to apply. My daughter (NMF and Brown Scholar, starting in the Fall) applied on the first day the Common App opened. She listed âProbable National Merit Semifinalistâ in the Honor section of the CA. Once she received the NMSF letter, she uploaded it to her A&M AIS portal (which you get after your CA application is processed).
This website also says â Their names will be sent to regionally accredited four-year U.S. colleges and universities.â So if you are in the Texas area, your studentâs name would be sent to TAMU if they became a NMSF.
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=1881
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We are out of state! Appreciate all the advice. We are working on her essays now and plan to get it submitted that first week in August!
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