Ok, first of all, I have to give you a huge round of applause for your NMF and getting a full scholarship to a 4 year university.
THAT is what you should be bragging about and celebrating.
TRUST me on this…in 4-ish years when you’ve graduated and have ZERO college student loans to pay off, all of the other students out there who attended Expensive University X will be VERY envious of the freedom you will have. You’ll have a lot more freedom than they will because you won’t have huge student loans to pay off. No $200,000-$250,000 of loans to pay off. It’s a massive weight off of one’s shoulders.
As a result, when you are applying to jobs & looking for employment, you’ll have the freedom to go ahead and take, perhaps, a slightly lower paying entry level job because it’s in your chosen field doing exactly what you want to do. In turn, the students with massive amounts of college loans to pay off will not have as much freedom in the job hunt as you will.
So when people ask you if you got into Expensive & Elite University X, don’t hang your head in shame. Put on your game face and tell them, “No, I didn’t get in there. And Other Expensive & Elite Universities Y and Z rejected me, too. But you know what’s really great? I got a full ride scholarship to University ___ thanks to my NMF. Did you know whtat University __ has this great program in insertfunfactoidhere? I’m so excited and I can’t wait for this fall!”