<p>Hi,
If I win the National Merit Scholar award, in other words the overall winner in the United States. Will this automatically get me a full ride to Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, UPenn and Harvard, or any school I want to go to???</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Uhhh, do they even have that, an overall winner for the country?</p>
<p>Nope. The school has to accept the National Merit Scholarship first, because not all of them will give you money for it. And even then, usually it’s not a full ride. My friend got like 5000 for it at her school. Which is a lot of $, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not a full ride.</p>
<p>nope. I won the National Meric scholar award for last year and all they gave me was 2500 dollars that is subtracted from my financial aid anyways.</p>
<p>Some lower level schools WILL give you nice scholarships if you are a winner and you attend, but not the top elites</p>
<p>None of the Ivy League schools award any pure merit-based scholarships at all. It’s all need-based. Your package from any of those schools depends on you and your parent’s income and assets (and thus your EFC from your FAFSA) more so than anything else.</p>
<p>Yeah…and MIT doesn’t award merit $ either…how sad. :(</p>
<p>Right, the same applies for MIT. Cal Tech, on the other hand, does offer merit-based aid, but winning NMS isn’t gonna put you over the edge just by itself.</p>
<p>I also didn’t know any one person could “win” NMS.</p>
<p>hehehehe, this just made me laugh…</p>
<p>Well, theres only one explanation…you must be the first ever all time national merit grand prize winner!! Congratulations!! lol. </p>
<p>You should try looking into some of the florida public universities…I know they are big on recruiting national merit scholars.</p>
<p>for an ivy no. For many state schools, probably. They may even pay you money to go there.</p>
<p>My friend goes to Arizona on a full ride from national merit. not anywhere else though</p>
<p>Nope. I believe only a little. Not FULL. Full rides to Ivey’s require something AMAZING. E.G. Nobel Award Winner- Prospects. HAha jk =]</p>
<p>The Ivy League awards 99% of its financial aid purely based on need. So it depends on your financial situation and less on your credentials.</p>
<p>However, you might be able to get nice scholarships with less-prestigious (but not less good) schools.</p>
<p>If by 99% you mean 100%, then yes. The Ivy League does not offer any merit aid, period.</p>
<p>If you get the National Merit Scholarship and attend an Ivy, you’ll get $2,500.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.tumr.com/view/?id=20&app=college]Nash[/url”>http://www.tumr.com/view/?id=20&app=college]Nash[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Not <em>entirely</em> true. I’m willing to bet Ivies are a bit more likely to give out extra grants (instead of loans) to the people they really want to come. Vagelos Scholars at U Penn have no loans, for example.</p>
<p>Duke isnt giving me anything in addition to $2500 standard. vanderbilt matches $5000 worth. the rest of the ‘prestigious’ institutions offer less. only a business sponsored scholarship would give u a full ride, and the number of those is VERY limited.</p>
<p>however, many schools w/o such an amount of prestige give out major awards. i got a letter from ohio state university offering $20,000 per year, while Miami offered me in-state tuition and $5000 per year. although i turned them down :)</p>
<p>“If you get the National Merit Scholarship and attend an Ivy, you’ll get $2,500.”</p>
<p>Wrong!</p>
<p>Ivy’s don’t participate in the National Merit Scholarship program. </p>
<p>OP - you should go to the National Merit Scholarship program site and read about the program, and see which schools participate.</p>
<p>nash was referring to the scholarship (~1500-2500 are given out, I think) awarded by the National Merit Corporation. Those $2500 scholarships can be used at any school, including Ivies. NM Corporate scholarships (if your parents work for a company that offers them) can be used at any school as well.</p>
<p>2boysima - I’m at Yale and I got $2,500 from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. I don’t know what else to tell you.</p>
<p>Warblers - If you explain your financial situation in greater depth (e.g., write a letter explaining things) then the Ivies will consider your need through that lense. Otherwise, no, there is not extra money sitting around for people. Do you think our athletics would otherwise be so pathetic?</p>
<p>I certainly won’t argue with you there! I do think top schools are in an arms race in terms of financial aid, though. This makes for an interesting read. It’s an old article, and colleges have stepped it up since (especially after that demonstration outside Yale’s FA office last year, eh?). </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/2001/02/13/p11s1.htm[/url]”>http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/2001/02/13/p11s1.htm</a></p>
<p>Michelle_b- The National Merit scholarship is relatively small, but Ivies are excellent at matching your need. When you win outside scholarships, they replace the loan portion of your financial aid package. Thus, $5-6,000 in scholarship money per year could end up saving you A LOT of money down the road. Applying for outside scholarships would be a very good idea.</p>