Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 2 kinds of NMS in college. Some colleges do not sponsor NMS, so that all NMS number in the list are those of 2500 chosen by college board. Other colleges sponsor NMS, which means that all NM finalist in their student body were sponsored to be NMS. Obviously, the former means more. It is easy to check the 2 kinds of colleges by googling if the college sponsor national merit scholarship, or get it directly from college board.
Of the colleges not sponsor NMS, the T10 list looks like following, either elite or heavily STEM:

Harvard
MIT
Penn
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Duke
Berkeley
GIT
UT Austin

Among the colleges that do sponsor, there is a huge difference in how much and who is eligible. For example, UF gives a full ride but only to in-state students. I believe Alabama is open to in or out of state students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First is the raw number; then adjusted for percentage of enrolled freshmen to account for undergraduate size. Some schools like Alabama and ASU offer full scholarships to winners so you will see a large number at these institutions.


1. Alabama 323 [8,279 Freshmen, 3.9%]
2. Florida 297 [6,612 Freshmen 4.4%]
3. USC 262 [3,402 Freshmen, 7.7%]
4. Purdue 260 [9,353 Freshmen, 2.7%]
5. UT Dallas 232 [4,218 Freshmen, 5.5%]
6. Texas A&M 219 [12,419 Freshmen, 1.7%]
7. Vanderbilt 185 [1,624 Freshmen, 11.3%]
8. Harvard 160 [1,644 Freshmen, 9.7%]
9. MIT 154 [1,136 Freshmen, 13.5%]
10. Penn 147 [2,415 Freshmen, 6%]
11. UMD 144 [5,821 Freshmen, 2.5%]
12. Stanford 129 [1,733 Freshmen, 7.4%]
13. Yale 127 [1,554 Freshmen, 8%]
14. Princeton 116 [1,497 Freshmen, 7.7%]
15. Northeastern 97 [2,519 Freshmen, 3.9%]
16. Duke 94 [1,744 Freshmen, 5.3%]
17. UC Berkeley 93 [6,707 Freshmen, 1.4%]
18. Georgia Tech 90 [3,646 Freshmen, 2.5%]
19. UCF 85 [7,512 Freshmen, 1.1%]
20. UT Austin 85 [9,109 Freshmen, .9%]
21. Oklahoma 84
22. Minnesota 79
23. BU 77 [3,635 Freshmen, 2.1%]
24. UCLA 77 [6,461 Freshmen, 1.2%]
25. USF 77 [6,773 Freshmen, 1.1%]
26. Michigan 76 [7,050 Freshmen, 1%]
27. Columbia 75 [1,522 Freshmen, 4.9%]
28. Northwestern 75 [2,038 Freshmen, 3.7%]
29. Brown 69 [1,717 Freshmen, 4%]
30. Emory 67 [1,424 Freshmen, 4.7%]
31. Indiana 67 [9,736 Freshmen, .7%]
32. Arizona 65 [9,069 Freshmen, .7%]
33. Tufts 63 [1,694 Freshmen, 3.7%]
34. ASU 62 [10,022 Freshmen, .6%]
35. Georgia 60 [6,250 Freshmen, 1%]
36. BYU 59 [5,567 Freshmen, 1%]
37. Georgetown 56 [1,603 Freshmen, 3.5%]
38. Case Western 55 [1,553 Freshmen, 3.5%]
39. Cornell 54 [3,491 Freshmen, 1.5%]
40. Rice 51 [1,201 Freshmen, 4.3%]
41. Dartmouth 49 [1,124 Freshmen, 4.4%]
42. Michigan State 49 [9,829 Freshmen .5%]
43. Johns Hopkins 48 [1,406 Freshmen 3.4%]
44. UChicago 48 [2,053 Freshmen, 2.3%]
45. Carnegie Mellon 47 [1,716 Freshmen, 2.7%]
46. Clemson 45 [4,588 Freshmen, .99%]
47. Missouri 45 [4,983 Freshmen, .9%]
48. NYU 44 [6,184 Freshmen, .7%]
49. Miss State 43 [3,367 Freshmen, 1.2%]
50. Rutgers 43 [7,780 Freshmen, .5%]
51. UNC 40 [4,689 Freshmen, .8%]
52. Illinois 39 [8,297 Freshmen, .5%]
53. Oklahoma State 36 [4,643 Freshmen, .7%]
54. Iowa State 35
55. UVA 35 [4,020 Freshmen, .9%]

UMD is pretty awesome. They sponsor 1K per year (for 4 years) as NMS scholarship for their accepted NMS Finalists. Even NMSC does not give this much $.

However, UT Dallas is another level of money and privileges for any kid who is an NMS Finalist. They are given full ride (room, board, tuition), stipend, internships and research jobs, and money for a semester abroad. Also, their admissions deadline is May.

You really think 1k is generous? UMD doesn’t offer much IMO. My NMF went out of state because UMD didn’t offer much merit.

[Anonymous]

Can someone rearrange by percentage

[Anonymous]

By percentage:

Why is NYU so low?


1. MIT 13.5%
2. Vanderbilt 11.3%
3. Harvard 9.7%
4. Yale 8%
5. USC 7.7%
6. Princeton 7.7%
7. Stanford 7.4%
8. Penn 6%
9. UT Dallas 5.5%
10. Duke 5.3%
11. Columbia 4.9%
12. Emory 4.7%
13. Dartmouth 4.4%
14. Florida 4.4%
15. Rice 4.3%
16. Brown 4%
17. Alabama 3.9%
18. Northeastern 3.9%
19. Northwestern 3.7%
20. Tufts 3.7%
21. Case Western 3.5%
22. Georgetown 3.5%
23. Johns Hopkins 3.4%
24. Carnegie Mellon 2.7%
25. Georgia Tech 2.5%
26. UMD 2.5%
27. UChicago 2.3%
28. Purdue 2.2%
29. BU 2.1%
30. Texas A&M 1.7%
31. Cornell 1.5%
32. UC Berkeley 1.4%
33. Miss State 1.2%
34. UCLA 1.2%
35. UCF 1.1%
36. USF 1.1%
37. BYU 1%
38. Georgia 1%
39. Michigan 1%
40. Clemson .9%
41. Missouri .9%
42. UT Austin .9%
43. UVA .9%
44. UNC .8%
45. Arizona .7%
46. Indiana .7%
47. NYU .7%
48. Ok State .7%
49. ASU .6%
50. Illinois .5%
51. Michigan State .5%'
52. Rutgers .5%

[Anonymous]

Nevemind NYU, why is Cornell so low? It is an outlier among the Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By percentage:

Why is NYU so low?


1. MIT 13.5%
2. Vanderbilt 11.3%
3. Harvard 9.7%
4. Yale 8%
5. USC 7.7%
6. Princeton 7.7%
7. Stanford 7.4%
8. Penn 6%
9. UT Dallas 5.5%
10. Duke 5.3%
11. Columbia 4.9%
12. Emory 4.7%
13. Dartmouth 4.4%
14. Florida 4.4%
15. Rice 4.3%
16. Brown 4%
17. Alabama 3.9%
18. Northeastern 3.9%
19. Northwestern 3.7%
20. Tufts 3.7%
21. Case Western 3.5%
22. Georgetown 3.5%
23. Johns Hopkins 3.4%
24. Carnegie Mellon 2.7%
25. Georgia Tech 2.5%
26. UMD 2.5%
27. UChicago 2.3%
28. Purdue 2.2%
29. BU 2.1%
30. Texas A&M 1.7%
31. Cornell 1.5%
32. UC Berkeley 1.4%
33. Miss State 1.2%
34. UCLA 1.2%
35. UCF 1.1%
36. USF 1.1%
37. BYU 1%
38. Georgia 1%
39. Michigan 1%
40. Clemson .9%
41. Missouri .9%
42. UT Austin .9%
43. UVA .9%
44. UNC .8%
45. Arizona .7%
46. Indiana .7%
47. NYU .7%
48. Ok State .7%
49. ASU .6%
50. Illinois .5%
51. Michigan State .5%'
52. Rutgers .5%

Your percentage listing will exclude the smaller schools that did not appear on the original raw number listing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:35 at UVA seems low.

Some states have considerably lower criteria for NMS -- VA, MD, DC always have very high bars--within the top 5.

MD threshold is higher than UVA, and UMD numbers are also higher than UVA.

[Anonymous]

Top 25 Private Schools

1. MIT
2. Vanderbilt
3. Harvard
4. Yale
5 USC
6. Princeton
7. Stanford
8. Penn
9. Duke
10. Columbia
11. Emory
12. Dartmouth
13. Rice
14. Brown
15. Northeastern
16. Northwestern
17. Tufts
18. Case Western
19. Georgetown
20. Johns Hopkins
21. Carnegie Mellon
22. UChicago
23. Boston University
24. Cornell
25. BYU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By percentage:

Why is NYU so low?


1. MIT 13.5%
2. Vanderbilt 11.3%
3. Harvard 9.7%
4. Yale 8%
5. USC 7.7%
6. Princeton 7.7%
7. Stanford 7.4%
8. Penn 6%
9. UT Dallas 5.5%
10. Duke 5.3%
11. Columbia 4.9%
12. Emory 4.7%
13. Dartmouth 4.4%
14. Florida 4.4%
15. Rice 4.3%
16. Brown 4%
17. Alabama 3.9%
18. Northeastern 3.9%
19. Northwestern 3.7%
20. Tufts 3.7%
21. Case Western 3.5%
22. Georgetown 3.5%
23. Johns Hopkins 3.4%
24. Carnegie Mellon 2.7%
25. Georgia Tech 2.5%
26. UMD 2.5%
27. UChicago 2.3%
28. Purdue 2.2%
29. BU 2.1%
30. Texas A&M 1.7%
31. Cornell 1.5%
32. UC Berkeley 1.4%
33. Miss State 1.2%
34. UCLA 1.2%
35. UCF 1.1%
36. USF 1.1%
37. BYU 1%
38. Georgia 1%
39. Michigan 1%
40. Clemson .9%
41. Missouri .9%
42. UT Austin .9%
43. UVA .9%
44. UNC .8%
45. Arizona .7%
46. Indiana .7%
47. NYU .7%
48. Ok State .7%
49. ASU .6%
50. Illinois .5%
51. Michigan State .5%'
52. Rutgers .5%

NYU is a rich kid school. NMS is based on merit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now do a list based on percentage of enrolled freshmen to account for undergraduate size. Then your smaller elite colleges will show up.

It does. And it pretty much shows what we expect it to show. The "better" colleges have more winners as a percentage of the undergrad enrollment.

Not really. A lot of the schools give full rides, including room and board, to winners. That’s what the numbers are high. Not because they are better schools. The “better” schools don’t need to give merit scholarships.

We need two lists - with/without merit scholarships. Is it just Ivy that don’t give merit?

[Anonymous]

And actual scores would be interesting since the threshold is different state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now do a list based on percentage of enrolled freshmen to account for undergraduate size. Then your smaller elite colleges will show up.

It does. And it pretty much shows what we expect it to show. The "better" colleges have more winners as a percentage of the undergrad enrollment.

Not really. A lot of the schools give full rides, including room and board, to winners. That’s what the numbers are high. Not because they are better schools. The “better” schools don’t need to give merit scholarships.

We need two lists - with/without merit scholarships. Is it just Ivy that don’t give merit?

Most T20s (heck, most T50s, with a few exceptions) do not give merit specifically for NMF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:35 at UVA seems low.

Some states have considerably lower criteria for NMS -- VA, MD, DC always have very high bars--within the top 5.

MD threshold is higher than UVA, and UMD numbers are also higher than UVA.

False. NEck and neck at 222 and 221 projected. https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

[Anonymous]

As the parent of a National Merit Scholarship finalist, my opinion is this is an utterly meaningless metric, other than singling out some of the schools that are willing to buy the attendance of some kids based on a PSAT score from Fall of junior year, factoring in what state they live in (since the selection index varies widely by state)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:35 at UVA seems low.

Some states have considerably lower criteria for NMS -- VA, MD, DC always have very high bars--within the top 5.

MD threshold is higher than UVA, and UMD numbers are also higher than UVA.

False. NEck and neck at 222 and 221 projected. https://www.compassprep.com/national-merit-semifinalist-cutoffs/

it is "higher". 222 > 221. That wasn't false.