True…but something is off with PSATs vs SATs because there are far more Presidential Scholars vs NMSFs. Presidential Scholars are like 1580+ SAT scores in one sitting (and then there are some of that get the designation for something other than SAT scores but it’s less than 5%). Do many kids not take the PSAT? |
The point is is that there are enough top academic students at a lot of colleges, to provide an academic peer group. No top academic kid will be held back or stifled by attending a school below that arbitrary T-50 designation. |
I would argue that the distribution of the 2500 NMS scholarships that are directly from NMSC and not awarded by a sponsoring school or by a corporation) may be a better correlate of “quality” than raw total scholarships. For example, Alabama is at the top of this list. But 271 of the 323 reported scholarships are from Alabama itself (84%). In contrast, for others (eg MIT, Harvard etc), that number is zero. If you express NMSC scholars as a % enrolled, the usual suspects will further show up at the top. |
It all depends what you are after in life. MIT spawns tons of student startups that attract VC and Alabama spawns almost none. So, sure…you may find your group that you find at your same intellect…but it’s clearly a different attitude towards life so the kid looking to create a great new company may feel quite stifled. |
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Most people don't realize how few high SAT scorers there are.
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| Brown, fit, loved there and Yale most. |
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There are about 16,000 NMSF (semi-finalists) per year.
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| My kids picked UMD due to merit |
You are ridiculous. No kid looking to create a new company will be stifled anywhere. If anything they are more likely to be actually stifled if surrounded by a bunch of people gunning for the exact same thing. Nearly every college we visited has an incubator lab funded by that college's alumni. A student at a small school may be in a much better position to get the funding they need before graduation. |
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Alabama - also accepted to the Blount Scholars program. 5 years paid!
Other schools we strongly considered for NMF packages: Oklahoma UT Dallas U Tulsa |
There are only 600+ US Presidential Scholar Semifinalists and 100+ Presidential Scholars in the country. |
| Many of the very smart kids are solely taking the ACT now. So they aren’t prepped or care at all about PSAT. It’s optional now at our private. |
My NMF loved his visit to UTD - was accepted to their ATEC program and liked the nerdy vibes on campus. It was ultimately his second choice and they do offer an amazing package. |
Oklahoma does have an amazing package - the only thing it lacks is covering housing all years. The NMF package only covers year 1. |
3.5 million take psat in 2024 2 million took sat in 2024 1.4 million took act in 2024 So you are dead wrong. Sorry. |