Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:32     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.

Wow that means those 50 colleges got 65% of the winners. When you factor in the top LAC students, it pretty much supports the idea that top stats students get into a top college or get big merit aid (Alabama, etc.) despite the rhetoric you hear otherwise.


How so, I mean 50 colleges is quite a large range and it still leaves 35% to go elsewhere. And some of these on this list are sort of middle range schools that may offer some merit aid.


4000 colleges.

50 (about 1% of them) get 65% of NMS.

More when you account for top lacs since this list is by volume.

You don’t find that statistically significant?

Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:31     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:31     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
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


UChicago no longer sponsors NMS

Likewise for Northwestern
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:30     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.


Harvard, MIT, Yale, Rice, Amherst, Princeton and similar top schools type doesn't offer any merit scholarships.


Winners who attend a non sponsored college can get $2500 for use at any college. My kid won and used it at an ivy.


Was your kid an URM, low SES, first gen, recruited athlete or legacy? What was your kid's hook?
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:30     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.


Harvard, MIT, Yale, Rice, Amherst, Princeton and similar top schools type doesn't offer any merit scholarships.


Winners who attend a non sponsored college can get $2500 for use at any college. My kid won and used it at an ivy.

They can, but not all of them will. NMSC only awards 2500 of these types of scholarships out of the 14k-ish finalists.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:28     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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%]


1.




Any college buying them with merit scholarships doesn't count, kids didn't choose it, their circumstances made the decision.


What? NMS scholarship money (and often full rides) means that poor kids can get a robust college education for free and it changes the fortunes of families. I wish more colleges would give the merit scholarships. NMS does not have deep pockets.

Also, many top colleges do not take NMS scholars because they unfortunately happen to be high performing Asian-Americans. So it is fantastic that these colleges are giving them the NMS scholarship and acknowledging that their achievements was not in vain.

Also, many corporations also sponsor NMS scholarships for their employee's children.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:22     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.


Harvard, MIT, Yale, Rice, Amherst, Princeton and similar top schools type doesn't offer any merit scholarships.


Winners who attend a non sponsored college can get $2500 for use at any college. My kid won and used it at an ivy.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:22     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:22     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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%]


1.


Do you mind sharing the source OP? Spent sometime Googling and could not find it.

TIA!
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:20     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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


UChicago no longer sponsors NMS
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:17     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:13     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.

Wow that means those 50 colleges got 65% of the winners. When you factor in the top LAC students, it pretty much supports the idea that top stats students get into a top college or get big merit aid (Alabama, etc.) despite the rhetoric you hear otherwise.


How so, I mean 50 colleges is quite a large range and it still leaves 35% to go elsewhere. And some of these on this list are sort of middle range schools that may offer some merit aid.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:10     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.


Harvard, MIT, Yale, Rice, Amherst, Princeton and similar top schools type doesn't offer any merit scholarships.


This is important to note, and counters what the other PP stated, about who gets chosen.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:09     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Winners or finalists here?


Winners chosen from the finalists.


Harvard, MIT, Yale, Rice, Amherst, Princeton and similar top schools type doesn't offer any merit scholarships.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2024 11:05     Subject: Colleges enrolling the most National Merit Scholarship winners
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%]


1.




Any college buying them with merit scholarships doesn't count, kids didn't choose it, their circumstances made the decision.