Selection process for National Merit Finalists?

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by GoCUBS1

We toured some schools (Columbia, Penn, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Caltech) that had chemical engineering and music programs she’s interested in, and I believe several mentioned they do not award any merit aid at all. We have a few more schools she wants to look at. But maybe she won’t have access to National Merit $ for the college she chooses.

That's correct, the top schools don't offer any merit aid and the National Merit scholarship winners, which are very few and far between compared to finalists, don't get squat either.

However, financial aid based on household income can be substantial at those well endowed schools.

[MI-Roger]

Originally Posted by GoCUBS1

We toured some schools (Columbia, Penn, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Caltech) that had chemical engineering and music programs she’s interested in, and I believe several mentioned they do not award any merit aid at all. We have a few more schools she wants to look at. But maybe she won’t have access to National Merit $ for the college she chooses.

Look at University of Miami too. Our oldest went there. Beautiful campus, very helpful staff, fantastic Music Program. I don't know about their Chem-E program. Your daughter may have difficulty finding a school with a Music Program which will accept her if she is not a Music Major. Lots of programs are strangely particular regarding this, it seems to be all or nothing for Music Schools..


Also, if she does want to study Music in college she will need to audition for each school on her short list, playing only the pieces on that school's list of audition materials for the particular instrument. Music auditions are a truly humbling experience for many students. Your daughter will be competing against students who have had the judging Professors as their private tutors for years - not exactly a level playing field.


Our oldest studied Music Engineering at Miami on a Bass guitar scholarship; his degree was a hybrid of Music Performance, Audio Recording, and Electrical Engineering. He is now an I-P Lawyer specializing in electronics and audio reproduction devices.