It has been years since I last posted but I seem to recall that your DD was a bit like mine - into art and writing. Even if she doesn't have too many creds yet, she still has almost a year to add to her resume/cv. That can open up more merit money opportunities, especially if she can present as both woman in STEM and humanities. From her early action applications, DD17 has full-ride merit at a top 10 public university as well as either full-ride or about tuition equivalent (awaiting decision) at our state flagship. However, she will likely select her SCEA (single choice early action) school (one of the HYPSM) instead because they offered her a financial aid package that was far more generous than FAFSA indicated so still affordable even if not free.
As for NMSF schools, the ones that select through National Merit Corp require that you indicate that school as your first choice, which would eliminate the chance for the general $2,500 scholarship. Others like the highly ranked Georgia Tech, also require that you apply early (like November 1st?) to be in the running for their most prestigious merit scholarships. By the time that DS17 noticed that, it would have been too rushed so he did not apply even though that would have been a good safety/match for him. Some schools, like UT-Dallas actually has rolling admission and was still sending letters offering automatic full-ride in January - DS17 was tempted until our state flagship scholarship letter arrived. Your DD will be innundated by offers from a number of colleges in Texas, Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma. Off tbe top of my head, ASU and OSU seem to offer full rides but they weren't listed officially so on the National Merit website.
