UA leads state schools in attracting honors students

It's a race to attract the most National Merit and Flinn scholars - and the University of Arizona is winning.

"The UA has a long tradition of having strong academic departments," said Patricia MacCorquodale, Honors Center dean. "It's the academic reputation and the caliber of particular programs (that attracts students)."

The University of Arizona boasted nine Flinn scholars and 59 National Merit scholars in last fall's freshman class, outnumbering Arizona State University's eight Flinn and 49 National Merit Scholars. ASU has about 13,000 more students than the UA's 34,000.

Northern Arizona University had the lowest numbers, with eight National Merit and no Flinn Scholars. It also holds the lowest enrollment of the state schools with about 19,000 students.

Attracting the top students, especially National Merit scholars, is important because it enhances a university's reputation, MacCorquodale said.

"It (National Merit scholars) is one of the measures of quality undergraduates," she added. "It gives us publicity on a national level."

ASU Admissions Counselor Ivy Bohnlein said the race for top-ranked Flinn recipients is "not necessarily a competition," but that National Merit students are important because they have affect national rankings.

"We're not comparing ourselves to UA as much as we're comparing ourselves to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and other schools," Bohnlein said. "It's more important to us that everyone knows the advantages of staying in state."

The National Merit scholarships are given annually to about 7,000 high school seniors based on PSAT scores, and can be used in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. The National Merit and Flinn scholarships offer students a full-ride to universities.

Flinn scholarships are given annually to about 20 Arizona high school seniors based on class rank, test scores and interviews, and can be used at any of the three state universities.

NAU academic adviser Tamela Hyatt said NAU's low numbers are due to a lack of active recruitment of Flinn and National Merit scholars before last year.

"There is more attention being paid to us this year. We're trying hard to get the word out there," Hyatt said. "ASU and UA can offer more money, (but) we have just as good of an educational opportunity."

MacCorquodale said UA generally recruits top scholars through academic program meetings and mailings.

"It's good for Arizona schools to keep top students in state," she said.