By Ad II u d I c r
w
lAJ a nte-u
men!
anted: Merit scholars. Large
land-grant institution looking to
improve its image wants to re
cruit young bright students.
Natives. Out-of-state folk. Black
orwhite. We NEED merit scholars.
Despite a growing competition
between universities for merit scho
lars, Lisa Schmidt sits calmly in her
207 Administration Building office.
On the coffee table in front of her
rests a scattered pile of promotional
booklets f or U N L that would answer
just about any question a prospec
tive student could muster.
This is mission control for merit
scholar recruiting at UNL.
It's an important room for UNL
nowadays. Schools nationwide are
increasingly competing for the coun
try's few merit scholars. And while
UNL ranks 44th out of about 400
universities nationwide, new figures
from the National Merit Scholar
ship Corp. shed some light on the
subject UNL is losing out on
some of the smarts. UNL officials
say they know it, and have been
taking steps to attract more scho
lars. U N L had a 1 3 percent decrease in
merit scholars for 1985, compared
to 1983-84 figures. This year about
140 merit scholars are enrolled in
freshman through senior classes.
That's a decrese from the 1983-84
peak of 162. The numbers have
caught Schmidt's and other admin
istrators attention;
Schmidt and some high school
counselors attribute this 13 percent
decrease to two things increasing
competition between universities for
merit scholars and students' beliefs
that they can get a better education
elsewhere.
Schmidt says competition tops
the list.
The new surge to draw merit
scholars began about five years ago
when Trinity University in Texas
decided to start actively recruiting .
merit scholars, Schmidt said. Sev
eral schools followed suit. But UNL,
long been the number-one choice
for most Nebraska merit scholars,
just started actively recruiting about
five years ago, Schmidt said.
"We've been trying to play catch
up," she said. "We took a lot of
students for granted that we can't
anymore."
Nancy Giles, director of public
affairs in the National Merit Scho
lar office in Evanston, 111., also says
universities are "very competitive"
in luring students, and that the
number of schools competing in the
merit scholars program grows every
day. UNL joined the program in
1981-82.
Planning for U N L's merit recruit
ing program began about two years
ago, but won't take root until this
fall when a new honors program
begins. It's too early to gauge how
effective the recruiting will be,
Schmidt said.
That program will try to create a
sense of academic atmosphere that
Lincoln East High School senior
merit scholar Robert Chen says he
can't find at UNL. He says he and
some of his other merit-scholar
friends think it's a good school but
that it lacks the academic serious
ness found at more "prestigious,
selective" universities like Stanford
or Harvard. UNL offered Chen a
four-year Regents' scholarship, all
tuition paid. Stanford has offered
to pay him $1 1,000 a year, meaning
he'll have to cough up an extra
$8,000 himself. He's willing to do it.
Schmidt said the new honors
program should help create a com
munity of scholars and stimulate
students' minds.
In addition, UNL used to wait for
a list of merit scholar finalists before
V CCS V
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sending out information about the
university. Today they start earlier
and buy a list of potential merit
scholars from Nebraska and nine
surrounding states.
Then the mail barrage begins.
Merit hopefuls are sent under
graduate class bulletins, a UNL
information booklet, a letter from
the honors program and separate
letters from various college deans.
Finalists get a hand-signed letter
from UNL Chancellor Martin Mas
sengale, a banquet, and an engraved
dictionary, compliments of the
Alumni Association, Schmidt said.
Still, the competition is tough.
Iowa State University and the Uni
versity of Kansas have been strong
recruiters in the Lincoln-Omaha
area, she said. Even schools like
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