<p>^So, then it’s possible to wait until college acceptances are received before we designate a #1 choice?</p>
<p>Entirely okay to do that. I ended up changing my first choice a couple times. I think the last day you can change your first choice is around May 30</p>
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<p>Yes, but there may be conditions. Once there is a NMSC deadline which is final, you have to designate the college before that deadline. Here is the deadline for NMSC for 2010, 2011 will be similar.</p>
<p>*Schedule specific to college-sponsored awards:</p>
<p>March 1 through May 31, 2010: A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as first choice by March 1 will be included in the first group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration. Periodically NMSC will notify sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college or university as their first choice.</p>
<p>April 28, 2010: NMSC will begin mailing college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers.
NOTE: If NMSC receives notification of a change in college choice from a Finalist after mailing a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship offer to that student, the Finalist cannot be offered another college-sponsored Merit Scholarship award. This applies even if the new choice of college is one that also sponsors Merit Scholarship awards. Therefore, a Finalist who has previously reported a sponsor college as first choice but is uncertain about it may choose to notify NMSC that he/she is now “undecided”; such notification must be received at NMSC, via mail or by fax to (847) 866-5113, before April 28. The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.</p>
<p>May 31, 2010: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as first choice. Because it is necessary to end the competition in a timely manner, only college choice reports that NMSC receives by May 31 will be used to identify the final group of candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards.*</p>
<p>The second is the college specified deadline. Some colleges require you to specify them at the # 1 choice at date earlier than the NMSC deadline. In that case, the college can refuse to give you the scholarship if you do not comply.</p>
<p>In most cases, you can wait for all acceptances till you make the decision. If you have a specific college in mind, check their rules and then decide an appropriate strategy. You can always designate your first choice college and if you do not get in there, change it to a second choice college, as the long the second choice college has not passed.</p>
<p>The really important thing is that IF you get a corporate or NM scholarship award, be sure to designate the school you are attending so they know where to send the money!</p>
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<p>Some Corporate sponsors like Boeing have their own application process, so if you are eligible for a corporate scholarship, make sure you know the rules and follow that.</p>
<p>^^My daughter was lucky; her corporate award was non-competitive.</p>
<p>Bill Gates was a NM Boeing Scholar.</p>
<p>Some companies require that the parents fill out a form during the student’s junior year to be eligible for a corporate scholarship. Northrop required that.</p>
<p>I think that my husband looked into it senior year through his personnel office. I am hoping now that we didn’t need to renew anything to get it this year. Hmmm.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Are you talking about an existing NMF corp scholarship?</p>
<p>For my older son’s Northrop corporate NMF scholarship, we have to send a form in every year to renew. My younger son has the special NMF corporate scholarship and we have to send transcripts for that each year.</p>
<p>But during their junior year of high school, we had to register them into the corporate competition since the company only awards 50 and it’s a big company.</p>
<p>I was talking about the existing scholarship. I better get DH on that one. I love to give him chores.</p>
<p>if you are named a semifinalist, what holds you back from being considered a “finalist”? It seems all but 2,000 or so of the semifinalists advance to finalist status</p>
<p>To go from NMSF to NMF…</p>
<p>1) keep your nose clean at school - you need the rec</p>
<p>2) Take the SAT by Dec and have score sent to NMCorp - code 0085
(Typically a score over 2000 is considered good enough - altho some with scores of 1950 have reported making NMF.)</p>
<p>3) Receive the NMSF paperwork in September. Follow all the directions, write a nice essay, and return paperwork to school before the due date.</p>
<p>4) Check with school to make sure paperwork is submitted on time to NMCorp.</p>
<p>5) Keep your GPA strong at school; the school sends your transcript to NMCorp with your paperwork.</p>
<p>6) Don’t fret about picking #1 choice for college. That can be decided in late winter/early spring - depending on school’s deadline.</p>
<p>The kids who don’t make NMF after being named NMSF typically cause that to happen by…</p>
<p>1) bad behavior at school</p>
<p>2) poor academic performance (GPA issues)</p>
<p>3) didn’t do the paperwork, did it incorrectly, or submitted it too late.</p>
<p>4) wrote a rude/poor essay.</p>
<p>5) didn’t take the SAT, didn’t send score to NMCorp, and/or didn’t have a good SAT score (typically a score over 2000 is considered “safe.”)</p>
<p>If you receive a rejection letter stating that you didn’t make NMF, you can appeal. Some appeals have been successful.</p>
<p>Any questions…feel free to call NMCorp - they’re very nice on the phone.</p>
<p>Nat’l Merit Corp 847-866-5100</p>
<p>oh cool, thank you very much! I’m just gnna keep praying my 220 in CA holds up… when are the cutoffs usually released?</p>
<p>^^^Schools will be notified in late August, though some schools may not notify the students until early Sept. So you will know somewhere in that period and check CC also, a thread to keep track of scores will be there and that may you give some early information.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>mt…you should be ok…</p>
<p>I don’t think CA has ever gone to 220, much less 221.</p>
<p>What about WA? I have a 218…</p>
<p>218 in WA is a pretty good bet; cutoff last three years was 217,217,215. It is unlikely to jump to 219.</p>
<p>Do I need to send my SAT scores to NMCorp in order for them to name me as a semifinalist/finalist?</p>
<p>Yes, you will send your SAT scores to NM as part of the application for finalist AFTER you are name semi-finalist.</p>