@pickpocket
My son’s corporate-award letter dated in mid-March last year says
I assume this is the same for the one-time $2500. It can also probably be changed later by calling NMSC for situations like acceptance of a spot from a waitlist.
Thanks @STEMFamily and @Themommymommy . This is helpful.
I think the most infuriating thing is a term like “college-sponsored Merit award” actually applies to two entirely different things with different rules and value and deadlines. I prefer ‘big money’ (college directly gives tuition or scholarships often $20K/yr) and ‘little money’ (NMSC direct ‘college-sponsored’ awards of $500-$2000 per year).
My only nagging doubt is something in Themommymommy’s quoted rules.
BU has Mar 1 deadline for naming it First Choice. Fine, Son has done this. It appears if he is accepted, he will receive notification of ‘big money’ merit scholarship in late March. It also appears that BU notifies NMSC of the scholarship: “After receiving the college’s report of its winner selections, NMSC will mail formal scholarship offers to the selected Finalists.”
I didn’t realize NMSC was involved in the ‘big money’ notifications, as this implies. Will NMSC continue allowing multiple First Choice changes in April after notifying of a scholarship offer as described above? Do we lose chances for other ‘big money’ or ‘little money’ scholarships from other institutions if awarded a BU scholarship in late March?
I appreciate any insight.
Has anyone received a NMF notification yet?
^I was about to submit the same example and question.
The thing is, BU (or any schools) could look over the students that list it as First Choice, decide how many NMF scholarships the school wants to award and simply reject all NMFs who are in excess of the number of scholarships decided upon. The students have no guarantee of admission, and in this scenario the NMF scholarship is lost.
The nomenclature is very confusing…I agree. I am not concerned about the $2500 awards. This would not be significant given the $65,000 COA.
@txstella that would be terrible to drive up applications by high stats kids who hope for the NMF scholarship, have them forego other potential scholarships, then deny them admission because in the end the school never really intended to pay out that many scholarships. Surely the admissions offices would not be so cruel. Seems like calling the school in question or maybe better yet emailing so you have it in writing might be the way to go given the early “first choice designation” deadline you are dealing with.
^ I agree. I need to ask exactly what it means to list a school as First Choice and the impact of this on the award of NMF scholarships.
@pickpocket, @Themommymommy both said
BU can notifiy NMSC as soon as they want but the timing of when NMSC will mail formal offers for (the small official NMSC) part is starting May 1st. Note that BU does not actually say WHEN NMSC will mail the scholarship offers but NMSC definitely does say starting May 1st in the paperwork all Finalists get.
This has nothing to do with that “big” part. Those funds come from BU directly. NMSC has nothing to do with it.
I got a 160 selection index. What does this mean? Good/Bad?
Admittedly this process is quite confusing. Here is another attempt to explain. Below, I am ONLY referring to the ($500 up to $2000/yr part of a college-sponsored scholarship officially administered through NMSC.
Starting March 1st and continuing periodically through May 31st, NMSC sends names of Finalists to the schools the students have chosen as First Choice. This is the only official confirmation that a school gets that their SemiFinalist applicants have become Finalists. (Some schools may ask for a copy of the Finalist certificate in advance of notification from NMSC). The school can do whatever they please with this list or the updates to the list. Some schools that do not promise all Finalist applicants a National Merit award may require earlier notification of First Choice than May 1st so they can decide which NMFs will get their award. Some schools may just do it by first come first served in the order they receive Finalist names. At any point between when they receive First Choice names until the end of May, the school communicates back to NMSC who they have chosen to receive their NMSC college-sponsored scholarship. In this time period, March 1 to April 30, NMSC does nothing with the list of names the colleges have chosen.
Beginning May 1st, NMSC starts compiling lists of Finalists who will receive a college-sponsored scholarship. Two things are required to trigger a mailing of a college-sponsored scholarship directly from NMSC to the Finalist:
- A Finalist has a First Choice school designated AND
- That Finalist’s name is on that sponsoring school’s list of chosen recipients.
This is what spurs an official college-sponsored offer. No official offers of the NMSC portion are made before May 1st. Once NMSC mails this offer (note it is when it is sent, not when the Finalist receives it that is important), this Finalist will not be able to get a different school’s college-sponsored scholarship if they change their First Choice or if they eventually enroll at a different sponsoring school. As long as a student is undecided on May 1st, they can change to a different school at any time before May 31st. (As long as the school itself abides by these dates. Many schools designate that a student must have them designated as First Choice on May 1st.)
Again, these comments only apply to the small part of a college-sponsored scholarship that is administered directly by NMSC. The schools themselves set their own rules for the larger scholarships that they fund themselves to package with the NMSC portion.
I’m not sure where I saw this, but I was under the impression that finalist notifs were coming out today…but I don’t see anyone in this thread talking about getting one so I’m hoping they haven’t yet. Any chance I won’t make finalist with a 2220 on the SAT?
Well, I haven’t had school for a while because of snow so there’s no way for me to find out anyway
I think they are mailed to homes on the 8th or 9th. If you have any Cs or below on your transcript, your chances are not great. Excellent SATs, by the way!
The official NMSC guide for the 2016 scholarships ( http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf ) states that the notice of Finalists was to be mailed to schools on February 3 including a certificate of merit. On February 10 the NMSC is to mail a letter to students at their home addresses advising them of their status.
So home schoolers should be getting, or have gotten, Finalists letters. Regular school students won’t get their letters mailed until tomorrow and they are at the mercy of USPS deliveries unless their school chooses to tell them earlier.
Hello everyone. This post is ONLY about the LARGE NMF College sponsored tuition $. I’ve been reading these threads with interest and trepidation as well as speaking with NMSC by phone regarding the large (1/2 tuition) college sponsored NMF scholarships. My D’s first choice is USC and has been forever. However if not accepted, she likes Boston U and would want to at least have the option of using her NMF scholarship there which also gives a similar (almost 1/2 tuition) scholarship. But BU wants March 1 designation as first choice school. USC does not state specifically when they want it designated; however they WILL receive the first wave of NMFs who name USC as first choice on March 1st. So they will know which NMFs really want to attend USC the most on March 1 and USC admission decisions go out towards the end of March (even though their website says April 1). If accepted at USC, a NMF automatically receives the1/2 tuition scholarship if they named USC first choice. I don’t see any way around keeping both options open without USC not seeing D’s name on the first, March 1, round of NMFs sent to them. NMSC said by phone a few minutes ago, that yes it’s basically a conundrum and they recognize it’s a difficult decision. But so it goes. Of course if USC accepts her, no problem, but I know there are many disappointed NMFs every year who are just not accepted into USC. 
Just as an FYI, we homeschool and are in the midwest. No letter was received in the mail today.
Homeschooler in Missouri here, received a Finalist letter and certificate today!
StormRoses, congrats you are the first winner on the boards. The next few days are going to be joyous for lots of people. Where are you?
Thank you! I’m by St. Louis, relatively close to the Illinois border, so fortunately my letter didn’t have too far to travel. 
@catzxo I’m in the exact same situation as your daughter! I’ve put down BU as my first choice because I love it as much as I love USC, and because USC is a reach for me while BU is a pretty likely match. I think I’ll just end up dealing with the admissions hit that not designating USC by March 1 will give me 
Good luck, @redandblack! And if you love them equally, that’s exactly what you should do.