Way to go, @curiouscat319. So very happy for you!!!
Edit to ask: any insight as to why the kid across town didn’t get NMF? You had said that person also had a couple of C+'s.
Those who are planning to attend schools that don’t give any NMF money (my D17 might be one of those kids, btw) - you might still want to know whether you made NMF simply because you might be eligible for the one-time $2,500 National Scholarship. So it still makes sense to know and then to specify your first choice school.
Congrats @curiouscat319 !! Was hoping for you to get it!
@kesari She definitely will, USC guarantees half tuition to all NMFs who attend. Make sure you list USC as her first choice on the National Merit portal, you should get the presidential scholarship automatically at USC from it.
Finalist from CA! I’m a homeschooler as well.
PSAT: 225
SAT: 2280 (old)
Transcript: All As, 9 APs
@curiouscat319 Congratulations!! I know you were nervous and I am happy it worked out for you!
Congratulations to all of the finalists!
Remember to check each school to see whether they offer any $ and to meet the school’s deadline. Some schools require they be selected 1st choice by the March 1 deadline.
@mnhusker1962 My kid is a non-STEM, and we visited both UCLA, UCB and UC San Diego campuses on official tours. I myself did not like UCB campus (didn’t hate it by any means) and was very impressed by UCLA campus. But generally speaking UCB seemed to have most number of higher ranked programs than UCLA across the board. I feel very jealous of kids who are actually using their NMF status to attend colleges which give some merit-based financial aids. I am pretty certain our kid’s NMF did not help his admission chances even a little bit. I tell you I was very happy when he got NMSF but I am now sort of wistful that he’s not getting any milage out of NMF status.
Prospect: The topic of paying full freight for a “prestigious” college offering no merit aid vs. accepting a merit scholarship at a “lesser” college has been thoroughly discussed for years in CC forums that I’ve read, particularly for pre med track students like our kids (just plug in “pre med” in general forum CC search bar for examples and start reading). I’ve also read several internet articles on this topic. Bottom line from these readings: if kid wants to be a practicing physician and not a “prominent researcher” (full time), take the merit scholarship money at a solid university (whatever the US News ranking), and help your kid pay for med school later. I think this is also true for kids thinking they want to be a full time researcher as well. Others may disagree and I don’t really have the experience in this area to know. If kid performs well in merit-aided school (high GPA, high MCAT, and sold ECs), then med school acceptance highly likely. It apparently makes little to no difference to med schools where our kids get their undergrad degrees (for the most part). Also recommended that our kids choose a school with good pre health advising office that provides sound advice, mock med school interviews, and, preferably, a “committee letter”. All of this is advice I’ve been reading. Since I can afford the full pay private schools (with various forms of pain involved), I still struggle with this decision. If Yale or Rice (dear to my TX born heart) accept my son, I’m I going to say no? Some would call me crazy to do so, but others would say the opposite. One final comment b/c this is already long, if my son takes merit scholarship, I told him I’ll pay 100% of med school. If he decides to go to full pay UG school, med school costs are his to bear.
How do we find out if we are a National Merit Finalist? Do we wait to get an email or call NMSC directly?
You will receive your letter in the mail at your home probably at the end of the week. You may find out from your school before you receive your letter. If you would like to find out sooner, call NMSC tomorrow and they will tell you.
@JBStillFlying I have no idea why. Maybe he had C’s or C-'s, but he was pretty reluctant when I asked him about his grades. I just know he took similar rigor classs, but might have had more than 3 C’s, I don’t know to be honest.
Some states have so many potential qualifiers that a C or two will kick you out of contention (California for example). Some states have so few qualifiers that Cs do not matter as much. So where you live and the quality of your state school system can come into play.
@mtrosemom this discussion was also addressed on another thread. There is no direct evidence that NMSC uses state-specific criteria for NMF. There could be a bunch of reasons why two individuals in different states both have two C’s and one was selected and the other not. For instance, one might have those C’s in separate classes with a B average for the year, while the other has them both in the same class (thus a C for the year). In the case of @curiouscat319, both are in the same state.
@mnhusker1962 Just want to let you know that the UC’s do give merit scholarships to students with no financial need, and this goes beyond the honorarium of $2000 for Regents. For example, UC Davis offered my older son $12,500 per year. (UCSD only offered him the $2000 honorarium). I have been told that a former student from his school received a full ride offer from UCLA that was not need-based. I don’t think they publicize the availability of these extra merit scholarships.
Oops! I need to correct the above to cross out “of $2000” in the first sentence because the honorarium for Regents is different at each of the UC campuses.
@curiouscat319 So nice to hear you made it.
@mtrosemom , As @JBStillFlying said rightly, there is no definite evidence out there that NMSC does take state of residence into consideration while they are evaluating academic performance in determining advancement of a student to Finalist stage. C s alone won’t give the entire picture of a student’s resume. There is so much more that goes in, and typically people don’t offer complete and full truth on these forums. I have learned it is not prudent to draw conclusions one’s voluntary information on forums. While most are probably truthful, some aren’t (ex: people who were rejected reporting one C, when they really have two Cs etc.,)
For future NMF applicants:
I made it with 3 semester Cs (2 of them in AP stem classes, 1 of that in Honors language)
PSAT: 1480 SI-223
SAT 1540(out of 1600) SI-228
APs: 7 AP classes by Junior year(scored max 5 in five subjects). 4 AP classes in senior year
ECs: Good accomplishments in music, lots of voluntary activities with acknowledgements in a published scientific paper etc.,
Essay: Explained that it became overwhelming with lots of ECs and rigorous class structure.
@phokie Thank you for taking time to reply. Yes I read in general in the same lines as you mentioned, but I wanted to take an actual person insights and how they processed the same information to arrive at conclusion. I am still waiting for RD decisions, but with this NMF the chances of going to local state university has gone up which is not that far from home. It covers 4 years of tuition.
Prospect: I’m not sure how the offline conversation works, but it would be nice for us to do that to share our thoughts on the matter. I think my son and I have settled on our path, but it would be nice to have your thoughts as well.
@phokie I sent you a message. Could you please check your inbox(you can find this on top right hand corner of this page)
Finalist w/ a few C’s in AP classes.