Posting again (not sure how to bump). I’m not sure if my Q was misinterpreted as asking about listing top college choice with NMF. That’s not the question. Just simply will you be updating all your colleges that you awaiting admit decisions from about finalist designation?
@mickey2017 my daughter will be notifying her colleges, esp. as three of them still have a decision pending!
@mickey2017 I think we plan to. Can’t see why you wouldn’t. I would think it’s attractive to any school to have more Finalists rather than fewer. Metaphysically, I guess one could argue that if a school were ignorant of it, and then you notified them but they saw, then, that you didn’t list them as a first choice, they might be put off, maybe? Doubt it. Interested in others’ thoughts. Sorry if I missed this answer elsewhere.
Remember, if your listed first choice doesn’t give NM money, you may still be eligible for the one-time NM $2,500 scholarship or a corporate scholarship. Not much, of course, but still something. Don’t necessarily list your top NM-friendly school if it’s truly not your first choice. (of course, some are doing just that in order to have a decent safety with large scholarship money - and that makes sense too. It all depends on your relative likelihood of attending each school).
I just got this off of OU’s National Merit Scholarship site.
April 30
OU’s priority deadline to name OU as your college choice with NMSC, or to list “undecided” as your college choice.
May 1
NMSC begins mailing College Sponsored Awards.
Mid May to
Early July
Scholars Enrollment with the OU Scholars Program.
May 31
Final deadline to name OU as your college choice with NMSC. See www.nationalmerit.org for competition rules
@JBStillFlying I think that’s right - you should likely not list a school as your first choice if it’s not - at least for the very near future. We have Rice listed as first choice for now - awaiting admissions decision. It will be an interesting race to play the (1) will I be accepted to Rice (no NMF $) vs. (2) I want my TAMU $40k or USC 1/2 tuition decision deadline.
Okay…stupid question. Why would you list Rice as your #1 if they don’t give any scholarships for it. I am still trying ot wrap my head around the whole NM scholarship thing. My understanding if you are not National Merit Scholar then you do not get any money from NMC at all. Is that not correct? I am not a gambling person so please any insight is greatly appreciated.
@Tgirlfriend Not stupid at all. We are trying for Rice. I can imagine an admissions office seeing our designation of some other school as a first choice and making a close call based on that - “…this student doesn’t even want to come to Rice over XYZ University.” There should be time between Rice’s decision and FA offer (if any) to switch to a NMF scholarship school if Rice’s decision is not favorable.
Alabama deadline is May 1st for putting them #1 choice for NMC.
I am not sure that a school that doesn’t participate in the NMCs program see the list at all. Does anyone know?
I thought the schools buy the list and if they don’t participate in the NMC program then they would be waiting money buying a list. What do you think?
Alabama mentioned to me a couple of times that your should update them with finalist confirmation. This may be a good idea for any schools who give big (or any susbstantial) aid for NMF. As for designating the #1 choice, we’re not overthinking it too much. My S will be undecided until he commits (close to May 1) and will then list the school he has chosen.
@CaveMom My D had a voicemail yesterday from Alabama asking her to confirm if/when she receives Finalist status. She has already listed them as her #1 choice and is set on attending. Do they know something we don’t?? (even though I’d love her to consider OU again, since it is so much closer!) OU told her she could change her #1 choice as often as she wanted, just meeting their deadline if she wanted the NMF package from them.
@Momof2TX OU said she can change her #1 choice as often as she wanted? I thought National Merit said that after March 1st if you had a #1 school listed and they notified that institution of your choice it could not be changed.
College counselor at our school said that only the school listed first is notified by NMF. Other schools do not see the list at all, whether they participate with NMF or otherwise.
Hi all. Been checking out this thread as I expect to have a NMF in the class of 2018. My older child was NMF in 2015.
- Our experience was that you should notify target schools that the student has been named NMF, just as you would update them about any other significant academic honor.
- It will not matter to a school admissions counselor at a school which has no significant NMF awards (like Rice, or an Ivy) if you list another school (like Alabama) as #1 with NM office. They understand the scholarship game, and probably will not notice in any event.
- If you are looking for a NMF scholarship from a particular school, check that school's deadlines as some (like USC) have earlier deadlines for designating them #1 with NM.
Best of luck!
@Momof2TX When Alabama asked me to confirm when possible, it was precisely because they wouldn’t know otherwise. (So, no, I don’t think they know something you don’t know.) I think she said that they have no way of knowing finalist status (at least at this time.) BTW, I also liked OU a lot, even though it’s not so close for us. Our tour was great, and It had a warm feeling. (Maybe I like the smaller size of the school.)
As I understand it, you can change your first choice school as many times as you want.
From NMSC website on the 2017 Program instructions:
"Schedule specific to college-sponsored awards:
March 1 through May 31, 2017: A Finalist who has reported a sponsor college as first choice before
March 1 will be included in the first group referred to that institution for scholarship consideration. Only
the sponsoring college you have listed as your first choice will be notified. Periodically NMSC will notify
sponsors of additional Finalists who have reported (by May 31) the college or university as their first choice.
May 1, 2017: 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 change in college choice
will not be processed and 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 or she is
now “undecided” to prevent being made an offer from a school he or she is uncertain about
attending; such notification must be submitted online at osa.nationalmerit.org before May 1.
The Finalist can subsequently report a firm college choice that NMSC receives by May 31.
May 31, 2017: Deadline date for NMSC to receive reports of a sponsor college as first choice. Because
it is necessary to treat all Finalists consistently and conclude the annual competition in a timely manner,
only college choice reports that NMSC receives by May 31, 2017, will be used to identify the final group of
candidates to a college or university that sponsors awards."
So, @rb681000 , the way I’m reading it, OU was correct in that changes can be made up to the OU April 30 deadline, which is before the May 1 date for NMSC letters to go out. Other schools may receive notice before the letters if you changed your mind, but it’s the final choice before the May 1 letters that really count. Other schools may have different internal deadlines, so best to check with each school to be safe! If I’m totally missing something in there, please let me know! Good luck to all!
Any Finalist letters today? This slow mail is killing me!! :((
As an FYI, I just spoke on the phone with a NMSC representative who told me that all notification letters were sent this past Monday to schools. (This letter lists all NMSF from the school and specifies which ones have been selected as finalists). She said individual letters to all NMSF will go out this coming Monday.
The rep said that all NMSF will get a letter saying they’re now finalists or they are not. All schools will get a letter specifying the same for each of the school’s NMSF as well, ie. schools and individuals all get a letter saying yay or nay either way.
Fingers crossed for all of our kids!