@mnparentof3 Well, I wish I hadn’t read that. That’s only adding to the worry. I would have expected a reject letter a week or more ago if we WEREN’T finalists. Maybe all that means the letter will reference all SF’s either way, even though SF’s who aren’t F’s were already notified separately with a rejection letter. To get bad news now would just frustrate me endlessly.
Can you elaborate any more on what you wrote by any chance?
@Tex151…I agree. I kinda thought we were close to being in the clearly of the rejection letter however it sounds like that is not the case from this post. I thought NMSC had already sent out all of the rejection letters to the students house. I guess I totally misunderstood that whole process.
That made me worry a lot more… I was 65% sure that I would be finalist after rejection letters went out but now I am 20% sure. This week needs to go by a lot quicker.
@Tex151 wrote: “Maybe all that means the letter will reference all SF’s either way, even though SF’s who aren’t F’s were already notified separately with a rejection letter.”
I’m sorry – I guess I didn’t think to clarify that even further with the person on the phone. Thinking back on the conversation, I’m not totally sure if I asked specifically if rejection letters were already sent. Her comment about sending students individual letters this coming Monday would seem to imply that one could theoretically get a rejection letter then…?
Hmmm… 
From what I remember from D15, the school letter lists all of the kids who made it to SF and those who make it on to Finalist. They have certificates for both. I believe they received the certificates for commended in October. So the school will be notified of those who move on and those who don’t in the same letter. The schools are not copied on the letters that went out earlier in January, so this is their first official notice of who did and didn’t proceed. I think if you did not get that January letter, you are sitting pretty and will not be blindsided by the letter the school receives. (I hope that made sense!)
@mtrosemom …Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! Yes, that makes perfect sense to me. I hope that NMSC thinks the same way we do.
Hey…does anyone know how NMSC send the mail? First class? Bulk rate? Priority? That will make a huge difference as to when the schools get the letters.
That’s my thought, too, @mtrosemom. Rejected folks were already rejected. Gotta be.
@mnparentof3 I am fairly certain the rejection letters already went out and barring some USPS total eff-up, they were received at least a week ago.
I have to believe that’s all that meant. Can’t be new first-time rejections at this point. No other thread or post has suggested that over the several years this has been discussed ad nauseum on this website.
So, please let ^^^^ be true. :-&
I hope that is correct, @Tex151 !
@Tgirlfriend, they send the letters via slow boat (seriously, I think they go bulk rate). Schools should start hearing tomorrow I’m guessing.
@mtrosemom …Again…Thank you for the information.
I have a quick question: I was accepted into Stanford REA and will most definitely be attending next fall. I know that Stanford is one of the schools that doesn’t give you a cent for NMS, but should I still change my first choice college from undecided to Stanford? Does that hurt my chances of being given the scholarship? Honestly, I don’t need the monetary value of the NMS– Stanford has an awesome financial aid office– but I still definitely want to be considered for the title… Thoughts?
@Princetonian1013 …Congratulations!! Yes, if you plan on going Stanford then I would change to Stanford.
When did you receive your scholarship info from Minnesota. S17 is in the same boat, hasn’t heard anything. He applied right after admissions opened, got the FAFSA in first week. Waiting is KILLING me.
@mnhusker1962 my daughter received info last November I think (she was accepted in early October). Is your son NMSF? Has he been accepted to UMN yet?
@Princetonian1013 I agree with Tgirlfriend above that you should change it to Stanford if you are definitely going to go there. I think this is the only way for you to have a chance at the title of winner because if you were offered a college NM scholarship for a college that participates in NM and then didn’t go to that college, you would not have the designation of winner. If you go to Stanford, the only way to be a NM Scholar (assuming you are not eligible for one of the corporate scholarships) is to win one of the $2500 scholarships.
^^What BB and T are saying. A thought that occurred to me recently: of the 15,000 NMF’s, about half - 7,500 - are awarded something with the designation of “National Merit” attached to it (either the NM $2500 one-time, or a corporate, or a college-sponsored scholarship). When the dust settles, they want those named winners of a college sponsorship to actually be attending that college. Could it be that at least some of the remaining 7,500 who are NOT receiving anything specified a college they don’t end up attending? Just a thought.
Seems to me that if your choice of college is settled, the thing to do is to maximize your chance of winning SOMETHING from NM.
I think it’s still possible to get a rejection letter (please read on before you panic), but I don’t think that type would surprise the recipient. Someone pointed out on another thread that although Dec 31 is the deadline to submit SAT scores in order to be considered for the National Merit $2500 Scholarship, you actually have until Jan 31 to submit SAT scores or be withdrawn from further consideration (for corporate and college sponsored, I guess). This is from the “Requirements and Instructions for Semifinalists” document. So if someone had met all the criteria except for submission of an SAT score, NMSC would have to wait until after Jan 31 to send out a rejection letter.
@Momof2TX Thank you! Their instructions are a little confusing.
I’ve been looking at the 2014-2015 NMSC’s annual report. On p. 32-34 it lists where the 7,468 merit scholars from the class of 2015 enrolled. In parentheses it lists the number sponsored by the college. In the case of OU 288 merit scholars enrolled, but only 240 were sponsored by the college. I’m curious, does anyone know of a reason why 48 would not have been sponsored be the school? I can’t imagine any corporate scholarship would be more than OU offers.
Does OU offer full tuition etc. IN ADDITION to it’s sponsored scholarship? That’s what UMN does - the scholarships are stackable and it’s quite possible to be given the Gold etc. but NOT the UMN-sponsored scholarship (because you got a corporate-sponsored one instead).
@somebodysdad : Your post (#57) is not accurate.
Some schools have earlier deadlines so it’s important that each family check the school’s deadline for the school their kids are looking at. It would sure make things easier for some families if they did have until all decisions are out/ financial aid on the table to make an informed decision but it won’t work that way for everyone. For us, it’s just one school (BU) on the list that offers a college sponsored NMS award for finalists. BU’s deadline is March 1. I looked up another school this morning that a kid had questions about and that school’s deadline was March 1.