@k14mango No, but its annoying cuz our college rep intercepts from our headmaster then holds them rather than sharing the news. Over the top controlling.
@k14mango One reason is honesty and school wants to share good news with district and school student body.
I’m not sure why they can’t be sent at the same time. #501- IM not sure what honesty means. There’s a good chance at a bigger school The student body will know who the kid(s) is/!are and a good number won’t know what national Merit Finalist is.
Since most of the NMSF awards are pretty minimal, it is too bad that it takes a year and a half to even notify students. You find out AFTER the application process is well underway. Since they aren’t getting much in the way of dollars, it would be nice if they were notified early enough to include the NM designation with their applications,’
@grandscheme there are many NM awards that aren’t “minimal” DD16’s NM award was $120,000+ at OU and DS18’s award will be $100,000+ at UTD. NMSF is announced in time for college apps and you can always up date your ap with NMF when announced.
My daughter is down to Alabama Honors or South Carolina Honors. She will get more than full tuition at either school because she is a NMF. (Let’s hope we find out for sure this week!)
What @3scoutsmom said. My S will be taking a full ride - tuition, room & board, books and a little left over - at U of New Mexico. Texas Tech offers full COA. U Idaho is a full ride, Bama, USB and UA Huntsville are full tuition plus. UT Dallas is a near full ride. USC is half tuition.
Yes, if you’re aiming at elites or certain LACs, the amount is small, but it’s life changing at any number of excellent or perfectly fine state schools.
@grandscheme at #503 might be referring to the funds that National Merit itself directs/has ($2500 one time, $2000 corporate or college sponsored etc.) which is kinda true.
But those scholarships aren’t awarded until March and why would you want to list a scholarship on your college application?
They don’t want to list a scholarship, they want to be able to say they’re a NMF on college applications.
But colleges know that the vast majority of NMSF go on to be NMF and if there’s a possibility that the student won’t advance it’s likely to show up in other areas of their application. I just don’t see what the big deal is, beside sending an update to your AO is a great ways to show you are still interested in that college.
Agree that if a student lists NMSF on the college application and has a high GPA, rigorous curriculum, no C’s on the transcript, and a high SAT the school will know that student is almost certainly going to be NMF. If the NMSF is accompanied by multiple C’s or lower or the SAT is low the college will know that student is very unlikely to be NMF. At the margins (one or two C’s) the school might still give the student the benefit of the doubt. Either way, with 16k NMSF and 15k NMF it’s probably not a huge impact on admissions at most schools, and likely very minimal at elites. Definitely a nice item to put into the awards section of the application, but not likely a game changer.
NMSF is obviously the low probability event (all else equal) - not NMF once you are designated SF. If there are c’s on the transcript, the college probably already saw that. Anyone can reach out to their AO and most applications are due after SF is announced. There. Hope that solves everything! LOL.
I wouldn’t think anyone that is a NMS has any C’s. I’m hopeful my nephew is a NMF. He has all A’s and one B plus all 4 yrs
Yes @midwesternfan, every year there are semifinalists who have C’s or worse. NMSF is entirely based on the PSAT results and some students have high test scores but not always the highest GPA. In some cases it’s just one semester C, in other cases multiple full-year C’s. There’s no clear-cut formula on how many C’s are allowed or if the circumstances matter, but the anecdotal evidence suggests that students with C’s may or may not become NMF. Some students don’t make the mark on the confirming SAT score either. And some students just don’t bother to fill out the NMF application, or they may have had a disciplinary issue that prevents their school from supporting their application.
In case anyone missed it, as posted on the other 2018 thread we’ve had an acceptance letter arrive for a homeschooler in MN!
Congrats to @iahomescholmom !! So excited for your family. It’s an achievement to celebrate for sure.
Oops, it wasn’t me yet. I couldn’t remember the username to give credit, but it’s someone from MN (I’m from IA). Hopefully we’ll get ours tomorrow.
Congrats. That’s the first one through…
Dang. Nothing here today. I really hoped we’d get something today.