@SEPAINTER we were among the first. We received last Wednesday in MN
No news here in NH, and GC said today that she hasn’t heard anything either. Which seems really odd, but maybe the principal has it? I know the GC was out sick yesterday, so maybe someone else has the certificates? S18 never got the dreaded letter in January and he has a 4.0 UW and scored a 1510 on the SAT, so I figured he was in… Not that it really matters bc he’s not applying to any sponsor colleges, but it would be nice to add to AO updates for RD colleges…
Only some of the NMF will receive $2500 , not all. I Googled it a while back, thinking maybe half???
About 7500 (roughly half) will receive one of three types of scholarships, with some receiving corporate sponsored scholarships or college sponsored scholarships rather than the NM $2500 scholarships.
Not to discount the additional aid above, there are several schools that give automatic full tuition plus scholarships to any finalist whether they are among the 7500 scholars or not. This is where the most significant dollars are. Schools like Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas (Dallas), Central Florida, New Mexico, and Ole Miss to name a few.
^^^Interesting that after 16 months of hype most walk away empty handed…unless you count the handshake S got yesterday, lol.
“Only some of the NMF will receive $2500 , not all. I Googled it a while back, thinking maybe half???”
- From the Competition Instructions last year:
"What Merit Scholarship awards will be offered?
About 7,500 National Merit Scholarships of three types
will be offered in 2018:
• 2,500 single-payment National Merit $2500 Scholarships
for which all Finalists will be considered;
• about 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship
awards for which Finalists who meet a company or business
grantor’s specifi ed criteria will be considered; and
• some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship
awards for which only Finalists who will attend their
respective sponsor institutions are considered. "
“^^^Interesting that after 16 months of hype most walk away empty handed…unless you count the handshake S got yesterday, lol.”
- About 1/2 of the NMF's will walk away w/o one of the three scholarships noted above. However, theoretically none need walk away empty-handed as many schools give significant merit aid to NMF's. A lot depends on where you want to go to college. Also, being NMF helps your chances at the majority of schools, even if your first choice doesn't give out anything. It's not a lot of effort for the potential payoff, even if that payoff is delayed 12 - 18 months.
Actually, “ALL” of the NMF walked away with a FULL RIDE offer to several Universities and hundreds of additional scholarships to numerous Universities, should one choose to accept it. Life is what you make of it!
Just saw a letter inbound today from usps to DS from NMF in the West suburbs of Chicago. No word from the school so hopefully this will be the official family notification.
@FSUdad93 Exactly! My daughter recently received a handwritten note with a school scarf and bumper sticker from U of North Dakota where she never applied or showed interest offering her a full tuition and fees waiver if she was interested because she is NMSF from MN. There are excellent opportunities for NMF if they choose them.
FINALLY! S18 got his certificate today! He will most likely be one of those who “walk away empty-handed” by choice. He could have applied to one of the schools that offer big NM scholarships, but he did not want to go to a large state school (Hubby and I both did, and from our experiences, S18 wanted nothing to do with big schools). That was his and his choice alone. He entertained the idea of applying to a couple but he realized none were really a good match for him as he wanted a small to medium school in the Northeast and NO schools up here give good NM scholarships. We are hoping it pans out in the form of helping to push him above others in the admissions game for the remaining schools he is waiting to hear back from. Or that he ends up getting the $2500 or some random corporate scholarship.
Of course it is totally fine to pass on the full rides if you don’t want to attend one of these schools. For anyone in that situation, you should check your privilege.
@LOUKYDAD well telling people to check their privilege is kinda rude. I would have gone to a full ride National Merit school had I not gotten a large enough merit scholarship to my top choice school. To make it work, I’m still gonna have to graduate in 3 years (did 2 years of dual enrollment and they are generous with credits and course sequencing), contribute my own paycheck, and make hard decisions about only flying back twice a year or so. I am very lucky to have this choice but its not like its easy for me to walk away from a full ride.
@LOUKYDAD
Maybe I am having something lost in translation. Can you elaborate?
@LOUKYDAD I’m very grateful to be in a situation where my family can afford to pay for college. Just because I’m passing on a full ride does not mean I take my education for granted. It just happened that none of the full-ride schools mentioned here were a good fit for me. If I so choose, U of Nevada-Reno offers $16k per year to NMFs, on top of the WUE tuition I will already receive. With part-time work and federal loans, I would be able to afford this myself. I have checked my privilege. I know I’m lucky. Just because I’m not taking a full ride doesn’t mean I don’t know that. Now, I hope we can all work to make education affordable for all.
@LOUKYDAD I have to agree with the posters above. What was your objective to insult so many happy, positive people in this thread? I don’t get it.
@LOUKYDAD, you have absolutely no idea what the financial situation is of a family who chooses to pass on a full ride–or how they got in that situation. A lot of families, mine included, have worked extremely hard and saved and scrimped since our children were born in order to pay for college. I think it’s absolutely wonderful that NMF offers these opportunities for students, but being judgy about others who don’t see those particular colleges as good fits and choose different options (many with huge merit scholarships not affiliated with NMF) isn’t called for.
This should be a place to celebrate all students who receive this designation, regardless of where they choose to go to college.
Varying on a family’s finances. A school like Harvard can be just a few thousand dollars a year, while a school M.U. could be free with NMF. Yet I’d say most people would pick Harvard. Sometimes a full ride isn’t the best option for a family or for the long run.
Congrats to all our Finalists, and I am glad to my son to this list. Found our from the HS today. He will use his full ride scholarship at Florida State University next year.
If he had been accepted to U of Chicago with a decent amount of aid, he would have seriously considered that route, but was deferred EA. It’s a hard decision and I think all these students will do well wherever they land!
@grandscheme - Thank you for your thoughts on announcements!
There are 2 “prestige” threads going round and round on CC presently. Everyone has a different definition of what that means - Ivy vs academic, etc. My view is … who cares? Everyone is different, and there is a school for everyone. Getting our students to the point where they have these amazing choices and opportunities is a huge accomplishment! Sending a pat on the back to all parents and students for getting this far! Job well done! Now where’s our NMF certificate?!
“Of course it is totally fine to pass on the full rides if you don’t want to attend one of these schools. For anyone in that situation, you should check your privilege.”
@LOUKYDAD - check yours first. One might pass on a college sponsor for a variety of reasons that have NOTHING to do with ability to pay. On the other hand, no one denies that scoring in the top 1% of PSAT is highly correlated either with intelligence or access to good tutoring - in fact, most likely both. Now THAT is privilege.