I got tired of waiting for the high school so I tried phoning NMSC. They said I have to get the info from the school, and if they did not receive it, they can call NMSC.
@traveler98
I sent them an email. Never got a reply, but the next day it was fulfilled.
@sewin2music @prodesse The college counseling dept at our school had intercepted the correspondence that our headmaster planned to share when he received it. It arrived more than a week ago but the CC dept chooses to not notify students until the press release day to not conflict with NMC. You might check with your college counselin or guidance counselors to see if they have your school’s info. Very frustrating, I agree.
Hi, I’m new here and I’m trying to figure out how I can be updated on posts on a certain thread.
Not very familiar with all the lingo but found out my kid is NMSF. If I post on this thread, would I be notified of the posts thereafter I posted?
Thanks for all the help.
This college app thing is really stressful.
scroll to the top of the thread and click the star to book mark it. the menu on the right give you an option to check book mark threads
Thanks!
@traveler98 ; @shelleee ; @3scoutsmom ; Sorry if I’ve asked this before, but… Is there a required minimum GPA at UTD to keep the national merit scholars program scholarship?
@LMHS73 yes, 3.0.
THANK YOU @traveler98; I’ll write it down this time!!
@sewin2music the key information that you need from the letter is your initial login credentials for the NMF application. It’s one sheet, with congratulations and contact information that I barely glanced at, and the login instructions in the middle in bold print. If your letter has been lost or an official at your school needs to print it out for you but doesn’t know how to find what you need, it sounds as if either your principal or GC needs to call NMSC. The application won’t take long on your end but the school needs to write a letter of recommendation so you will need to follow up with them to make sure they know how to submit that to NMSC. If you haven’t already, you can send your confirming SAT score to NMSC even without the login info; I sent my son’s back in July and it was no problem. Do you already have the essay prompt to work on that in advance? Good luck, and sorry that you’re having trouble getting your NMSF notification.
@traveler98 Thank you! That makes more sense. I emailed my principal (again) about the letter and she said that she hasn’t received anything about a login code/student letter. This makes me think that they don’t know how to because they already have the list of semifinalists, the book, etc. which means that they should have access to the letter, right? Is this the number that they have to call: (847) 866-5161? Also, do you know if the principal’s secretary can call NMSC? I’m seeing her secretary tomorrow to help them find it, but I don’t think that she will let me see their papers. She was very secretive last time I saw her.
Is the recommendation letter the only thing that must be submitted by administration, and can this be completed by a guidance counselor? Is this recommendation submission similar to that of the Common Application in which I submit a request through the application for the recommender? I have, thankfully, already sent my SAT score, so that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about. I have the essay prompt, but I’m just having a hard time writing it since I’m not one that likes to talk about themselves and the last time I wrote something narrative was probably in middle school.
Sorry for all the questions! I just didn’t realize that my school was so inexperienced with this process. Maybe this is why we have semifinalists and not finalists every year??? :-S
@sewin2music, that is a good number to call for the semifinalist information. I don’t know if the secretary will be given all of the information, or if NMSC will need the principal or GC on the line. I believe NMSC also requires an official transcript as well as the letter of recommendation. I think different schools may do things differently on the transcript and recommendation request front. My son’s counseling department does not require NMSF to request transcripts or recommendations for their NMF applications, and I don’t know if that’s because the NMSC system prompts them for it or because that’s how his school has chosen to manage the process. The recommendation can be completed by the principal or a representative designated by the principal (like a GC).
In your case, I think you might benefit from calling NMSC as well. It’s unfortunate but it seems that your school isn’t quite as proficient on the NMF application process as they should be, and if NMSC is aware of your issues they hopefully can help you guide your school through. It’s also unfortunate that NMSC won’t release your login information directly to you, but maybe they can give you specific wording to give to your school administrators that can get the results you need.
@traveler98 Thank you so much for making this process clearer! I will definitely give NMSC a call tomorrow if things don’t work out with the secretary.
I am really just so grateful to have such a wonderful source of knowledge, help, and caring people here on CC! I wouldn’t know nearly as much as I do now about the college process, let alone that this scholarship opportunity existed, had it not been for the kind people here. Thank you guys so much!
@sewin2music, you are probably absolutely correct about “maybe this is why we have semifinalists and not finalists every year.” With you on the team to make sure the school does its job, you are doing a favor to all future NMSFs at that school.
Our school typically has several every year who make finalist. I am baffled, therefore, that they haven’t given my kid a thing, nor said a word. I gave the instruction, “Go see your guidance counselor about this TODAY!”
Some schools do a great disservice to a portion of their students by not communicating the scholarships that are available to NMF kids. Its true that a lot of NMF kids are not interested in those scholarships because they are headed to schools that do not offer any. But for many kids it does matter. And we see parents/kids here every year sweating out the cutoffs because of the scholarships that result (last year it was worse because the range of possible cutoffs was much larger which made it that much worse).
Our school at one point gave the PSAT to freshmen and juniors. I think taking the test an additional time can be beneficial. Then when the state went to an ACT based test for graduation, the district had freshmen take an ACT based test rather than the PSAT. When we learned of that change, we asked the district to allow my daughter to take the PSAT her sophomore year which the school did. There are some districts which give the PSAT only in the junior year and others give the PSAT multiple times.
Is this true? If so, that is very sad and very hope you can teach them to fish!
Our school gave the kids their letters last week, yesterday they had a special lunch with the GC’s where they were given more information about scholarships and asked the kids if they had any questions about the process. The also gave each of the 27 kids a big cookie (the size of a pizza!) that sad Congratulations! Student Name NMSF they also let the students go through a box of various college ‘swag’ that they had been accumulating.
DS was already very aware of the things they were talking about but he did learn that almost half the kids that made the cut in our school got in by the skin of their teeth with a SI of 221 (the Texas cut off). Usually we have a higher % of higher end scores, I think this is because of the foolish decision they made two years ago when the refused to allow 10th graders to take the PSAT in Oct.
I can’t remember which thread or which poster, but I swear I read recently on a CC thread about a school that pays for sophomores to take the test but not juniors. Why??? If the district can only afford PSAT fees for one grade why wouldn’t they choose the “money year”? I wonder about the thought process behind some school decisions, and what else they’re looking at when coming up with these policies.
@traveler98, that’s our district, Fairfax County in Virginia. I should elaborate that now they also give the PSAT to freshmen, though not my kid’s year.
Our district too in Texas. They change the rules on what they do every year! This year they are paying for the 10th graders to take the PSAT but not the the 11th graders. My hunch is that they want everyone to get an idea about how well they’ll do in 11th grade and give them time to prep if they are close.