@CGCC20 – Everything you say is true, but you are ignoring the fact that NMSC issues 3 separate press releases over a few months, one each for the 1,000 corporate winners, the 2,500 national winners, and the 4,000 school sponsored winners. Certainly, the 2,500 national winners out of the initial pool of 1.6 million kids is the most impressive of the three categories, and yet it’s true that there is less excitement in the media, even for that release, which happened this week, than when the 16,000 semi-finalists were announced in September.
This is undoubtedly due to the fact that 16,000 “winners” across the country impacts many more people, and therefore garners more attention. It is also more “significant” insofar as they are winnowed from a pool of 1.6 million, while the 2,500 come from a pool of 15,000 (1% as opposed to 16.67%). In addition, press releases at this point are somewhat anticlimactic, since graduation is the bigger deal in most communities, and college selections have already been made.
Just my opinion, but it seems like a more reasonable explanation for the less media attention than the fact that actually receiving a scholarship, even if it’s because someone works for a particular company or attends a particular college, is somehow less “remarkable” than receiving a high score on a particular test and being allowed to advance in a scholarship competition.
@NJDad00 I’m ignoring something? I believe I considered all relevant factors. That NMSC sends so many press releases - and the competition seems never-ending - is part of the reason why attention wanes. There was a buzz when commended students were announced at my school. And then there was excitement for semifinalists. But nobody really cared when the finalist certificates were handed out. I had to hunt down mine. Any newspaper article would have been a rehash of 90% of the same info contained in the semifinalist article. And then for scholars? Seriously, you just can’t expect to ‘wow’ anyone when the pool also contains many students who were selected for their parent’s job, or because they are attending a college that happens to offer NM money. BTW, I’m not salty about this for not being chosen as a scholar, because I was. And I don’t begrudge kids who are scholars because of their parent’s jobs because I understand why NMSC does it.
I will forever remember the day when Art was able to confirm my state’s cutoff. I was 3 points above the previous year, which was supposed to provide a 96% degree of certainty. But then came the upward trend talk, and a competition that really didn’t matter had me sweating. It was fun to be preoccupied and joyous relief when the news came. I feel as though that was my accomplishment, and not the quick essay I squeezed in or the recommendation by someone who doesn’t know me. When someone asks how you become a NMSC Semifinalist, there’s really just one answer. When someone asks me how to become a NMSC Scholar, it becomes convoluted.
@CGCC20 – Yes, you are ignoring the fact that the latest press release deals exclusively with the 2,500 national $2,500 scholarship winners, not the corporate winners (selected because of where their parents work) and not the school sponsored winners (selected because of where they chose to go to school), so the lack of “wow” factor has nothing to do with the fact that the win is less impressive than being named a semifinalist in the first place.
In fact, the national winners are MORE impressive because they are the 17% of the 94% of the 1% that made it all the way to win the award. All of your other points about burn out are very well taken, and I agree with them, particularly with respect to being one of the 94% of semifinalists that become finalists, which really isn’t impressive at all because the only way to get screened out is to have some issue with an academic record or not care enough to complete an application.
Bottom line, I didn’t mean to insult you, I was just trying add to the conversation by chiming in that I didn’t think the lack of attention paid to the winners was because winning was less impressive than being named a semifinalist. I think it’s because It’s the end of the academic year, people are focused on high school graduation, college choices have been locked in, the initial announcement included a lot more kids, and interest has simply waned.
I just don’t agree that interest has waned because being one of 16,000 kids that scored high on a test is more impressive than being one of 7,500 kids that won money, even if some of those won money because of where their parents work or where they go to school. Remember, those kids still had to be in the first impressive group of high test scorers, and 8,500 of those original impressive kids are not receiving a red cent as a result of scoring high on that test! Each group is impressive for different reasons, and I just don’t agree that interest has waned because the initial group of semifinalists is more impressive than the final group of winners, particularly the 2,500 national winners that made it solely on merit (ultimately from a pool of 1.6 million test takers), not based on a connection to a company, on a choice to go to a school that is chasing the credential, or only on the basis of a single test.
I think it depends on where you are, I know our school has been very supportive and put out press releases for each round. Anyway, we’re just darn happy to be where we are so the newspaper clippings are really secondary !
DS did not put much into his NMF essay. As I recall one of the available prompts to write about someone you admire and explain why. He chose his mom. I can’t question his choice for obvious reasons :), and it was really sweet, but I wondered if that was the best choice.
He only took the SAT once and it was only for the purpose of having a confirming score. He scored a 1480 and 223 SI. Perfectly good for purposes of a confirming score and to get to NMF, but not equivalent to his 35 ACT, and perhaps another strike against him for purposes of the $2500 scholarship.
In the end though, does it matter much that he did not receive one of the $2500 scholarships? Should he have put more into his essay and took another shot at the SAT? Not much since he was always planning to go to a school with a school with an automatic full ride for NMF along with an expected college sponsored award to go along with it. It would have only changed his 4 year package by $500 in total for all four years. Just not much of incentive IMO. YMMV.
If you are are expecting a college-sponsored award you are very likely already taken out of consideration for the $2500. You can only win one type of NMF scholarship. (Full rides from the schools themselves are determined separately from this process, of course).
I don’t understand why the National Merit Corporation’s scholarships are allocated first. It would make more sense to let the colleges and corporations make their awards, and then choose the 2500 students to get the one-time grants out of the remaining students who haven’t received anything yet. Wouldn’t that result in a higher number of Finalists becoming Scholars?
@prodesse only 1/2 of the NMF’s get any NMSC award regardless of timing. It seems odd that they would chose the recipients so early, well before regular decisions are posted in late March, and it’s even more odd that these were somehow superior applications given that the college-sponsored awards are typically significantly higher!
If your college granted you scholarship money in connection with NMF then you are a National Merit Scholar, even if you didn’t receive a dime from NMSC. That’s how everyone was viewing it a couple years ago
NMC selects the $2500 winners from among the “best of the best” NMFs- those that have the highest GPA’s, SAT’s and have received outstanding LORs from their HS counselors.Those students are considered to be among the top students in the nation, and where they are eventually accepted to college is irrelevant as far as NMC is concerned. NMC has only so much $$ to pay for these special $2500 awards, and their cant afford to increase the # of those awards. The overall # of NM Scholars CAN increase if more colleges or businesses sponsor[ i.e. pay for] more NMF’s awards on their own.
Any of those $2500 winners can later refuse the $2500 award if a higher one is offered by the college where they decide to enroll [ such as USC’s $1000/year award ] , but many end up enrolling at the Ivys and colleges that dont sponsor NMC.
“If you are are expecting a college-sponsored award you are very likely already taken out of consideration for the $2500.”
Not true for the reasons given above. NMC has NO way of knowing in early March where students will be accepted .
^^They may not know where students are accepted but they certainly know the colleges that a bunch have designated as “first choice”. Why would anyone list that unless they knew where they were going? And where does it say in the directions that a recipient can refuse the one-time award if they are offered a college-sponsored amount? The 2018 directions I’m reading say that “no student will be offered more than one scholarship offer from NMSC.”
You don’t mean “top in the nation” . . . you mean the “top in their respective states.” The award is doled out on a state-representational basis. Approximately 45 MN kids will get this award in 2018 - even if all 45 have weaker applications than 45 other MA applicants who don’t make the cut in their state.
My kid had a great application, wonderful recs. decent EC’s and a great SAT score. She received a multi-year college-sponsored award, as we expected, that is significantly higher than the $2500 one-timer so if she wasn’t “top” in her state - that’s good news for us! However - and this is just a guess - it’s very possible that in its wisdom NMSC reserves this $2500 for the tippy-top kids who haven’t (or haven’t yet) designated a sponsoring school. My kid had specified her first choice, which was an ED commitment, by 3/1; the school was guaranteed to give her $2,000 per year for four years as a college sponsor. So - even assuming she was the #1 NMF in her state by a wide margin, why on earth would NMSC turn her $8,000 into $2500? They might be mysterious but they are not dumb - they know we’d be on the horn complaining!! “Where you go to school is irrelevant to us” would be a ridiculous excuse - why specify anything for first choice, then?
That many of the $2500’s end up at non-sponsoring schools, including Ivy’s, is no surprise and perfectly consistent with the above.
“NMC selects the $2500 winners from among the “best of the best” NMFs- those that have the highest GPA’s, SAT’s and have received outstanding LORs from their HS counselors.Those students are considered to be among the top students in the nation…”
Correction: NMC selects the $2500 winners from those NMFs leftover after corporate and college NM scholarships are awarded. Not necessarily the best of the best. You can be top in your class, have outstanding ECs, outstanding test scores, outstanding LORs, be going to a top college ie Ivy League, and not be awarded an NMC $2500 scholarship. Its a numbers game. Just not enough scholarships to go around.
@dowzerw
'after corporate and college NM scholarships are awarded. "
NOT TRUE.
#1-NMC has NO way of knowing WHICH colleges are going to accept NMF’s , as acceptances are posted as late as April 1, which is well after they select the $2500 winners, which happens in mid March, and therefore they dont know which students may or may not receive College scholarships.
2 colleges do NOT award THEIR NM scholarships until they have 1-notified NMF's that they have been accepted , which can be as late as April 1, AND 2-after those accepted students notify NMC that the college IS their first choice.
That final part often does not happen until Mid May, when many NMF’s’ make their final enrollment decisions.
"Why would anyone list that unless they knew where they were going? "
A LOT of NMF’s dont list ANY college as a first choice, because they DONT know where they will end up getting accepted. Many colleges dont pay any attention to being designated a “first Choice” when making application decisions, because the first choice designation can be changed by students anytime until the Mid May final deadline.
"And where does it say in the directions that a recipient can refuse the one-time award if they are offered a college-sponsored amount? The 2018 directions I’m reading say that “no student will be offered more than one scholarship offer from NMSC.”
A NMF can only recieve 1 scholarship award. it can come from NMSC or the college.
IF, as happens every year, a $2500 winner is accepted at USC and then decides to attendUSC , they CAN notify NMC that they choose to accept the $1000/ year award offered by USC, instead of the one time $2500 award.
And NMSC has NO way of knowing which students have applied , OR been accepted ED or EA . So your assumption that they would remove any student from consideration for one of the $2500 awards is not based on fact.
The one-timers are typically among the earliest to be awarded anything - beginning in March, before many RD decisions are even out, as @menloparkmom is saying. However - at least for the class of 2017 - the first batch of college sponsorships occurred on May 1, not mid-May. These were notifications to students who had been in the first list to colleges (ie had specified first choice by March 1). We were told by NMSC that mid-May notifications were subject to funding availability so I suppose that funds can potentially run out prior to that time, although that might vary by school.
“A NMF can only recieve 1 scholarship award. it can come from NMSC or the college.
IF, as happens every year, a $2500 winner is accepted at USC and then decides to attendUSC , they CAN notify NMC that they choose to accept the $1000/ year award offered by USC, instead of the one time $2500 award.”
Yes, I think we both agree that an an NMF can only walk away with one NM scholarship. The question is how many times they can be offered a scholarship. Your are strongly suggesting that the $2500 is a minimum and that a student can switch up to a college-sponsored once the dust settles and he/she knows where to attend (and assuming it’s a college that is, indeed, a sponsor). Never heard of this happening so wondering what you are basing this on. There is nothing in the directions to suggest that a recipient can depend on such largesse. I wouldn’t count on it, nor would I recommend that one can expect such. Unless it’s in the printed materials, it’s not official policy regarding these scholarships.
“And NMSC has NO way of knowing which students have applied , OR been accepted ED or EA . So your assumption that they would remove any student from consideration for one of the $2500 awards is not based on fact.”
No one is assuming anything of the kind. NMSC doesn’t need to know who is ED/EA/RD etc. All they need to know is who has listed what by 3/1. The wording is clear on the NMSC directions - you get one offer. And college sponsors are fairly clear (at least the colleges we’ve researched) as well: In order to get a college sponsorship award you must not be ELIGIBLE for either an NMSC $2500 nor a corporate award. Meaning: if you were offered one of these two prior to the college sponsor notifications, you are NOT eligible for a college sponsored award. Period. If there are rare exceptions due to who knows what, that may be, but I wouldn’t count on that being the rule.
Because of the above, NMSC isn’t about to go out offering $2500 awards to those who have clearly listed a college sponsor as first choice by the time the $2500 decisions are made. That’s the 3/1 deadline. Yes, ALL NMF’s are considered. That does NOT mean that they offer more than one award to a recipient. What they do is rank everyone by state in Jan. or Feb., then remove those high in that ranking who were on the college sponsor 3/1 list. This just underscores how important it is not to list a college till you know your first choice.
"Because of the above, NMSC isn’t about to go out offering $2500 awards to those who have clearly listed a college sponsor as first choice by the time the $2500 decisions are made. That’s the 3/1 deadline.
“then remove those high in that ranking who were on the college sponsor 3/1 list. This just underscores how important it is not to list a college till you know your first choice.”
where exactly is your proof of this ? or is this just conjecture in your part?
I would REALLY like to see proof from NMSC that NMSC awards the $2500 scholarships ONLY to NMF’s who have NOT let them know of their first choice.
I think you are mixing up the fact that SOME colleges DO ask applicants to notify NMSC that they are a students first choice by Dec 1, but that may be for THEIR scholarship funding planning. .
"Meaning: if you were offered one of these two prior to the college sponsor notifications, you are NOT eligible for a college sponsored award. Period. "
Wrong again.
At USC for instance, NMF’S CAN recieve BOTH a corporate sponsored award as well as the official college sponsored award. A parent of a NMF who is attending USC stated that this year on another thread.
What students CANNOT due is receive BOTH the $2500 award AND the college sponsored award.
If they were notified in March that they were chosen to receive one of the $2500 scholarships paid directly BY , and they ended up decideing to enroll at a college that offers them larger a larger official scholarships, like USC, they can decide if they want to receive $4000 or the one time, more “prestigious” $2500 award. And all that takes is a call to NMSC.
And I know for a FACT that NMF’s who were offered the $2500 scholarship, WERE able to contact NMSC after deciding to enroll at USC, and switch the one time $2500 award to 4- $1000 awards. They are NOT going to tell a top NMF they CAN’T have more $$ if they want/ need it.
There can be only one FINAL OFFICIAL NM scholarship.
The scholarship money is not allocated to the students/ colleges until the summer.
“However - at least for the class of 2017 - the first batch of college sponsorships occurred on May 1.”
Again, that may have been the case at the colleges you researched, but it is not the case with all NM sponsoring colleges.
This is from the Dean of Admissions at USC. it is dated March 17, 2017.
"Thanks for your writing and for your continued presence on College Confidential. The misinformation runs rampant and it is refreshing to see that there are a few folks who are willing to set the record straight.
· NMSC periodically sends us rosters of NMFs who have indicated that USC is their first-choice. We have already received one such roster and expect a couple more before the end of the month. [ this was written in mid MARCH]
· Once we’ve selected our admitted class (which, as you know, will be done next week), we then formally award Presidential Scholarships to admitted NMFs, and send them an award letter. [ in other words, USC does NOT wait until May 1 to notify accepted NMF’s of their award.]
After getting mail a couple weeks ago indicating he was not a sponsored scholar (which we expected), DP Jr. today received a letter dated May 15 indicating he was a school sponsored Scholar. That was surprising.
However - and this is just a guess - it’s very possible that in its wisdom NMSC reserves this $2500 for the tippy-top kids who haven’t (or haven’t yet) designated a sponsoring school. My kid had specified her first choice, which was an ED commitment, by 3/1; the school was guaranteed to give her $2,000 per year for four years as a college sponsor. So - even assuming she was the