<p>NMSC lists that the 8300 $2500 scholarships are announced in March. Does anyone know when in March?</p>
<p>March 28th is when things are mailed out… I found it on one of their calendars and marked it on my personal one. It’ll take a week for the mail to arrive, though.</p>
<p>eesachs…I believe that the 8300 you referenced is the total number of NM Scholars, which includes the $2500 one-time scholarship recipients, college sponsored scholarship recipients, corporate scholarship recipients, and special scholarship recipients. IIRC, there are usually about 2500 NM scholars who receive the one-time $2500 scholarship, and the remaining 5800-ish Scholars receive one of the other three “official” NM scholarships.</p>
<p>Okay that makes more sense, thanks
There’s one thing I’m confused on though, for those 2500 that receive the $2500 NMC scholarship, do they represent the students that were offered the NMC award and only had that option? The schools I’m looking at have their own NM awards, but I’m waiting to choose a first choice until I hear back from another school and financial aid. So is there a possibility that I would be offered the NMC $2500 scholarship since I haven’t chosen a first choice school? In that case, I can deny it once I choose a school right?
I guess what I’m trying to get at is, since not all NMF have chosen first choices, how does NMC choose to offer their $2500 scholarship to students?
I always thought that those 8300 people were offered the NMC scholarship and they either accepted it or denied it if they had corporate or school one, and that the c/s ones were another number entirely.</p>
<p>If you are awarded a one-time $2500 scholarship, it won’t affect your chances at receiving one of the “big dollar” scholarships that some schools offer. Those large scholarships at schools like Kentucky, Bama, ASU, Arizona, etc. are all considered “unofficial” NMSC scholarships and are considered seperately from the 4 types of “official” NMSC scholarships (one-time, school sponsored, corporate, or special). The “official” school-sponsored scholarships are usually in the range of $1K-$2K per year for 4 years, with many only offering amounts above $1K/year if the student qualifies for need-based financial aid as well. </p>
<p>Naming of a first-choice university has always been something of a guessing game if you’re still waiting to hear from prospective schools, and no one that I’m aware of can give you a definitive answer on what criteria is used to award the $2500 one-time awards. Theoretically, it would seem that those awards would predominantly go to students who were “Undecided” on their first choice schools, but I don’t think that’s a hard and fast truth. I know NMSC states that a Finalist can only be offered one “official” scholarship, so I’m not sure how they’d handle it if you were awarded a $2500 scholarship and subsequently named a first-choice school that would offer you a school-sponsored “official” award that would net you more money ($4K-$8K as opposed to $2500). Some schools (Oklahoma State is one I believe) will augment their overall package to make sure all NMF’s get the higher of the 2 amounts ($8K total in OSU’s case) regardless of whether it’s a straight school-sponsored award or a combination of one-time plus augmentation. </p>
<p>Different schools handle those awards in their own way, so you probably need to make some phone calls. Call NMSC and ask them directly if you’d be able to switch from a $2500 to a larger school-sponsored award once you finally choose a school. I’d also call the schools you’re considering and ask what their policy is for $2500 winners who then name that school as first-choice. In any case, DO NOT miss any school imposed deadlines for naming first-choice without contacting the school beforehand. If you explain that you’re waiting on decisions from other schools they may grant you some leeway, but you’d just have to ask.</p>
<p>I wish it were easier, but a lot of Finalists face similar dilemmas. If you’re waiting to hear from schools that don’t offer NMF money, you have to consider how much a 1 in 6 chance (at best) of winning a $2500 award weighs against guaranteed (in most cases) larger dollars at participating NM schools for naming them as first-choice. Realize that there are a large number (6700 approximately) NMFs who do not receive any “official” NMSC award. Many of them just choose to attend a non-participating university and did not receive a $2500 award, so it’s a risk that many choose to take. Good Luck to you whichever path you choose!!</p>
<p>Naming a first choice school has no effect on the $2,500 NMSC scholarship. The winners were selected back in January, they just haven’t been notified yet.</p>
<p>My son put Amherst as his “first choice” because it was indeed his first choice, even though he knew that Amherst does not give college-sponsored NMF money. He got into Amherst ED and is going there. My question is this: will his having named Amherst as 1st choice make him any less likely to get the one-time $2500 scholarship? Sounds like no from what you said above, BobWallace, but I just wanted to double check. Thanks.</p>
<p>From the NMSC website:</p>
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<p>Thanks a lot, BobWallace!</p>
<p>I got notified that I won the $2500 scholarship today! For reference, I live in MD.</p>
<p>Congrats Emc2!! Just out of curiousity, did you have a first choice school named already or were you “Undecided”? If you had a school named, do they offer an “official” NMSC scholarship or is it a school that doesn’t participate?</p>
<p>I called NM. They told me that the 2500 kids who get the $2500 scholarship are chosen in January. The committee looks at everything they submitted in the fall EXCEPT that cover sheet which has data like e-mail address, phone number, and “1st choice college”. They reiterated to me that the committee never sees which college you chose (or whether you said “undecided”) so it makes NO difference in your chances of getting the $2500 award.</p>
<p>EMC2, how were you notified? By snail mail or on the NM portal (OSA) online? They told me a few days ago that snail mail letters would come out on 3/28, as the info packet says, and that it would appear online on that OSA portal on 3/28, but you have received yours earlier?. Congrats!</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>@Wolverine86, I put down “Undecided” (and still am). Even on my scholarship notification, it says my choice is Undecided. I’m guessing it makes no difference. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>@Jennieling, that makes sense. I thought it was 8500 that get it though…typo? I was notified through snail mail. Not sure why I got it early…in my letter, it says I got the $2500 from someone’s foundation (her name started with an E…too lazy/can’t find it right now). It wasn’t a corporate scholarship though. Maybe they’re sending them out early…keep an eye out on the mailbox!</p>
<p>Emc2…It sounds like you may have been awarded one of the “special” scholarships that get awarded through NMSC since the info jennieling received is that they haven’t started notifying the $2500 winners yet. It may just be coincidence that the amount of your award is also $2500, but in any case it will look just as nice when it shows up in your student account. Congrats again!!</p>
<p>FYI, the number of scholarships jennieling mentioned wasn’t a typo. The total number of NM Scholars will be around 8300, but that includes all the recipients of “official” NMSC scholarships. Those 8300 will include approximately 2500 recipients of the one-time $2500 scholarships, corporate scholarship winners, special scholarship winners (this may be you!!), and college-sponsored award winners.</p>
<p>Actually, if you factor in the special scholarship winners (1300 of them), the total number comes out to 9600. 8300 receive the one-time $2500 scholarships, corporate scholarship, and/or college-sponsored award.</p>
<p>DS received notification of a corporate scholarship this past Saturday. It was via snail mail.
His first choice college is also listed as undecided. What I wanted to point out is that there are two reply deadlines: one is a reply deadline , the other is college choice deadline. So do not forget to reply as soon as you get your notification, even though your first choice is still not known :)</p>
<p>Does anyone know how to determine whether or not you receive the $2500 online? I’ve logged in but can’t seem to find it. I guess I’ll just wait for it to arrive by snail mail! (Are you notified if you don’t receive the scholarship?)</p>
<p>Log into <a href=“https://osa.nationalmerit.org/[/url]”>https://osa.nationalmerit.org/</a>
It will say “Congratulations! You have been offered a scholarship” at the top.
Congratulations to my fellow scholarship recipients!</p>
<p>balderdash, is that for the $2500 one or a corporate scholarship?</p>