<p>What exactly are the criteria for being able to call oneself a National Merit Scholar? I got a scholarship from Tufts, but I'm not going there so I can't use it. I think this also means that I am ineligible for any other Merit Scholarships. Am I a Merit Scholar, or what?</p>
<p>National Merit Scholar is an award based on your PSAT score that you take Junior year. It’s given by the College Board. It had nothing to do with individual colleges/scholarships, though many colleges often automatically give scholarships to people who win the National Merit Scholar award.</p>
<p>^^^ Not quite, Pancaked. </p>
<p>The PSAT can make you a National Merit Semifinalist. SATs, grades, and some other crap make you a Finalist. A National Merit Scholar is a National Merit Finalist who receives a National Merit Scholarship.</p>
<p>But the OP had an interesting question - if you’re offered a scholarship and you don’t take it, can you still claim to be a NM Scholar? I’d say why not, but that’s just me.</p>
<p>Yeah, sorry- to clarify, I was already notified that I am a Finalist, and then Tufts sent me an offer for a National Merit Scholarship if I attend Tufts. I’m not though, so, yes, basically I want to know if I can claim to be a National Merit Scholar.
I got a scholarship from Tufts because on the NM application you have to indicate a school that you plan to apply to that you would like to consider you for a scholarship. Tufts was the only school offering scholarships on the list that I planned to apply to, so I chose Tufts.</p>
<p>You become a National Merit Scholar when the College Board issues you a $2500 merit scholarship to be used anywhere. It seems like you are only a National Merit Scholar Finalist (NMSF) and Tufts awards their own merit scholarship to accepted NMSF students. NMSF distinction is pretty impressive in its own right!</p>
<p>“You become a National Merit Scholar when the College Board issues you a $2500 merit scholarship to be used anywhere.”</p>
<p>i don’t think that’s quite true. from what i understand, you become a national merit scholar when you are offered money based on your finalist status. this might be a $2500 scholarship, OR a corporate scholarship, OR a college sponsored scholarship. i’m not quite sure about your situation though. you would definitely be a scholar if you were attending tufts. but i think that no one would argue with you if you were to list yourself as a scholar on resumes and such. after all, you were offered money, you just chose not to take it.</p>
<p>wellthatsokay:</p>
<p>This student is not a National Merit Scholar. I would hate to present myself as an authority on something I may be wrong on so I just called the National Merit Scholarship program at (847) 866-5100 just to clarify. I described this situation and they said that only those awarded money directly through the National Merit Scholarship program and receiving a letter about this through them are considered National Merit Scholars. Any school is welcome to award money for attendance based on National Merit Scholarship finalist status but this is done privately and does not qualify for that title. You would no more qualify for “Scholar” status whether or not you chose to attend. In no way do I mean to belittle the substantial accomplishments of the original poster who should be proud of his academic excellence. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>OP, congratulations on being a NM Finalist. Unsure if all NM Scholar notifications are out yet, but S1 received a letter, at school and at home (NY), a few weeks ago from National Merit notifying him he is a NM Scholar. He will be attending Williams and indicated that school as his first choice, even though it does not offer any merit aid. In our case, NM will deposit his $2500, non-renewable scholarship in his Williams student account.</p>
<p>^^ S1 is a NMF, but no letter about the NM scholarship as of yet. Think he’s not in the running anymore, but wondering when the last notifications are out (for the $2500). Any date given? He did pass up a full ride offer for NMF (at LAC) to attend UVa instate (full pay). That $2500 would be rather nice…but think all the scholarships have already been sent at this point :(.</p>
<p>forgot to say that he did indicate UVa as “first choice” on NM app. back in the fall, so didn’t have to send in change card.</p>
<p>fwiw, most people do not make a distinction between those students who received the NM Scholarship Corporation scholarships and those who received other corporate-sponsored and college-sponsored scholarships.
Most people do not distinguish between Finalists and Scholars. The man on the street, your relatives at your graduation party, and most of your classmates and teachers wouldn’t know the difference. No one is going to police you on this. Obviously you’re a scholar of some sort. (Just try calling yourself a “NM Scholar” and see if anyone ever points out that, in fact, you were <em>only</em> a Finalist. 
) I would bet that most Finalists who receive any type of scholarship associated with NM status will call themselves NM Scholars (whether or not the NM corp. officially approves).</p>
<p>btw, doesn’t “NMSF” stand for National Merit Semi-Finalist, --not “scholar finalist”, NMF = National Merit Finalist?</p>
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<p>My response, also reported by Pancaked, went to answer this exact OP question. Just because the average “man on the street” doesn’t know the difference doesn’t change the exact criteria requested and answered. Many resume embellishments will never be “policed” but surely you are not suggesting this as the litmus test for listing ones accomplishments? No one is saying that calling yourself a National Merit Finalist, the correct distinction for the OP, is an unimpressive achievement. I agree that NMF would be the preferred acronym for a National Merit Finalist - sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>My point is not to encourage OP to “embellish” his resume, but to acknowledge that the designations themselves are confusing–most Scholars and Finalists don’t even know what to call themselves, so this question comes up every year. (It seems logical that those who receive a scholarship call themselves “scholars”–right or wrong, that’s what they do. I don’t think it is a big deal.)</p>
<p>yalegrad: right, i get what you’re saying. i thought that some students who received college awards did get letters from nm informing them of a change in status. i might be mistaken though. anyways, thanks for the clear-up.</p>
<p>I have to question something about defining NM “Scholar”. My D1 has a NM scholarship that is “awarded” by the college but administered through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The award has to be renewed annually through the NMSC (National Merit Scholarship Corporation) website but would be considered awarded through the college. This seems to me to qualify one as a NMS - in fact that is how the letters are addressed that are sent annually to remind my D to renew the scholarship. This is not an award based on her NMF status (like some colleges that give full tuition) but awarded based on the college choice indicated to NMS Corp during the application process. I think the Tufts award would be the same situation.</p>
<p><a href=“https://osr.nationalmerit.org/index.html[/url]”>https://osr.nationalmerit.org/index.html</a></p>
<p>I think some schools pledge “X” amount to NMSC for these awards each year and then hand them out to applicants until it is gone - the money is managed by NMSC.</p>
<p>Jkiwmom…I called National Merit to find out how the money would be deposited, because the college paperwork asked about scholarships awarded. I also went on their site about notifications and this is what it said; I hope it helps.</p>
<p>“What proportion of Finalists win a scholarship?”</p>
<p>“More than half of all Finalists win a scholarship.”</p>
<p>“When and how are Finalists notified that they have been awarded a scholarship?”</p>
<p>“On a rolling basis, beginning in late February and ending in June, Scholars are notified at their home addresses. Their high school principals are also notified.”</p>
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<p>The man in the street thinks that every student who got financial aid won a scholarship.</p>
<p>SSSmomof3, thanks! Didn’t realize it’s only about half who will be receiving the $2500. Shoot. But good to know that I don’t have to give up on it entirely until June. Hopeful, but won’t hold my breath…</p>
<p>This seems rather pedantic, but what the heck. :)</p>
<p>From the National Merit website:</p>
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<p>Therefore, anyone who receives one of the scholarships, be it from NMSC or a corporate or college sponsor is considered an NM Scholar. That’s why NMSC can say that “more than half” of the NMFs receive a scholarship–that’s counting all three sources. </p>
<p>D1 received a college-sponsored NMF award. She was first notified by the college, but then received notification from NMSC congratulating her on her NM Scholar status. She did not receive one of the $2500 awards, but she is still considered a NM Scholar, per the NMSC. </p>
<p>YaleDadandgrad, I think that the NMSC people were distinguishing between colleges that explicitly award money to NMFs via the NMSC (like Tufts) and colleges that like to use NMF status as a qualifier for awarding their own private scholarships (like GWU, which generally awards NMFs a GWU Presidential Scholarship). Also, that the student has to actually use or receive the money. </p>
<p>OP, I think that pretty much no one will notice the difference between National Merit Scholar and National Merit Finalist on your resume/brag sheet.</p>