<p>I went thru the list of acceptances and unfortunately it looks like no NMSF status was mentioned among the acceptances though some of the SAT scores indicate that they very well could be NMSFs. </p>
<p>Since, NMFinalists are presidential scholars automatically and they need not interview, is it possible that USC did not process the NMSFs this round? I am still holding out hope that I will be admitted. </p>
<p>I have 3.6 GPA, 1460 (V+M) and 720 in writing, good to excellent ECs and have not heard back. My status page says preliminary review complete and the date stamp is 12/03/2008</p>
<p>So, if any of those accepted are National Merit Semifinalists please do let me know. I can at least stop checking my status page every hour or so.</p>
<p>D is NMSF and has received acceptance package and Presidential interview invitation. But as everyone has said, these acceptances and invitations come in waves, so don't lose hope!</p>
<p>i'm in the same boat, spurfan! i think that we are probably not in the running for the trustee or regular presidential scholarships, but are still eligible for the NMF presidential one. I think they might be waiting to hear about finalist status, since that doesn't come out for another few weeks. so don't lose hope yet! the people hearing now are the ones who need to interview for their scholarships.</p>
<p>USC stopped giving the Presidential Scholarship to NMF two years ago I believe. If you are a NM Semifinalist, you must name USC your first choice and then apply before 12/1/08 in order to be consider for the Presidential, if you have exceptional stats, you may be interviewed for the Trustee. S is a semi, just got accepted. He will go to USC's Explore for the Presidential interview in late February.</p>
<p>all NMF's who declare USC as their first choice- and end up getting accepted- get the half off scholarship, they didn't stop doing that. Or at least i hope not- that's what they told me at my meet usc session last week!</p>
<p>Well the application was done before December 1st and as for naming USC as the number 1 choice I have not made a choice yet. I was hoping to look at what I have in the 1st week of April and then make the school choice for National Merit. </p>
<p>Anyway, have not got the NMF notification or rejection yet. My mail man appears to be dyslexic. Our mail goes to someone two streets down and their mail comes to us. Unfortunately, those folks are out of town most part of the month and when they do come back they sort thru their mail and give us ours. No amount of complaining seems to fix this. So, though I did not get a NMF rejection letter, the possibility still exists.</p>
<p>torrence, you are right. My D knows several students who have the NMF half tuition scholarship after naming USC as their first choice, but who were not accepted early or invited for the interviews. I imagine it would be the same this year.</p>
<p>I am not 100% sure, but the thing that concerns me from your post is that you have not yet made a decision if USC is your first choice. Of course, you have time to make that decision. You can say undecided to the last moment. But, then maybe there is a risk that USC (or another university) will not sense that their school is truly in your heart first choice. My concern (and should it be a concern?) is that when USC admissions decides upon your application, if you do not have USC down as first choice with National Merit Corp., that if you later decide to put down USC as first choice, that it will be past the time for the presidential scholarship. I am not sure how this works out timing wise and is worth looking into. Why are you procrastinating about which university is your first choice?</p>
<p>From what I know from National Merit, we have until the last week of April to decide our first choice for National Merit. At this point, not all schools I have applied to, made their decisions. I am looking at pre-med and I did apply to a couple of direct BS/MD programs. Depending on admission decisions and scholarships, I plan to make a decision sometime in the 2nd week of April. I have been advised by some of the past students who changed their primary choice as late as April 30.</p>
<p>I am an NMSF and mentioned it in my app and I haven't received anything. And when I used that Explore Login trick, the website told me they didn't recognize me which means I'm not up for anything as of now. USC was not my first choice for National Merit stuff . . . but I'm only going for Trustee so I thought that shouldn't matter.</p>
<p>Unless I'm just a fool and my lack of status update and failure to log into Explore is all just a fluke, I'm pretty sure USC majorly dissed me by not giving me any scholarship invites. Is this because they thought I wasn't seeing it as my dream school cuz I didn't write them as a first choice for National Merit?</p>
<p>soserene, each department determines who gets invited for the scholarships. Stellar stats is not the only consideration. They look for students who stand out in some way whether it be in the ECs or some other aspect. It has nothing to do with first choice school, I don't think the admissions committee and departments even know whether students designate the school as first choice or not.
Stay positive, last year there was another wave...you never know.</p>
<p>USC definitely still gives the Presidential Scholarship to NMF's - they just don't have to do an interview to get it. There can be duplication - some NMSF's are invited to interview for Trustee or Pres. awards. Some people have recommended that even a NMF should accept a Presidential interview invitation because of the chance they might upgrade the student to a Trustee scholarship based on the interview. </p>
<p>However it's earned, a Presidential Scholar is still eligible to join the ATPS group (S just returned from a really fun retreat to the snow over the weekend) and live in the honors housing if they want.</p>
<p>My S waited til April last year to designate USC, and in retrospect it might have been better to do it earlier. He listed NMSF on his application, and sent in an update to his regional admissions officer when he advanced to finalist. But phone calls in late March gave him the impression they didn't know about it, and the person on the phone sounded surprised not to find that info prominently displayed on his file. So... you can wait to designate, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility it could help you with admissions if you designate USC now. You can always change it later if they've not already awarded you an official National Merit award.</p>
<p>I'm actually not sure that USC even knows whether or not you put them as your first choice so I highly doubt that's the reason they did what they did.</p>
<p>I understand where you're coming from, though. I failed to receive any type of scholarship money from UMich, and I haven't been contact from the Honors program at UofI. I don't think it's completely irrational to feel offended, but just remember that there are many qualified applicants out there, and sometimes the admissions committee is looking for something specific. </p>
<p>As Sequoia said, there is likely another wave so stay positive. My friend who has like identical stats as me hasn't received his letter yet, but is a finalist for the Kelley Scholars at IU. Focus on your accomplishments to date, and don't make yourself too miserable.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you and everyone waiting for a letter.</p>
<p>It sounded like spurfan did not yet make a decision about which university to put down as first choice for NMF. For those who got interviews last year for Trustee or Presidential, did you get the letter to interview for those scholarships with your acceptance letters in January or did you get two letters (first an acceptance letter, next a letter to interview for the top USC scholarships?). I think this is the info. people here are seeking. Clearly, some are getting acceptance letters but have not yet heard about the scholarship interviews. My son put down USC as his first choice for National Merit right in the beginning. When USC got his application, my son's decision was available to USC. Therefore, I sense that USC likes kids who really want USC and that is why they want to know if USC is designated first choice on the National Merit form. If any of you out there are truly undecided about which university is your first choice, then wait until before the deadline. However, if you know in your heart which university is your first choice, I suggest you figure out why you are procrastinating. I think it is only in your favor to have the university know of your first choice at the time of application.</p>