<p>Some schools are so interested in the NMF designation that they offer full scholarships, others really want it as a stat, so they can say x% of their applicants were NMF. Many, though not all, give some type of scholarship for this themselves. About half of the schools my son was accepted to would have given him NM money if he hadn't gotten a corporate NM award through his father's employer. One would have tacked on an additional $3,000 per year, specifically related to NMF status. And it may have been a factor that entered into other merit awards he received.</p>
<p>What I did hear from several posters last year was that just being a candidate for Presidential Scholar was as highly valued by many adcoms as actually receiving the award. There may be a few schools that wouldn't care at all about these awards, but I think only a handful.</p>
<p>Thanks, CountingDown. Maybe it's hubris but I do expect our kids to make NMF - isn't it just a small percentage who don't? Although my D's application looked atrocious - she used elmer's glue to attach the essay and it stiffened up the paper into cardboard - very "professional" looking. Oh well. The essay was well-written . . .</p>
<p>Yes, it is just a small percentage who don't and I think it's mostly ones who don't send in the application forms, though one other reason I've heard is tanking on the SAT's. I, in fact am an example of a semi-finalist who never sent in the application because I was already in college, that college didn't give them, my Dad didn't work for anyone who did either and I didn't see the point.</p>
<p>As I recall, the essay my son wrote for NM was, with few changes, the one he used on his CA. I was grateful he was forced to write an essay so early in the process, because it would be so easy to procrastinate.</p>
<p>I was really happy when son's NM thing came in because a few of his colleges made a big point of caring about this. Hope you'll be celebrating soon, mammall.</p>
<p>mammall,
What I've read here on other threads is that kids who were not selected as finalists were notified in January. Couldn't hurt to check with the GC just to confirm she's on the list, since I've seen others post in the past couple of days that GCs have gotten lists of finalists. </p>
<p>I don't know if that NMF list is addressed to the principal or GC, though -- I've heard plenty of stories about those forms sitting on the P's desk for a while! :) (NMSF forms sat on our principal's desk for at least two weeks last year.)</p>
<p>Our GC is out of town. Will be back tomorrow. No one has heard anything at her school and there were 12 NMSFs so I'm not going to start worrying. Of course, nothing is a given, and her application really did look kludgey.</p>
<p>I think if you haven't heard a "no" yet you can be very confident, mammall. </p>
<p>My son brought home his finalist certificate from school today - yay! Thanks for the urging to send the info to colleges - even if it's pretty typical to advance, it does make sense that a school might count it as a relevant statistic. And of course, we're dialed in to the schools on his list who give NM awards, even if he's not ready to select the one school yet. </p>
<p>I've been reading the thread on demonstrated interest, and I guess we can use this letter about NM as an opportunity to "show the love". S is just not going to be visiting colleges again until he has some decisions back, and I can't think of any other ways to show interest.</p>
<p>Email seems to be really overloaded right now at many schools. They are posting notices that they are taking days even weeks to keep abreast of the emails. I'd logon to their sites and make sure that's not the case. Crazy how you need a strategy every step of the way, even now on how to get the information delivered. lol</p>
<p>Yes rainmama, I think you are telling them they are important to you by sending updates with big things like NM. I confess I even got brightly colored envelopes to send the notices in. Can't hurt.</p>
<p>Allmusic: I spoke to the Admissions offices at several schools today. They asked for updates via snail mail sent directly to Admissions. At this late point, they said, both e-mail and fax are overloaded, and are unreliable methods of transmitting information. I think that if in doubt, the best course of action is to call to find out the preferred method of transmission.</p>
<p>Won't schools infer National Merit and Presidential Scholar nominee status from test scores? Are parents/students/guidance counselors really mailing/emailing/faxing updates about this? (I'm asking because I'm wondering if this is something I should be doing.)</p>
<p>"Won't schools infer National Merit and Presidential Scholar nominee status from test scores? "</p>
<p>For the NM, at least, it depends if you took the PSAT and qualified to move on, and then made the cut on SAT test. So, no, SAT scores don't necessarilly mean that one is a NM nominee.</p>
<p>When my son was applying, he asked the regional admissions officer of his favorite school for the best way of providing the update without annoying the admissions staff. His advice was to send a letter <em>briefly</em> itemizing the awards. The letter consisted of a couple sentences expressing interest, some bullet points, and brief closure.</p>
<p>His letter went out in late February because of the timing of his various competitions, so I haven't a clue if it was considered or not. My thinking at the time was that if the application was on the edge, and was being reread, evidence of continued academic enthusiasm might not hurt.</p>
<p>NM also depends on the state where you live because qualifying scores vary from state to state and year by year.</p>
<p>Son just sent out a 2 or 3 sentence report about the two awards and the performance with a newspaper clipping. I did see it as a way of showing interest and continued enthusiasm, as ohio_mom suggests.</p>