Hello, I recently learned that I have advanced to National Merit Finalist. A few weeks ago I received the full tuition scholarship for Semifinalists from Fordham University. Another school I applied to is Northeastern University, which I believe has a scholarship for Finalists. Since I applied RD there, I will receive my admissions decision by April 1. My question is, if I were to get in, would they offer me a scholarship even though I marked “undecided” as my first college choice on the NMSC website? And would this allow me to choose between two schools’ scholarships? Or, would I have to choose one college as my first choice before I get the Northeastern scholarship, or do something else entirely?
I am pretty confused because all the information I found online seems vague, and just now I found this from the National Merit website FAQ: “Colleges and universities sponsor National Merit Scholarships that are renewable and cover up to four years of undergraduate study at the sponsor institution. Stipends range from $500 to $2,000 per year.” As far as I know, the National Merit scholarships offered by many colleges often exceed $2,000. This adds another layer to my confusion. I would appreciate if any of this could be clarified for me. Thank you in advance for your help!
The full tuition scholarship at Fordham and similar scholarships are separate from NM Corp and are at the discretion of the school. Just liked you received a letter from Fordham, you should get one from Northeastern if you are admitted and awarded their NM scholarship, conditioning the scholarship on you naming the school first choice with NM by a certain date. Browse around on this forum a bit for more info.
You should hear from NEU by mid-March I would say. NMSF scholarship seems to be varying this year between $15-31K, not full tuition like it was a few years ago. If in doubt, talk to FA at both schools but I think you can change the school choice by April 1.
@unlike2877 regarding Fordham University, I don’t think that they require you to name them as your first school of choice, I haven’t read anything about that in their offer for NMSF. Other colleges do require you to choose them as your first school of choice by certain date. Although NMSC allows you to change that before May 1, if you decide otherwise after a particular college deadline.
So does this mean that if College 1 wants you to select it as the first choice before March 1st and another (College 2) says before May 1st, we could technically choose College 1 now, wait till after March 1st and switch to College2 if we prefer that after visiting the campus?
Currently we are in a similar situation with having to choose between a few schools that give good NM scholarships, which we are yet to visit in person.
@CaliPal: as being mentioned in the letter that NMSC sent to NMF (on the second page of the letter), NMSC publishes first choice college on certain interval. As long as the dates that colleges want you to choose do not collide, you still can change your first choice to a second college. This is based on what I heard people did in the past. However, I don’t know the implication if you want to switch back to the first college.
I have been looking for details for the University of Pittsburgh and University of Maryland without much luck. I do know that Penn St gives a maximum of $2,000 and you need to have them assigned as your first choice in February.
@unlike2877 - These questions cop up every year. It would be nice if NMSC added some clarity. Here’s what I learned last year through this process.
NMSC - the corporation
Offers $2500 scholarship - a small group of finalists receive this award
Corporate Scholarships - a broad group of companies offer NM scholarships. For the most part, the parents of the student must be an employee. Some are regionally based.
College scholarships - this is the most confusing part. Many colleges participate in the NMSC scholarship program. The money for this is usually pretty small (my experience).
You can only accept one of these (I think that’s right).
Many schools offer “National Merit Scholarship” that is separate from NMSC. My DS is at Arizona State. He is a “New American National Merit Scholar”. He receives $500 per semester from NMSC. The balance of his OS tuition is a school scholarship to meet 100% tuition. It is confusing. As many have suggested, do some research and reach out to schools you are interested in to fully understand their FA process.
I see, that really clears it up for me. I’ve never seen any of the schools I’m applying to mention that the scholarship they offer is separate from NMSC, which would have been good to know from the start, lol. Thank you!
So if my son would be eligible for a $2500 scholarship through my husband’s corporation and a $1,000 scholarship from a college, he would have to pick one or the other right? He would not be eligible for both?