Class of 2011 Notification Timeline

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>Since I couldn't find a link on the National Merit Website I dug up the schedule the National Merit Corporation sent us. I figured it might be a good idea to post it here for those that might have lost the paperwork:</p>

<p>2011</p>

<p>Jan 23 Selection committees begin choosing Merit Scholarship award winners</p>

<p>Feb 1 NMSC mails notification to high school principals about the status of their Semifinalists;
a Certificate of Merit is provided for each Semifinalist who qualifies as Finalist</p>

<p>Feb 8 NMSC notifies Finalists of their status at their home addresses</p>

<p>Mar 1 Finalists who have reported a sponsor college as first choice by this date will be
included in the first group referred to the institution for scholarship consideration</p>

<p>Mar 9 NMSC begins mailing corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship offers to winners at their
home addresses</p>

<p>Mar 24 NMSC mails offers of National Merit $2500 Scholarships</p>

<p>Apr 27 NMSC begins mailing offers of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards</p>

<p>May 31 Deadline for NMSC to receive reports of college choice for identifying the final group
candidates for college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.</p>

2

<p>Can you clarify something (if you know)? If you name a first-choice college by March 1, can you then change it if you decide to go to another college that would give you more for naming them? Is there any benefit to naming a college by March 1?</p>

3

<p>So…they haven’t even started deciding yet? What was the point of having the dealine in the fall then?</p>

4

<p>“What was the point of having the dealine in the fall then?”</p>

<p>To give us all heart attacks? :)</p>

5

<p>buckeye,</p>

<p>Not sure. It looks to me like you can change your college choice until May 31. Someone more familiar with the process will need to verify that though.</p>

6

<p>Buckeye7,</p>

<p>Student may change his or her first choice college in writing (mail or fax to the NMSC) as often as necessary between now and the end of the business day on April 26, 2011. </p>

<p>March 1 is not the deadline to report first choice college.</p>

<p>Mar 1 is the date that NMSC will forward Finalists information to their first choice college for scholarship consideration. </p>

<p>April 26 is the deadline to report his/her first choice college because Apr 27 NMSC begins mailing out offers of college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards.</p>

<p>After April 26, 2011, those students, who have “Undecided” status on their first choice college, will have up to May 31 to report to MNSC a final “first choice” college.</p>

<p>You can find this information is at the bottom of page 3 of your " Requirements and Instructions for Semifinalists". It is in the rectangular box. Every semifinalist should have this document. You just have to read carefully.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the help. I found that document online … Daughter kept all her paperwork and I don’t think I had read it. I keep feeling like we are going to drop the ball on something. There’s so much to keep track of senior year!</p>

8

<p>*So…they haven’t even started deciding yet? What was the point of having the dealine in the fall then? *</p>

<p>You may be confusing the selection of finalists with the selection of scholarship winners. Finalists are being selected NOW, scholarship winners will be selected over the next few weeks/months.</p>

<p>The selection process for scholarships is a bit odd.</p>

9

<p>So, who gets the $2,500 ones? any clues?</p>

10

<p>How do the corporate scholarships work?</p>

11

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Corporate scholarships are almost ALWAYS given to the children of employees. There are a few exceptions - kids going into unque/specific majors.</p>

12

<p>Okay. I was just so confused about this process. I’m not sure I did it right. I submitted my application in October, but there wasn’t anything on it about corporate scholarships… I also had no idea what to put as my college of choice, since I don’t hear back from most until April 1st or around then. I put undecided.</p>

13

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Do your parents work for a company that gives NMF scholarships? if you don’t know, go to the NMCorp and look at the list of Corporate participants. </p>

<p>Before my son rec’d a NMF corporate scholarship, my H had to fill out some kind of paperwork at his job.</p>

14

<p>No, neither of my parents work at companies, unfortunately. I think I’ll probably just money from my state flagship for NMSF or NMF.</p>

15

<p>What is your state flagship? Did you apply to any other schools that give assured big scholarships for NMF?</p>

16

<p>I’ve applied to Ohio State University; they give $1000/yr for NMF. I’ve applied to a few other schools that give minimal NMF awards, but the bigger question is whether I’ll get in (Bowdoin, Carleton, etc.)</p>

17

<p>I want to change my first choice college, but I don’t have my packet anymore. I was looking for the thing on the website that they say you can fax in, but I couldn’t find it. Does anyone have the link?</p>

18

<p>Read the section in the box on page 3.
Here is the document</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck</p>

19

<p>I did! They said I can fax a copy of the college choice card, found at nationalmerit.org, but I looked around the site and was unable to locate this card.</p>

20

<p>On the website, it’s not a “card”…it’s a form.</p>

<p><a href=“http://nationalmerit.org/Col_Ch_Special.pdf[/url]”>http://nationalmerit.org/Col_Ch_Special.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;