@Hope2achieve if your child and his or her GC filled out the application on time, she scored at least a 1960 on the SAT (math+verbal+writing multiple choice scores), and she has no C’s, she has a very high chance of making finalist. Letters to those semifinalists who WILL NOT progress to finalist standing are sent to their home addresses around mid-January; otherwise, if you do not receive one of these letters in the mail, it is likely that your daughter is a NMF.
Letters to NMFs notifying them of their finalist standing will be mailed Feb. 9 this year, and letters to principals will be mailed a week earlier, Feb. 2 (according to the timeline provided to semifinalists in their congratulatory letter given by NM). There is no book containing the names of all the finalists like there is for semifinalists, to the best of my knowledge.
January, however, is always an extremely nerve-racking time for NMSFS with 1 or more Cs on their transcripts, as past years’ threads can attest. I am in this very gut wrenching boat, as I have 1 final C grade (77) from geometry freshman year, 2 Bs, but otherwise all As. I’m hoping that my UW GPA of 3.83 and the explanation I provided in my application essay will negate that C on my transcript, but it’s hard to tell with NM, as their tolerance for Cs varies from year to year (2013, for example, was a pretty tough year for NMSFs with even one C, as many of them did not progress to finalist). There is also speculation that NMF eliminations vary from state to state, as NM might have to cut down on the number of NMFs to get the number down to around 15k, give or take, from around 16k semifinalists. I’ve poured over past NM annual reports I could find on the internet that give the exact numbers of semifinalists and finalists in the competition each year, and after calculating, I found that around 1,100 or so semifinalists do not progress to finalist each year, but of course this varies from year to year, just like the PSAT cutoffs for each state. Years of past threads from NMF hopefuls with Cs have been an incredible help for me as I navigate through this time in waiting for my fate: elimination because of that one C or being declared a finalist. I’m hoping for finalist standing because of the free rides my state has starting awarding to finalists, which would be a financial relief for my parents, who have to send more kids to college in the coming years.
I got a 223 on the PSAT and a 2240 on the SAT. My grades are pretty good mostly As, a couple Bs and one C. Will the C ruin my chances? It was in AP Calculus which I took as a junior (A year early at my school). Will this matter or will they just see it as a C and disqualify me.
@jgriffen I am in the same boat as you, with similar stats (2260 SAT, all A’s besides 2 Bs and one final grade of C). If you have read any of the threads from past years, some people have posted that they have gotten through to finalist with one or two C’s, while others haven’t. Was the C a semester grade of year end final grade?
Also, what is your unweighted GPA? Many of those with Cs who haven’t progressed have had UW GPAs of 3.6 or below. NM doesn’t seem to consider weighted GPA.
What state are you in? There has been speculation in the past that the bar to finalist has been higher in competitive states with a lot of NMSFs like CA and TX where numbers need to be cut to get the # of finalists down to around 15k.
It’s hard to say, but just be on the look out starting next week. If don’t happen to progress to finalist, NM will send you a rejection letter to your home address. They are usually sent out around the first week of January from IL, so this year’s batch, I would think, would go out sometime next week, as yesterday was a holiday. If you don’t get a rejection letter in the mail by Feb., there is a very high chance you have made finalist. NM sends finalist letters to your HS principal Feb. 2 and and letters to finalists at their home addresses Feb. 9.
@VaishS@timbercreek16 thank you for answering! when you say schools should be receiving notice, you mean our high schools right? or do you mean the colleges that we applied to?
Oh nevermind! I just found an online pamphlet from National Merit that says:
Feb 3: NMSC mails notification to high school principals about the status of their Semifinalists
Feb 10: NMSC notifies Finalists of their status at their home addresses
We are in IL and no word here yet but D was out of town today interviewing for scholarships and auditioning. Hoping the principle has heard and will notify her tomorrow!
when you say schools should be receiving notice, you mean our high schools right? or do you mean the colleges that we applied to?