Class of 2020 National Merit Discussion

Nothing here today in CA. Whew.

I love this board - makes me feel like I’m not crazy or at least not all alone in my craziness. So far, we’ve dodged the unwanted letter. My son applied to UTD, TXTech, UF, and Bama. He visited Tech and UTD and fell in love with UTD. He just signed up for the National Merit preview day on March 6th. We haven’t visited Bama or UF yet.

@CincoDad my daughter favors UCF over UTD, but I thought UTD had an awful lot to recommend it, and we’ll be looking hard at it for my younger kid who is Comp Sci directed. What does your son want to study?

So I think I’m ready to declare rejection letter week over. Can someone bring over the snacks and board games to keep us distracted for, what, the next 3-4 weeks?

Are the kids who thought they were on the bubble still standing? @Icky19 @18katydid -hoping for good news

@drxxpresso My son is going to study Comp Sci. He actually did apply to UCF and USF as well. My guess is that he will decide on UTD but I put the ball in his court if he wants to fly out to the Florida schools and/or Bama. Given his major, personality, experience at UTD, and that we live in Oklahoma City… I think he will decide on UTD.

I never really heard about NM until just a few months before he took the test. I’m surprised there’s not more focus and buzz about it given the scholarships available. I’m also grateful my son didn’t really want to do the TOP school he could get into. I think our probability of success has gone up from 93% to 98+%.

Daughter did not get a letter (yet). We have moved to be pretty optimistic here (MN), and have decided that a clear Tuesday mail will put our minds completely at ease. Looking forward to our visit in a week to UF. She really has her heart set on UF, and has great test scores, but GPA is lower than she would like due to various “life sometimes sucks” reasons so the wait until Feb. 28 is very painful. She wants to be a forensic anthropologist which limits the full ride school options, so all our eggs are in the one basket.

I agree with @CincoDad, I love this board also. It helps me feel not so crazy, only those going through this same “game” truly understand the ups and downs. It if funny how this one test can make such a difference for a life. We certainly had no idea prior to her taking the test, only found out once she did so well. Had we known, she maybe would have studied. lol (I feel kinda bad for her brother who is three years behind her, he WILL be studying for it.)

@Icky19 what’s the feb 28 deadline that you are waiting for?

@border1218 UF’s decision date is Feb 28, so we won’t know until then if she is accepted.

@border1218 that’s good to know about UF.

@Icky19 I grew up in Woodbury, MN and work for Medtronic so I love MN but it’s too cold for me.

My last post both points should have been directed to @Icky19 … oops.

I’m in NY and on the bubble, am I safe by now?

@tacobellbinger : Yes, barring some freak accident in the USPS mail sorting machine…safe to assume you will be a NMF. Congrats!

Nothing here in Texas either. I’m thinking it’s all good!

Woohoo – so can we all safely assume? Congratulations, all!

I am taking that leap of assumptive faith!

breathing a sigh of relief here too.

in case anyone is wondering…
on february 3, NMSC mails notifications to high school principals about the status of their Semifinalists; a Certificate of Merit is provided for each Semifinalist who qualifies as a Finalist.

on february 10, NMSC notifies Finalists of their status at their home addresses.

Well this just makes me smile. I feel like a celebration is in order. I’m perplexed how recently I learned about NM and what a blessing it will be for my family.

Sorry if this is a duplicate question, but my daughter just changed her “first choice” school on her portal for NMSC from undecided to a choice. It is, however, not her first choice. 3 of the schools she is applying to offer NMF scholarships, but for 2 of them she won’t know if she is accepted until late March. What is the absolute latest she can change her first choice, and does it vary by college?

I believe it’s April 2nd, but that’s just off the top of my head.

Hi! I just found this forum and thank you all for the help it has been already. My oldest DD is a NMSF and I feel like we really had no clue as to what this meant and are just now realizing the true worth. She had applied to UA and UI but doesn’t really love either. Her other schools have been smaller private ones that offered merit but not NMF money. She has been accepted to them but didn’t really get as much of a merit offer as she had hoped. Last night she decided to apply (really late I know) to UCF. Is it crazy at this point to even consider that? Did we completely miss the chance by waiting so long to apply to a school that offers NMF awards? For some background, we live in very rural Eastern WA. She’s first in her class currently of 400+. She has a 4.0 UW (our school doesn’t weigh) and has taken 8 AP classes (5 she has tested for, 3 are this year). She has passed all her AP tests. She’s our oldest so I admit that as parents we have tried to research and attend information sessions but honestly still feel pretty clueless. I guess my main question is do you think we blew it and are way too late to the game? Thank you for your help.

@2tiredmomma I don’t think it’s late. The website says May 1 for fall enrollment. If you have any questions, contact Luke.VanBlaricom@ucf.edu He is Director of the Scholars Program and should be able to help you through any hoops. UCF wants NM students.