@amsunshine Does “bulk mailing” mean actual physical bulk mail sent to the schools or email? I hope with the covid that they choose to send out email notifications.
I’m anxiously waiting too, and also low key worrying about whether S21 chose senior classes with lower rigor (like in English) and that might negatively affect whether he moves on to Finalist status.
It means physical mail. NMSC mostly does things the old fashioned way. So, they will prepare and send out bulk mail to the schools and homeschoolers. Usually, homeschoolers are the first to post that their kids made the cut. I think the first post last year was on August 30 (3 days after NMSC mailed the letters out). My D20’s GC finally notified her September 4th, I believe. This year, we are waiting for my D21. 
Maybe they’ll surprise us and send out the mailing early. Anyone want to volunteer to call them? 
Last year NMSC sent them out a week later than usual for some reason as we waited to hear for my eligible son. Hopefully they go out sooner this year as I am now waiting for my D21 to hear (she is on the edge of Arts predictions).
Any homeschool parents on this thread that can keep us posted when you get your letter? thank you!
Praying that CP is right about the scores this year. I’m right at the predicted cutoff score for my state, so I’m freaking out.
@amsunshine thank you for asking 
. Yes, Florida is still in the running but it has moved down his list because he has been recruited to play football at several amazing schools. His #1 right now is MIT, then Hopkins, then Carnegie Mellon. Those are all his football schools where he has the head coach’s formal support. After that it’s pretty much even between UF, UCLA, Berkeley, ASU, UMiami, and Duke. If Miami comes in with a full ride (either Stamps or Benacquisto plus Singer etc.) then we will go visit campus and see if it grabs him. We doubt Duke will come back with much money but same thing - if he gets accepted and they offer a merit scholarship, we will visit campus. ASU is guaranteed full tuition because of NMF, and if they come up with room and board, we will visit and see how he feels. Right now UF is a full ride with NMF (we are assuming he will be a NMF based on his 226 SI and his confirming SAT score from last September, all that is missing is the application which happens this fall) but I have strong doubts that Benacquisto will be viable over the next few years due to the recession/depression we are in, so I am not pushing him to pursue it.
So he is either going to play football at a full pay school (MIT, Hopkins, CM), or attend an in-state school at about 35k (UCLA or Cal), or a full ride/mostly full ride school (UF, UM, Duke, ASU). Very different paths, and of course he still has to get accepted everywhere! We are trying to figure out if we can afford full pay; there are some personal factors in our family that will be ironed out in the next several months.
I’d greatly prefer a full ride school, and no football. He wants to play college ball! Given how unstable I believe the future would be at UF and ASU because of the state budgets’ situations over the next several years, I have doubts that relying on an NMF scholarship is the right path for our family.
So basically I have no idea where he is going to end up. However it turns out I am sure he will be successful wherever he ends up. I am trying not to stress about all of this and just enjoy each day as it comes.
@sherimba03 we have similar buckets, minus the football. I worry about Benaquisto too but D21 has taken a liking to UCF who has pledged in the past to continue the NMF program without state funding. She’s got USC and BU as two of her reach schools, her stats are good for both but we are full pay on paper and would be dependent on getting merit at both.
Fingers crossed we start hearing this week, although I am less than hopeful we will hear from our school - they are in the throes of last minute preparations to go online on a different platform than the spring, and guidance has been less responsive than ever.
@riverandsasha3 we are in exactly the same boat of being exactly at CP’s predicted cutoff for WA at 219. I’m freaking out too!
Hopefully many of you have this thread bookmarked! I don’t want to cause alarm because I am unsure if this means anything. However, I was lurking on the National Merit website, and I think I found the qualifying scores. If this is true, then this is great news!!! I hope this is great news for everyone else on this thread! 
I don’t think I’m allowed to share the link, but go on the National Merit website and search “2021.” Scroll down to “2021 National Merit Scholarship Program” and you’ll see it!!!
Where on the website??? ack!
eta: NVM, I see it. OMG – I wonder if they made a mistake making this a public post but it looks like CA is 221. That’s one point below last year. 
@amsunshine Search “2021” in the search bar on the upper right hand corner and follow the rest of the steps. Hope you find it!
@amsunshine I thought it was a mistake, too! It seems very early for them to be releasing any information, but it looks reliable.
Posting for the benefit of others:
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=1228&sparam=2021&scontid=0
@amsunshine Yeah, I was going to post the link. I was just worried because it says that “The information in this table constitutes proprietary information of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and may not be used except as expressly permitted, and may not be published or disclosed without the express written permission of National Merit Scholarship Corporation.”
I guess I wasn’t thinking I was publishing it. Just linking to their page, which is the actual publication/disclosure. Hopefully that’s ok.
If this is right, and it does indeed look legit, S21 missed the cutoff by 1 point. 
Omg if this is true then my S21 just made the cutoff for CA , 221, fingers crossed for the official news ! And thanks for sharing the news !!!
Looking forward to the official confirmation but really hopeful that this is accurate!
@mm5678 that’s great that your daughter is interested in UCF! I had booked a spring break trip where we were going to tour UM, UCF, and UF and I was hoping that DS21 would take a liking to UCF given how great the past NMF students have said it is, how great Luke is, and the fact that the school guarantees the full ride if Benacquisto ends. Sadly, the trip didn’t happen due to covid so the only schools we’ve been able to visit were the California schools we did last summer.
Bump so that others following this will see ASAP. (Thanks CC for keeping me in the know!)
It seems weird that they would publish this so much earlier than they have in other years, but no mind; we’re thrilled to see it! (D21 made the cut by one point 
)
Congrats!! She must be so happy!