I hope you don’t mind if I ask. How do they know she is NMSF? Did you mention it in UCF application or they found out on their own? Thank you!
No, I don’t mind. Yes, I believe it was in her application. UCF is very “on the ball” with their NM recruitment.
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My daughter did not apply (or ever contact) UCF but got the NMSF booklet in the mail and many emails about her being a NMSF…(and our school/county did not make public announcement). I am guessing that they get this information to contact students.
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Does anyone know if they’ve sent rejection letters yet? Also I’m wondering if they notify schools by mail or by email on February 1st? Thanks!
My educated guess is that the rejection letters have already been sent and if you have not received one as yet, you can breathe easier.
February 1 is the date they will send letters and certificates to schools. These have, in the past, always been mailed via USPS, not emailed. It’s possible with COVID protocols this year that things could change, but I haven’t seen anything about that. I guess we will see what happens over the course of the next week or two.
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Thank you @amsunshine for the info in this post and the previous posts. After reading your posts, I went back and checked the NMS information PDF from NMSC. According to the “2021 National Merit Scholarship program” flowchart: “Semifinalists who do not advance to Finalist standing notified - January 2021”. Since we did not hear anything from them this month, I am hoping it is good news.
I wasn’t really sure how they will notify kids when I read “On February 8, 2021, NMSC will notify Finalists at their home addresses.” and the next sentence was “Semifinalists who do not advance to Finalist standing will be notified in writing. Notification will be mailed to high school officials and the students’ homes.” Its a little confusing because they mentioned that they will mail notification to kids homes if they do not advance, but they did not say how they will notify those who advance.
Based on our experience last year, they mailed out all the notifications. We received a letter in the mail for my D20, confirming that she advanced to finalist status, and the school was also notified by mail the prior week. NMSC sends the official certificate to the school, as well.
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We have informed delivery too, but half of the time for the past few months the message in the email is something like “We don’t have images of your mail today”. I am slightly paraphrasing here, It just reminds me of the new Bud Light commercial 
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We’ve made it to February and are crossing our fingers that the principal calls later this week with good news. I was slightly hopeful that amsunshine’s suggested possibility about letters and certificates being emailed this year due to COVID might happen, but I’ve seen zero indications anywhere that any semifinalist has learned yet of achieving finalist status. I’m guessing snail mail remains the delivery method of choice.
The waiting is a drain.
Good luck to all!
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Per the National merit website: “Today NMSC mailed Certificates of Merit to principals across the country, notifying them of the students who have advanced to Finalist standing in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program. Letters will be mailed to Finalists’ homes on February 8… Over 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists named in September 2020 have met all requirements to advance to Finalist standing in the competition. All Finalists will be considered for National Merit Scholarships to be offered in 2021.”
Good Luck everyone!
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/blog.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=564
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Each day with no mail from NMSC in the mailbox has brought more hope. Of course yesterday we received a Christmas card… mailed in mid December 
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No mail here either!
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Based on my experience last fall, I’ll have to call the principal and have her look through the pile of mail on her desk… first I have to guess how long the mail with take to reach her though!
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Has anyone heard from national merit about finalist standing? I expected to hear from my principals by now but haven’t
I have not either, hoping to hear today though… does anyone remember when principles started notifying us in years past?
It’s all dependent on the individual school, not to mention time for mailing. My D21’s school, for instance, only picks up mail once per week, so we know we won’t hear from them before next week, in all likelihood. That’s assuming the mail arrives to SoCal in a timely manner.
Two schools, one in Tennessee and the other in Texas, announced their finalists on Twitter this afternoon.
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Texas is not closer to Illinois than New Jersey. Maybe our principle is too lazy to open his letters? 
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I heard that I’m a Finalist today. (The nice thing about homeschooling is that the principal letter and the student letter come to the same address lol.)
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Woohoo! Congratulations! I forgot homeschoolers are usually first in the loop.
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