Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the mailbox.
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I know, right? 
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someone on reddit claimed to have received their letter for finalist today. anyone else?
Letters don’t even get mailed out until the eighth, so that seems a bit dubious. Not unless their principal let them know beforehand.
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Could also be a homeschooler.
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In past years NMSC gave a mailing date, but this year the language is changed to, “ On February 8, 2021, NMSC will notify Finalists at their home addresses.”
Not sure what that means, but I wonder if they plan to somehow notify everyone on the same day this year.
Principal at daughters school given certificates in Fridays mail. School plans on giving them
To finalists this week.
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On 2/1/2021, NMSC published a news release stating that they had sent notifications to the principals of Finalists.
The corporation plans to mail direct notices to the addresses of Finalists on 2/8/21.
My principal (in WA State) received the 2/1 letter yesterday (not for me, since I took the PSAT another year 
).
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Thanks for the update.
That person clarified that he/she was homeschooled, so the letter to the “Principal” was to the parents at their home address.
Source? On February 1, they posted “ Letters will be mailed to Finalists’ homes on February 8.” I’d be surprised if this changed in the last 5 days.
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/blog.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=564
Here is the source. It is at the top of page two: https://nationalmerit.imodules.com/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_about_leaflet.pdf?sessionid=46c1beaf-45d2-4d74-9bfe-92a63ee00902&cc=1
I agree that the Feb 1 press release supersedes the above link. I was not aware of the press release at the time I posted, which is why I thanked @student26 in a previous post.
The immediately following paragraph said
“ Notification will be mailed to high school officials and the students’ homes.”,
so I think that’s consistent.
As we’re only hearing “I received mine” in the last day or two, it appears they either didn’t actually go out Monday or USPS is even slower than normal. Don’t be surprised if letter don’t arrive at home until Thursday or Friday.
And yes, rejection letters received yesterday probably reduces some of the “phew, if I haven’t received anything yet, I’m probably safe” relief, though I expect it was an outlier.
Since the number of $2,500 scholarships underwritten by the corporation itself is limited to 2,500, does one increase their chance of receiving a scholarship by designating a potential sponsor college as first choice? Not to say that one should base so important a decision as college choice on a (potential) scholarship which at best constitutes a four-year stipend of $2,000 at the particular college.
One has nothing to do with the other. However, you cannot accept both.
I completely agree. NMSC does not (claims not to!) look at college choice in determining to whom to award the $2,500 awards. I was referring to National Merit Scholarships in general. Say a student lives in a very competitive state. Since NMSC allots its awards on a state-by-state basis, wouldn’t the student have a higher chance aiming for a college-sponsored award? After all, there is a cap on the number of $2,500 awards, but no clear limit on awards given by sponsor colleges in general. So if one did some research, they might find a school that is looking for more scholars to sponsor, and maybe that would increase the chance of getting the award?
There is no aiming for anything. The $2500 awards come out first, so you will know whether or not you are one of the recipients before you ever have to designate first choice college (unless you happen to want to go to the early designation colleges like BU and BC).
So you may get the $2500 award even though a college sponsored one may be better? Or do some colleges give a student a scholarship regardless of what NMSC awarded them?
It looks like recipients of the $2,500 award are chosen by “a committee of college admission officers and high school counselors,” while winners of college-sponsored awards are chosen by “officials of each sponsor college” (source: 2019 Student Guide). Also, according to the second-to-last paragraph of the third page (link below), colleges are allowed to award as many Finalists as they wish. Is it possible that a student that might not make the $2,500 award might make a college-sponsored one?
To answer your second question, unfortunately (or fortunately), you can’t win both.