Reached out to the vice principal at our school in Texas, and nothing had been received in the mail yet. However, she did place a phone call to the organization and got my daughter’s status verbally confirmed!
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Did they call NMSC, do you know? Just wondering how they confirmed if no letter. (And if I can talk our principal into doing it!)
I just sent a follow up email asking if she’d call if we don’t receive anything soon. Doesn’t hurt to ask!
I mean they cant get 50k for both being finalist and CBNRP ($25k each). My daughter got the CBNRP last fall and NMS finalist this morning.
I am not really sure of that. My daughter applied to BU and she is hoping that she can get into their Biomed program. The BU website says “Finalists in the National Merit Competition who designate BU as first choice college with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation before March 1 will be considered for this award.” I guess it depends on the number of applications they received from finalists and the scholarships that they have available. Like everything else, this year even this process is unpredictable.
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Congrats! I wonder if we should update all application with the NMF status? What do you think?
She is definitely updating all her 20 applications, lol! Cannot hurt.
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D21’s principal called her to office yesterday, congratulated, and showed her the finalist certificate received by the school. Nothing received yet at our home.
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You are not alone. This parent of a bubble kid has aged 12 years in the past week.
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Do we know where the letters are sent from? It says on NMSC page that headquarters is outside Chicago… which means I’m wondering why it’s taking 10 days from a neighboring state.
I’m new to this… by bubble, are we talking about the selection index number, or something else that’s factored in??
Hugs to you… my husband keeps telling me there’s nothing I can do, so why fret about it. It’s like he’s never actually met me… 
By bubble, I mean a kid who is on the bubble because of grade issues that in some past years have been disqualifiers and in others have not. One of the things we had hoped might mitigate those issues is the qualifying SAT score, which in this case is strong. However, NMSC not only is not requiring the SAT score for 2021s but also is test blind.
We have been through the NMSC process previously, and the Finalist letter has Evanston, Ill., in the letterhead. I regret that we didn’t keep the envelope to verify the postmark.
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Okay, thanks for the info. (I know, my son had a fantastic ACT score and I was bummed it wouldn’t factor in.) I hope you hear something soon!!
My daughter’s principal said they haven’t received anything yet… based on some posts above it sounds like he could call to get verbal confirmation? She wants to include this in her midyear update form that is due tomorrow for one of the schools she applied to.
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We were in the same boat. There is no harm in requesting him - it is too late today as NMSC office closes at 4:30PM Central Time (I think). But you may call him tomorrow.
We just got the good news from so he will be able to use this in his updates.
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We heard today from our principal that S21 made it to finalist! The school received the letter yesterday. Nothing in the mail at home, yet. We’re in Central Texas.
What a nail biter. This means an additional scholarship from my son’s first choice school, so we’re thrilled! Hang in there, everyone!
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At least for my Washington State principle, the envelope was postmarked February 2 and had a zip code of 60502. The letter arrived on February 6.
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@amsunshine Wow! I had no idea about BU’s deadline. I thought it was 4/30 like everyone else. I think this makes our decision a little bit easier. Thanks.
This might be premature since we don’t know officially about his NM status, but my S21 says he is willing to designate BU as his first choice before March 1st to meet their deadline. I thought that once he realized the early deadline it would dissuade him from picking BU. He has been accepted to Purdue and Texas A&M engineering, postponed at UofM and deferred at Georgia Tech. Still waiting on a few others. He figures if he does not get into BU there will be no harm because the other schools do not offer any NM awards or if they do it is minimal. I think the exception is Texas A&M, which is not at the top of his list. If he is not accepted into BU, can he then change his choice before the May 1st deadline for any of the other schools?
If I were you, I would want to clarify with BU whether their award is automatic or limited/competitive. I haven’t heard whether anyone has figured this out yet. Also, yes, if your kid is not accepted, the designation can be changed. Actually, it can be changed even if your kid is accepted to BU, but the risk is scholar status might be forfeited.
Also, I misspoke earlier: some NMSC deadlines for first choice are 5/31. It’s always good to double check these dates with each school.
@Bongadi I contacted her principal and we will call today, to hopefully get verbal confirmation.
Principal called NMSC and got verbal confirmation of my daughter’s NMF status.
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