Are you sure that wasn’t for last year’s cycle?
Hope you got the banner promise for Finalist in writing! Almost all make Finalist as long as they submit the app, are respectful in the essay, have a confirming score and not more than one C or maybe 2. Start shopping for banners!
There was one school near me that had a Finalist for the first time, located near the interstate. They put her picture and an announcement on the side of the gym, which acted like a huge billboard visible to everyone on the busy interstate. Which was kind of cool, until they kept is up for something like 8 years, lol.
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I’m sure my company required it in March 2021 for this year’s competition. Double checked the form and it clearly states “enter my child/student in the 2022” scholarship program.
Hopefully corporate sponsors are flexible with their deadlines.
Yeah, he has done his part, he got the student part of application completed, his grades and extracurricular activities and other honors should be helpful to get him through.
We’ll just wait until then.
It’s just sad when they do not even have a certificate of recognition or any other form of recognition, for their first ever Semifinalist and all the other big schools have their recognitions posted on their school websites.
For those that have corporate sponsors, I actually called NMSC about 2 hours ago and asked about the requirements. They told me that they would do the work, and that all students have to do would be to mark their parents’ employers in OSA so they could match them up (regardless of company) so make sure y’all do that and spell everything correctly since she stressed that it was important. @Beyou2022 @603dad
I’m not sure what the forms thing is about, then. Maybe it varies by company? There’s very little information that my dad found from his company and no forms to be found (despite it being quite a sizeable scholarship amount), so I think he’ll call HR or something on Monday.
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Absolutely positive that the deadline to submit the entry form for the kids who took the PSAT on October 2020 or January 2021 was March 2021.
I’m not sure what the forms thing is about, then. Maybe it varies by company? There’s very little information that my dad found from his company and no forms to be found (despite it being quite a sizeable scholarship amount), so I think he’ll call HR or something on Monday.
@chorsiesch I’m sure it is company specific. Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned. From the information on my company’s form it seems to be a lot of information that would help match up students to the parents, it also has some legalese that permits the NMSC to share information with the company. I would assume that this would be handled by some other legal contract as a corporate sponsor and as a PSAT/NMSQT contestant, but I’m sure they are being extra cautious.
My company does a nice job promoting the scholarship winners every year in June/July with front page acknowledgement on our internal website, a nice little bio of each student, picture, and what college they expect to attend. Certainly a lot more than the HS does (still waiting on a posting from the school about it - should be forthcoming, maybe in the monthly newsletter), not newspaper coverage around here. I guess I’ll be happy with the HS actually mentioning it though, since it looks like many others don’t have anything!
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Congratulations to your children who made National Merit Semifinalists! My child is in MD and has a 215 selection index. This should qualify as commended. When do they get official notice of commended and how does that information come?
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According to the National Merit Scholarship Program guide, you should be hearing soon from the school:
In mid-September, NMSC sends principals a list of their school’s Commended Students with Letters of Commendation for presentation to the students.
If you happen to work for a corporate sponsor that offers a wider range of scholarships, you might be in luck.
Some may be candidates for Special Scholarships offered by corporate sponsors (explained on pages 22–23).
So the school should notify commended scholars as well? I know the NMSF at our school were notified last week (Friday), but my daughter should be commended & she wasn’t notified of anything.
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My D22’s school still hasn’t given the semi-finalists their log in details so that they can complete their applications to become finalists. Don’t they arrive with the letter to the principal? Would NMSC give out the log in info if you call them?
The principal needs to create an account on the NMCS website using the login credentials in the letter he received. Once they do that, they will be able to access the students’ letters with the students’ login credentials.
I would contact both the school and NMSC.
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I see. Thanks, @mathKids.
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Yes, at least the guide indicates so. The notification is later than the semifinalists, and since many NMSF were just notified last week, it doesn’t surprise me that your daughter hasn’t heard anything yet. I thought I had read that Commended scholars received their letters directly, but the guide seems to make it plain that they would hear through their school.
My D22 (Index 213) has not received any communication from her bay area (CA) school yet on commended scholar status. Question is, in the common app honors list, if we don’t receive the school communication, can we just include the index?
My school never received theirs in the mail, and weren’t looking for it. You might want to speak with the college guidance counselor.
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I saw the first Commended press release from a local school pop up just after midnight today, so that info seems to just be getting out now. I’d wait a few days before contacting anyone.
If there’s a need to send a college application soon, I think it’s fine to list a student as a Commended Scholar based on the released cutoff info, even if not formally notified yet.
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Found this info on a prep site.
“Are you filling out the Common App and wondering how you should list your selection as a National Merit Commended Scholar/Semifinalist/Finalist/Scholar or as a member of the National Honor Society?
The following information is from the Common Application Knowledgebase (but applies to University of California and other applications as well):
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National Merit Commended Scholar and National Merit Semifinalist recognition are both appropriately designated as State/Regional honors.
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National Merit Finalist and National Merit Scholar recognition are both appropriately designated as National honors.
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Since National Honor Society selection is done at the school level, you should designate it as a school honor.”
Thoughts?
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I am not sure about commended as that’s decided on the national level based on a single cutoff for all students.
NMSF is based on state level cutoffs, and from what I’ve read should be listed as a state award. That’s what we did for both S20 and S22.
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It’s all National to me. It’s in the name. Where are you seeing such particular guidance for SM?
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