Received the certificate today for homeschool student.
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If a student applied to schools RD and wonât know where they are accepted until mid-to-late March, what is the expectation/strategy on where they list as first choice before March 1?
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Congratulations! Thatâs wonderful!! Hopefully more will arrive Monday!
Thank you. Maybe Monday!
I think my head would pop off! I know that everyone in this group is proud of your child!
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Thank you! Probably youâll get it on Monday. Postmark date was Feb 6.
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Thanks for sharing! The email has been sitting in my daughterâs mailbox since friday, but she didnt check her mail until yesterday night 
Congratulations! Glad to help
Further my previous post, is there any strategy to who you list as first choice by March 1? Are there some schools that give NMF awards to students who declare first choice by March 1 but not to those who decide to attend and change their first choice later? And do any schools look at the declaration of first choice as an indicator of likelihood to attend and impact admission decision on that basis?
My student has 4 schools with NMF heâs considering. One heâs already admitted to and they donât say anything about first choice being a factor in their (minor) merit scholarship.
Two others say a student must have declared them first choice to be eligible but they donât mention a date at all. And the last says they have to be first choice by May 31. For the two without dates, itâs hard to know if it matters whether they are first choice by March 1 or not. Of if any of this impacts admission chances.
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Will try to answer it but please verify
Some colleges treat NMSF equivalent to NMF for scholarships. So first choice should not matter. If on NMSC you have your choice as âundecidedâ then you will have till May 31. If you have on NMSC your college choice as âXXXâ and decide to go to âYYYâ then change it to âYYYâ asap - because I have seen some colleges required date to be April 30. Best thing is to verify with the colleges in question because I think there is no one answer that fits all.
I believe Boston University has a March 1 deadline to state that they are #1
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My son is planning on going to our state school which offers a full tuition and fees plus housing scholarship. He will also receive $1000 for technology, $3500/year for miscellaneous expenses, and $2000 for study abroad. Someone whose child also received this scholarship mentioned âsome extra moneyâ. Does NM offer additional money? Iâve seen this statement in announcements âOfficials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the Finalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution. These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.â It makes it sound like kids are only getting $500-2000 per year when obviously the scholarships are worth way more than that. Is this the âsome extra moneyâ the parent mentioned. Iâm confused.
Do a google search on âNational Merit Finalist Scholarshipsâ and navigate to National Merit Scholarship Program. That document should answer all your queries.
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There are three types of NM scholarships offered and it can be confusing. When you are looking at websites, pay attention to whether they are calling a scholarship a NM Semi Finalist (in the case of Tulsa) scholarship or a NM Finalist scholarship or a NM Scholar Scholarship. The NM Scholar (NMS) Scholarship can often be stacked on top of the NMSF or NM Finalist (NMF) scholarships.
The big scholarships that most of us know about (ex. Alabama, Tulsa, USC, BU) are awarded to NM FINALISTS. In most cases, a student does not need to be a NM SCHOLAR to receive those scholarships.
There are other scholarships that convert a NM FINALIST to a NM SCHOLAR. They are usually smaller dollar values like the $500 to $2000 that you are seeing referenced. A student can receive a NM SCHOLARS scholarship from NMSC (in which case it is $2500) or a sponsoring corporation or a college. Any of those three awards will make a NMF officially a NMS.
For example, USC offers a guaranteed half-tuition scholarship to any NM FINALIST who is accepted. If that FINALIST does not receive a NMSC $2500 or a corporate scholarship to make them a SCHOLAR, USC will add an additional $4K ($500/semester) scholarship on top of the half-tuition scholarship in order to make that finalist a scholar.
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Tulsa (along with UMaine) is full ride for NM SEMIFINALISTS. Donât even have to stress about Finalist status for those! 
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Thanks, I was typing fast and shouldnât have included Tulsa with those other schools. We should probably make a list of those offering scholarships to NMSF. I just saw that University of Missouri offers a nice package to Missouri residents that are NMSF .
NMSF scholarships:
Tulsa
UMaine
UMissouri (residents only)
Any others?
Does Northwestern still offer a national merit scholarship?
Other NMSF scholarships I know of:
Alabama ($28,000)
Fordham (full tuition, competitive)
Missouri S&T (full in-state tuition)
Mississippi State (full tuition)
Ole Miss (full tuition and room)
Southern Miss (full tuition)
We donât even have acceptances by March 1st 
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Florida universities for residents offer Benequisto which covers tuition and room and board. I donât think any extra money. Itâs for finalists. Iâm finding it hard to navigate the dates to declare the school in NM website