UCF had an app waiver for National Merit students as of last year, although you had to use their own app rather than the Common App. Reach out to Lindsey at scholarsprogram@ucf.edu – she should be able to verify if it’s still available for this year.
Alabama had a tick box on the Common App that gave a free submission to NMSFs (or maybe all National Scholars).
if the portal gives a date your school submitted the application does that mean they’ve submitted all the parts
I’m not sure. In our case, we trusted that it did mean our school had submitted everything, but our school is very on top of this process because it likes to brag about its number of NMFs. If I had a kid attending a school that seems negligent or unaware of the process, I would be calling the NMSC to double check.
Our school has said that the deadline was pushed to the 30th but the website still says 10/11. Has anyone heard anything like that?
I believe that means your school requested and received an extension of the deadline. Our child got an email from their school counselor saying the school got an extension of the deadline until October 30.
Thanks. I called and verified. NM said 10/11 is a “soft deadline” and schools and students will receive a letter in the mail next week if anything is missing.
In case it hasn’t been shared here, the National Merit office is incredibly helpful on the phone! I think I called at least a half dozen times throughout the process with questions. They have real people in their Illinois office answering their phones rather than a machine or off-site customer service. They are very friendly, patient, and helpful with answering questions and explaining the process. I always recommend people call them directly with any issues or questions. It’s not like calling College Board where you’ll be on hold forever and then get someone that can’t help you.
I have a question about National Merit on the common app.
What are you selecting for the grade? My instinct was to say 11th because that was the PSAT year, but now I am thinking that is wrong?
Similarly, we had said 10th for Recognition Program because he achieved that based on the PSAT taken that year, not the Junior year one.
Thoughts?
My daughter is the same. Hispanic Recognition from 10th grade test. Just got NMSF. She put both awards in the same slot and checked 2 boxes: 11& 12. Probably doesn’t matter which year you put though…
I heard it’s when you receive the award. Since my S received his NMSF award in 09/23, we’re putting in 12.
UCF has officially kept its NMF scholarship the same for 2024 grads…except that the number of OOS scholarships has been reduced from 40 to 30.
Don’t know when UCF reached 30 last year, but my son was number 20 and he accepted on February 23rd.
Maybe a dumb question…
My HS senior is a NMSF and I see some awards may be limited (ex: Texas Tech). How do you know if you will be awarded the scholarship? I know you need to put them as your first choice. What happens if you do that and then the school has already awarded all of the big scholarships?
Also, we won’t hear if they made it to finalist status until February, correct? My senior has applied to several schools that award big scholarships, but the merit they received doesn’t reflect what they should get as a NMF. For example, Washington State should give out full tuition, but my senior has received less than that in their merit offer. Is that just because they aren’t a finalist yet? After they receive the finalist designation, do we need to update the school?
Students can change their #1 school up until May 31st and I should think that schools would have informed them if they got the NMS scholarship at a particular school by then.
My advice would be to make a list of schools of interest that offer large NM Scholarships and find out how they are awarded, is it first come first awarded or some other basis? Most if not all of these schools have a dedicated person or office that handles NM and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to contact them directly with this question, at the very least it may show that your student is showing demonstrated interest if the school tracks such things.
I suspect that many are based on the timing of acceptance so I would urge your student to get applications to those schools in ASAP!
Thank you!
My student has applied to nearly all of the schools that they are interested in and give out big scholarships. I didn’t realize that the schools have a dedicated NM office, so that is a good place to start. I appreciate that info.
It just feels odd that in some of their merit letters, the NMF scholarships weren’t even alluded to.
Some schools do. Many do not. At USC, for example, you would just be routed to financial aid. For the most part, the people that work in USC’s financial aid office, know about the half-tuition scholarship but not about the potential $4K NMS scholarship.
A number of schools don’t provide the NMF offers until after February. So for example, Univ of Alabama will award a lower scholarship now and a higher one in February.
The NMF decisions by NMSC don’t come out until Jan or Feb, so they wouldn’t note the award until a student has actually been named.
For NMSF that applied or that are interested in UCF, the invites for the NMSF reception/dinner next month have been sent out. Please check the mail. If UCF is one of your student’s schools and you haven’t received it by the end of the week, I would suggest just reaching out to the NM coordinator and asking.
My eldest daughter had some C’s and made NMF. Went to USC in CompSci and is now DOD programer.
Daughter had strong extracurriculars and a ton of AP’s, which undoubtedly helped her NMF case.
Daughter just got her acceptance to UCF. When is the dinner?