College Transcripts

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>I've looked everywhere for an exact answer to this, but all I find are close, not right on. So.</p>

<p>DD is applying for finalist. Since last year she has been splitting her time on campus at her HS and on campus at the local Community College, where she can take more advanced classes than the HS offers. We have sent her college transcript to the HS to make sure her credits are applied to graduation, GPA, etc.</p>

<p>Guidance Counselor at the HS does not remember (sheesh!) how many of DD's college classes were on the transcript she sent to NMSC. Even getting a copy of the HS transcript now does not guarantee how it looked 2 weeks ago. (We're still getting a copy tomorrow, though.)</p>

<p>So to be completely certain, I want to send college transcripts to NMSC directly. I read the following in the instructions, in the section for students who are already full time college students (not DD's status):</p>

<p>
[quote]
immediately after the end of the current term, arrange to have your college send an official transcript of all college course work you have taken to the Scholarship Administration Department at NMSC.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The contact address at the end of the instructions is</p>

<p>
[quote]
National Merit Scholarship Corporation, Attn: Scholarship Administration 1560 Sherman Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston, IL 60201-4897

[/quote]
</p>

<p>so I'm guessing that's the right place to send it.</p>

<p>I assume someone has been in this situation. Am I correct so far? Do I instruct the college to send transcripts to that address? Will NMSC safely put it in the right file? Should I send it now, since she is not a full-time college student, or wait until the end of term? Or both, maybe?</p>

<p>Some of you mention telephoning NMSC. Are they friendly about that?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Definitely call NMSC and ask. I called two different times last year when my son was working through his application. They were very helpful both times.</p>

3

<p>UPDATE</p>

<p>If anyone is curious about this. I took Soonermom95’s advice and called NMSC. The woman I spoke to was quick to pick up the phone, friendly, and generous with her time. She was even able to look at DD’s file with just a few keystrokes. I wish all corporations worked this way!</p>

<p>The first advice she gave was to seriously coordinate with the HS guidance counselor and be certain what information is being sent. Unfortunately, over the phone, NMSC cannot tell me the details of what has already been sent. I’m sure it’s a security issue–how do they know that I am who I claim to be? But she did seem pretty confident that the GC could send what we need.</p>

<p>As a last resort, she said I could send along a college transcript.</p>

<p>There is an extra wrinkle to all this that some of you might find useful in some way. DD was registered to take Freshman Composition I at the college this year. The HS offers it as concurrent enrollment, taught at the HS as a 2-semester class, but we figured it was smarter to get it done in 1 semester. Here’s where it gets tricky. DD took the AP test in the spring and scored a 5. So the college gave her credit for Freshman Composition I. But NMSC will not recognize this as a course. Fortunately, DD is enrolled in British Literature and Creative Writing at the college, so she won’t look idle by any means. I just wanted to point out to potential readers here that, the way NMSC sees things, the AP test does not substitute for an AP course.</p>

4

<p>MORE</p>

<p>GC finally asked NMSC the right questions. She will indeed send all of DD’s college transcript information along with the HS transcript information, so that solves that.</p>

<p>A curious non-issue. GC feels “unquallified” to write the recommendation letter, and has asked us to write it. She and the principal will check it for errors and omissions, and that will become their letter. It’s not a problem – just weird.</p>

5

<p>Pretty funny about the recommendation letter. At our son’s school we had to agree that we will not preview recommendation letters from either GC or teachers… maybe we had to even agree we were not allowed to see them, I don’t really remember.</p>

6

<p>Our GC was wonderful with the letter. She let my daughter glimpse that it was complete, but did not allow her to look at it. Our GCs usually use the information that students are required to fill out in Naviance to write a letter that has a focus on the student and activities. Students at our school are required to fill out the scholarship survey section of Naviance. I don’t remember if the resume section is required, or just recommended.</p>

<p>As my D’s guidance counselor retired last year, her knew GC would probably not have felt qualified to write something that important had the information not been provided by my D. I was originally worried that the “new” counselor might not be familiar with the process. She has far surpassed our expectations. She even had my daughter present on Monday when she submitted the school portion to NMSC. Now I have time to worry about other things, such as if our SAT scores have made it. I wish there was a way without calling and bothering the NMSC to make sure that they were received.</p>

7

<p>We are also working on the NMF application. My D’s counselor gave her a folder of stuff a couple weeks ago. Last week, the school sent out an e-mail that if the student asked a teacher instead of the GC to write the recommendation, the teacher needs to forward it to the GC directly. It seems the GCs at my D’s school are more involved in this and they are very experienced with NMF application. That is making us nervous though as they assume it to be an easy process. My D’s GC even took a week off from the day the NMSF was officially announced.</p>