<p>I'd be grateful for a clear explanation of how National Merit Scholar selection happens. My daughter (hs junior) scored 220 on the PSAT in Illinois last fall, which I believe will make her a semi-finalist (the cutoff in Illinois last year was 214, I believe).</p>
<p>So what happens next? If I'm correct, we'll get some sort of notification (in September?) that she's a semi-finalist. Exactly what does she need to do after that to become a National Merit Scholar (and is that the same thing as a "National Merit Finalist"?)</p>
<p>I've gone to the NMS website, but can't find clear, succinct info. For example, I know that she'll need to do correspondingly well on her SATs in June, keep a strong GPA through this year (currently 4.2 weighted), and write an essay. Is that it?</p>
<p>Does everybody who does those three things become a NMS?</p>
<p>About 16,000 students nationwide are notified about their NMSF status is September. The school she attends will provide an application form that the students must fill in (yes, it has essays) and submit by the provided deadline. About 15,000 submit this application. Around 8,000 are selected as National Merit Finalists. From this pool, they pick 2,500 for the National Merit Scholar status and give them $2,500 one time scholarship. The rest may qualify for other third party scholarships like specific college scholarships or parents’ employer scholarship.
All this is clearly outlined on their website.</p>
<p>momofsongbrd, I agree that it’s not clearly explained. I’ve read that over 90% of semi-finalists are named finalists, but that doesn’t jive with what was explained above. I think you are named a finalist before you have to pick which school you are attending, which also doesn’t match what was explained above.</p>
<p>In April you will be sent a letter from NMC that will allow you to have them notify 2 colleges that you are interested in that you are a likely National Merit Semifinalist. The SAT to confirm the PSAT scores can be taken this spring but can also be taken in the fall (be sure to have it done by the cutoff date). Semifinalists are named in September. 15,000 of the 16,000 are ultimately named Finalists. They are announced in February. I believe the student has until May 1 to indicate their 1st Choice college for purposes of the scholarships given by colleges. However, that was my son’s particular case, and other schools may be different. I can’t remember for sure.</p>
<p>YDS is correct. Also, about half of the NMF’s become National Merit Scholars (NMS’s). IIRC, 2,500 of these NMS’s get the one time $2,500 scholarships directly funded by the National Merit Corporation and the rest of the NMS’s get their scholarships from either sponsoring corporations (usually kids of employees) or sponsoring colleges (where the kids matriculate). The scholarships from sponsoring corporations and colleges are usually renewable for up to fours years. You can only receive at most one scholarship from one the above sources. All NMF’s who receive these scholarships, regardless of type, are called National Merit Scholars.</p>
<p>So far on the thread, there’s a good explanation of how a student goes from being a NM semifinalist to a NM Finalist. Many colleges will offer merit scholarships to finalists, and so will corporations. But a finalist is not the same thing as a National Merit Scholar.
From the pool of finalists, a much smaller group of students will be selected for the National Merit Scholarship, a renewable grant of $2,500 per year at any college. I’d have to look up the number, but I believe it’s fewer than 3,000 students. In 2007, my daughter was one of about 9 NM finalists at her school, out of a class of 520 students. By May of her senior year, it was announced that she and one other student had received the NMS.</p>
<p>I’m afraid I no longer remember the date by when the final award is announced, but comes far too late to mention on a college application, as I recall.</p>
<p>There is a whole sub group under the Scholarships group devoted to NMS scholarships. A lot of information on NMS is posted there and if you follow that, you will get to know a lot of what is happening and what needs to be done.</p>
<p>At this stage the following will happen:</p>
<p>Your child will get a letter from NMS (it will be given by the school) sometime around April/May and he/she can designate a college to which their NM standing should be sent to. It is simply a method where a student can tell a college that there are likely to move up the NM process and are interested in that college. Again not a big deal if you don’t do anything at that stage.</p>
<p>During the Sept/Oct time frame, you will get information on status (if the student is commended or moves on to be become NMSF. The school will receive the documents that need to be filled in by the student/parent and returned to the school. The school sends it over to NMSC and NMSC decides who remains a semi-finalist or who goes on to become a finalist. Most go on to become a finalist (some reasons for not moving on include school performance is bad (low GPA) or SAT scores are low or the student has a criminal record etc. So most move on).</p>
<p>Once you become a finalist, your student becomes eligible for scholarships and there are different types of donors and amounts. Again, follow the National Merit section and ask any questions there and hopefully you will get all the clarifications you need.</p>
<p>The $2500 from NMSC is a one-time scholarship–not renewable. Many of the corporate awards are for four years and they vary in size. National Merit Finalists are the 15,000 students. Of those, the ones who get money from NMSC and other corporations are National Merit Scholars; I do not know whether students who get university money are designated as scholars as well. Congratulations to the OP–it is a nice honor.</p>
<p>Post #2 is wrong about the number who make finalist!</p>
<p>nearly ALL NMSF make finalist. Usually the ones who don’t make finalist did something wrong…bad grades, bad problem at school, didn’t do the paperwork, too low SAT score, etc.</p>
<p>15,000 of the 16,000 make finalist. Of that number, about half get scholarships and get the NMS designation.</p>
<p>Getting a scholarship - Since most of the scholarships are given by corporations and colleges, a student can determine whether he gets a scholarship. The participating corps tend to give them to their employees’ children. Participating colleges give them to their NMF students. Some give to every NMF student, some only give to a select number.</p>
<p>what M2CK said plus…my D was a NMSF, and made the cut to NM Finalist. We found out for sure in February. That was the big distinction to us because that meant that automatic NMF scholarships at certain colleges were now available to D. She had made her college app choices with that in mind and her first choice school (U Alabama) offered an amazing NMF package. To us, it doesn’t matter if she gets named a NM Scholar since the NMF package at her chosen school is bigger than what she would get offered as a NM Scholar.</p>
<p>If your daughter keeps up her greats, gets a comparable SAT score (that you’ll have to remember to send to NMC!), and fills out the paperwork, she will be NM Finalist.</p>
<p>Out of 15,000 finalists the NMC chooses 2,500 who get $2,500 from NMC. This process is a mystery, and seems pretty random.</p>
<p>The rest are eligible for corporate scholarships, and scholarships offered by colleges to NMFs. The list of participating colleges will be included in your paperwork, thou you can also easily find it on line. The very top universities and LAC do not sponsor NMS, but some very selective schools do. At some point you have to name yous “first choice school”, but you can change your choice when you know for sure which school you will be attending. (This last part may not be true for those getting in from the waitlist though…)</p>
<p>The NMSC announces semi-finalists each September. At that time, both student and school need to complete paperwork. The paperwork seemed somewhat similar to the Common Application, if I recall correctly - including a 500 word essay. (I remember that my daughter completed it ASAP as Hurricane Ike headed toward Houston; she wanted her counselor responsible for the paperwork rather than herself.) </p>
<p>In February, the NMSC announces NMF status. Colleges ask NMF to notify them ASAP, so that scholarship offers can be finalized. One university explained that acceptance of a NM scholarship whether through the NMSC participating companies and colleges moves the student from Finalist status to Scholar status. So … that’s the reason that many universities give at least a small amount of money to Finalists. (Rice gave $1000 to NMF allowing the move to Scholar status - Notre Dame, nothing. I assume that had my daughter chosen ND her NM status would still be listed as Finalist, as she received her merit money from her university rather than NMSC or any participating company.) One university took the time to explain to my daughter the how and why of it all.</p>
<p>The student has until the end of April to notify the NMSC of the decision re college choice. After the deadline, no changes can be made. Universities warned my daughter to be careful re the dates - she was told that she could notify the NMSC and change her designated college as many times as she wanted until - I forget the exact date - after that, she could change her college choice obviously, and if the merit money comes from the NMSC or participating companies, no big deal. If merit money comes from a university, obviously it’s lost in the change. (An example given: a young man designated one university and then promptly forgot about. He couldn’t get the merit money - substantial - at the university he planned to attend, because nothing could be done after the deadline.)</p>
<p>The student can choose two universities (May junior year) for the NMSC to notify re semi-finalist status the following Sept. One of the two sent her a letter when notified of NMSF status (Rice) waiving her application fee - a nice gesture; the other did nothing.</p>
<p>UA has their NMF package set up so that the student moves from Finalist to Scholar. Look closely and you should find a designated amount of money listed in the scholarship package ($1000, maybe) for that purpose. Students who don’t receive merit money from NMSC or any participating company are covered by UA - and make the move to NMS. </p>
<p><em>Thanks to the universities that took the time to explain to my daughter the how and why of it all. :)</em></p>
<p>Thanks Ignatius…I guess I should have remembered that the $1000 stipend was the official NMS money. We’ve just never worried about the $2500 NMC scholarships because we knew she’d be accepting the UA offer.</p>
<p>My recollection is that the official NM Scholars were chosen from those that did NOT get a corporate or college scholarship. My son received additional scholarship from his college once he made it his top choice for National Merit. It was confusing because some schools say you have to do this by Feb 1, but I know we did it at the end of March once the aid packages from his choices were known. He still got the money. He was not initially listed as a National Merit Scholar because he didn’t get the $2500, but his college award is for all four years and worth a lot more than that.</p>
<p>Corporate scholars are not considered for the NMSC money, but most people know if their son or daughter will receive that because most of them (not all) are for children of employees.</p>
<p>By the way, Bill Gates was a Boeing scholar a few years back.</p>
<p>Re: post #5 Those receiving notification in April of junior year include students who will be commended. Just wanted to clarify that receiving that letter does not mean the student will attain NMSF (though for the OP’s child it should be a slam dunk due to the score achieved).</p>
<p>My recollection is that the official NM Scholars were chosen from those that did NOT get a corporate or college scholarship</p>
<p>NO… there’s no such thing as “official” NM Scholars are the ones who get the one-time $2500. Any student who receives an official NM scholarship from a corporation, a college, or from NMCorp becomes a National Merit Scholar.</p>