<p>one additional comment: The form the student fills out after notified he/she is a semifinalist has an essay but ALSO has a section for the school to complete. </p>
<p>Make sure to work with the school to ensure this is done one time.</p>
<p>My D’s college counselor was very quick and knowledgeable of this process but I ear some are not.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>True…our GC was kind enough to email families to ensure then that all things got sent in on time. :)</p>
<p>If your school has a history of NMFs then they probably have good processes in place to get all the paperwork in on time. That was the case for our school.</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior looking for clarification. After submitting the name of my first choice school, I was offered the $2500 scholarship by NMC. However, the college’s website offers a $1000/year scholarship listed as for National Merit Finalists. If the $2500 is only given to non-university/corporate Scholars, this means that I can accept both, as the one at my college is unofficial. Is this necessarily the case? Or will I be forced to pick between the two? Where can I find the list of colleges offering “official” National Merit scholarships again?</p>
<p>Call the NMSC and talk to them. But I think the recommendation will be to accept the $2500 - I don’t think you can then accept the $1000 a year from the university. The advantage to accepting the $2500 comes with the fact that no matter what university you attend you get the money while college sponsored means that you have to attend the college. </p>
<p>Just looked it up (see page 3): <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>It can be confusing.</p>
<p>AnagramPanda,</p>
<p>Talk to the SCHOOL IN QUESTION.</p>
<p>My daughter goes to a school that gives $2,000/year to NMFs. If a student is given the $2,500 by NMSC, the school lets the student take it from NMSC, and then matches it with $2,500 for the following 3 years, (that way the student gets more money, while the school spends less). I am pretty sure that most schools will have a similar system in place.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who posted replies. Very helpful, though I have to confess I read the thread 3 times before I really got this. I’m usually pretty quick on the uptake but for some reason I find the details of this process confusing. Thanks for links to other forums/sites. Heading there now…</p>
<p>It’s really hard NOT to be a finalist if you make semi-finalist status. You have to do no paperwork at all. My son sent his paperwork in over a month late and still became a finalist.</p>
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<p>This appears to be by far the most common reason why a semifinalist doesn’t advance to finalist. As replies above say, most of the paperwork is done by adults on behalf of the student. If they step up, the student usually becomes a finalist after becoming a semifinalist.</p>
<p>When they say NMC wants corroborative evidence for SAT score after PSAT score does it necessarily have to be substantially higher? For instance my son scored 236/240 on PSAT but scored 2330 on SAT in Jan.2010. Will that prevent him from advancing further. We are from Texas where the NMSF cutoff traditionally has been around 216/217.</p>
<p>The SAT score does not need to be higher than the correlating PSAT score. Your son has a great SAT score and it will easily help him qualify for NMSF status. </p>
<p>A parent on CC called the NM corporation last year and was told that the SAT score cutoff was somewhere in the 2000 range (I don’t remember the exact number).</p>
<p>Amm2009, those are fantastic scores. Congratulations to your son!</p>
<p>From what I’m learning the SAT does not need to be higher than the PSAT and can even be somewhat lower --just in the same ballpark.</p>
<p>The sat score does not need to be that high. I heard last year that it had to be above 1980 or so. My Dd had a 223 Psat and a 2130 sat and she is a finalist.
It is not as complicated as it looks. Check out the other threads in cc. The best one is about the schools that offer automatic scholarships to nmf.</p>
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<p>The SAT score doesn’t need higher but it does need to confirm the PSAT score. My son received a 214 on the PSAT but only a 2040 on the SAT. He did not make it to NMF - he had already gotten a 31 on the ACT and decided he was done taking the SAT. FWIW, the headmaster at our school said it is unusual to make it to NMF without at least a 1300 on the verbal/math (son had a 1270).</p>
<p>Your son is very close to his PSAT score, so it shouldn’t be an issue. If it’s off by 100 points, then, yes, it’s an issue.</p>
<p>The other thing that will prevent you from moving to finalist status is grades. As long as your child has a solid B average, he should be okay.</p>
<p>The SAT scores do NOT have to be higher than the PSAT scores. My son’s scores were lower–and he’d taken the SATs BEFORE he took the PSAT–again, he still became a finalist. Oh, and he had no senior year grades, either, because he’d gone to college and his grades were P/F. They really just want the paperwork.</p>
<p>All they are looking for is the PSAT score is not a fluke. So all they are looking for is to see if the SAT score is similar. I have heard that they get a 200 point difference or minimum of around 1950-1980 etc. In your case, you have absolutely no worries.</p>
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<p>Same here (with the exception of P/F part. She had to send her college transcript though (the grades were lower than the HS grades…), and fill out the paperwork, including an essay, and the HS had to do their part of the paperwork. She got the NMCS scholarship, so I guess they liked her enough despite all that.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who commented on the PSAT and SAT scores and the consequent NMSF/NMF status. That makes me feel better. Son’s grades are solid B’s and A’s and no disciplinary issues as well. The only other confounding factor is his history of 7 tardies in this semester. Being in all honors/AP classes and swamped by homework and projects, he was sleeping at 2:30-3:00 AM on some days and reached his class at 7:32-35 AM(school starts at 7:30 AM)!! I called and spoke with his attendance office but the lady did not know the effect/repercussion it could have on anything. Will pray and keep my fingers crossed. Don’t they say-
“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst and take what comes?” 
Good Luck to you all.</p>