"Designated school official"

<p>So the forms for the scholarship application are supposed to be filled out by the principal. However, I go to a small school that has never dealt with NMS applications before and I can't track down my principal and am worried about whether he will fill it out on time (he's not the most responsible person ever). Could I just have my guidance counselor fill this out instead? She knows me better and will probably be better suited for submitting it for the deadline.</p>

<p>Usually, the school handles the process you are talking about and there is no running around on your part at all. I would talk to your guidance counselor and play dumb and ask just how the process works and what you need to do.</p>

<p>Just so you know, you need to fill out part of the application on line including an essay and your school does the rest. Good luck.</p>

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Where does it say this? I received a paper application with an area to put the essay.</p>

<p>My school literally has no clue what they’re doing. They send most of their kids to the local community college, that’s pretty much their primary focus. They handed me the entire stack of papers that was supposed to be given to the principal. They’re not doing the application online because the principal didn’t even get all these papers–they really don’t know what they’re doing. I already filled out my portion of the paper application and whenever I try to talk to the people in the guidance department about who to give it to now they act clueless.</p>

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<p>That’s fine. The online application is a new thing the NMSC is doing this year as an alternative to the paper option. I will also be doing the paper option.</p>

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Yeah, I was just responding to the word “need”, implying that there was no choice. I knew that was wrong, just needed to point it out.</p>

<p>My daughter received the paper application because that is what her school gave her. Did they have the option to allow her to submit her information online instead?</p>

<p>We homeschool, so I am the principal/counselor/etc…</p>

<p>I got the school package, and in it is info about the online app. This is the first year they offer it, so some schools might be a bit leery. I went with it, and all went well. I think it took me about an hour to do, and my daughter’s section took about an hour. Once we had both completed our sections and submitted them, then it was sent to the person that I (as principal) designated as the rec. </p>

<p>It saved me a lot of time using the online app - mostly because I have lost the ability to fill out paper apps. For a school with multiple qualifiers, it can be a major time saver, because you fill out some stuff just once, and then use it for all applicants. I can also see some schools being put off by the letter than made it seem not quite ready - more of an experiement. </p>

<p>For the OP, as you know, this is a multiple paged form, of which you are supposed to fill out some stuff, and the school has to do other stuff. The school actually has a bigger roll. I would make an appointment with your principal or guidance counselor and maybe walk them through it - you see what they need. they need info from your transcript. Offer to do that part yourself. Then they are going to need a recommendation. But you will need that for college apps too, so time to get pushing on that. Good luck.</p>

<p>My apologies. I did not know that there was an option to fill it out on-line or to do the paper copy. If you are doing the paper copy, you can type it, print it and paste it into the space. My daughter also typed her activities to fit into the tiny spaces allowed.</p>

<p>Do you still have to apply the essay with “non-glare” tape to the paper copy?</p>

<p>Non-glare tape? Was this to prevent some sort of scanning problem? </p>

<p>My daughter was only really given the electronic option by her school. They just handed her a letter with a code on it for entering her information and the essay. The letter said you could download the application for “future reference” or something, but the GC has to complete the process (electronically) in order for everything to go through.
We definitely are going to print everything out so there’s a paper trail of the app – nothing like being a guinea pig for a new system!</p>

<p>Yes…I think that was the issue with the paper ones.</p>

<p>audellmom - the electronic copy went very smoothly. Your daughters section will take about an hour, if she already has an appropriate essay.</p>

<p>Some years ago, I worked in a shop that created flyers for advertising and the layout artists used rubber cement to stick paper on paper–no lines, no tape. For DD’s app two years ago, we used rubber cement. Oh, the things you pick up along the way.</p>