<p>Does anyone know if you name Pomona as your college of choice for the national merit thing that you get a merit award?</p>
<p>No because every student at Pomona would then qualify for merit. They are great with fin aid and the folks in financial aid will truly try to work with you.</p>
<p>Then what was the point of naming a school as my first choice on the national merit card? Thanks!</p>
<p>other schools you might have named may well have merit awards. Pomona's financial aid is "need" based.</p>
<p>Ugggggh.
This has really been confusing me, too. Pomona says that they are need-based, exclusively. However, almost all very selective schools say the same, and, guess what? All but the Ivies still participate in NMSC programs. I was prepared to believe that Pomona really didn't give awards (as a FA officer just told me), but on the NMSC website, it shows that 6 students DID get National Merit awards. This fits with what Pomona says in the viewbook (we participate ... giving out several awards each year), and also with what I was told by their FA office in 2004.
Now give me my damn money!</p>
<p>I talked to NM about two weeks ago, and they said that Pomona does give NM awards... NM is surprisingly helpful and will give you all the contact info you need in Pomona's finaid office</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. So I'm not crazy...
I am just a bit perturbed, because the office emailed me specifically denying that they give awards, saying that I was confused, and basically asking me not to write them again.
It is complicated my the fact that I "won" the actual NMSC scholarship. So, officially that means that I shouldn't get any college-sponsored NM award, but that denies me an extra $5,500. ***? I'd much rather have "lost" the competition.</p>
<p>haha oh man, W T F is censored. Thank god I didn't get the chance to corrupt anyone.</p>
<p>hey, i was national merit last year, but i didn't get a scholarship from pomona. i think they only end up giving out like 6 a year, and by the time i declared pomona as my first choice, they were already gone. yea, i know it's frustrating, but hopefully you can get enough regular fin aid to compensate.</p>
<p>Pomona does give NMSC scolarships at least to some of the people who make finalist and list pomona. In the letter telling me I got one, it said that there were only 8 (i think) in my class who got them. Not sure whether or not that is every finalist who listed pomona or if it is just some. -Rob</p>
<p>Hey Rob, are you class of 2010?</p>
<p>Are y'all sure it wasn't the college-independent National Merit Scholar award?</p>
<p>Nah. On the NMSC website, they only list sponsors/contributors, specifically, and Pomona was there.</p>