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<p>Technically this is not true. I think there are three ways NMF’s can get scholarships that are officially part of the NMSC (National Merit Scholarship Corporation) awards:</p>
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<li> Many students are offered a one time $2,500 scholarship (not sure of the number, I seem to remember hearing 8,000, but could be wrong)</li>
<li> Some students end up with corporate-sponsored scholarships. Often those are students whose parents work for those corporate sponsors.</li>
<li> Colleges offer some official scholarships. Some larger ones as discussed above and in the scholarship forum, some smaller ($1,000/year is a common amount to end up with after stacking of various types of aid). At some schools those scholarships are guaranteed for all NMFs that designate the school as their first choice by May 1 of senior year. I think some schools have a limited number of the scholarships, so the timing of when you have to designate them as first choice may be earlier – this is always super confusing, and people often end up phoning the NMSC to discuss this and understand their options.</li>
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<p>But some students who end the very top schools end up with no scholarship money. I don’t think any of the Ivies offer any, and I know Swarthmore doesn’t – my D was accepted there, and if she had attended she would have had no NMF scholarship money because she did not get one of the $2,500 scholarships and we don’t work for a corporate sponsor.</p>
<p>Certainly NMF students are often awarded other merit scholarship money just on the basis of their strong academic skills. But as far as official NMF scholarships, those are the types you can get.</p>
<p>Confuserer, I missed that you are just entering your junior year. You do need to take the PSAT again this fall to be considered for NMF. Sophomore scores are not considered, and you can’t just carry that sophomore score forward or anything like that. You must take the PSAT again this fall to be considered for any of these scholarships. It is well worth doing, a nice thing to have on your application even if you don’t end up with much money from it in the end.</p>