<p>Do you inform the schools you have applied that you are national merit finalist (once you know) ?
If yes ,how does one inform? You call over phone or send an email or any other options?</p>
<p>Others with experience will reply, but in short, all of the directions will be available with the notification. Typically you have until about the end of April to make a final decision. Some schools though require an earlier “first choice” date in order to receive their scholarship. You should already know that information, so that you know what your own deadlines are.</p>
<p>Paperwork will be sent by National Merit for you to file. I don’t believe you need to contact the schools directly.</p>
<p>Northeastern says to fax or email with finalist notification. The method may depend on the school.</p>
<p>As d was auditioning for programs, she had a two-fold admissions process (academic and artistic). She had the majority of her academic admits in hand by the time she received her “yay – you’re a finalist” letter, but was still waiting on the artistic decisions. She chose to send by mail a copy of the letter to each school she was considering (whether the school participated providing awards to NM or not) to help remind them of who she was. In a couple of cases, she received additional/increased scholarship offers from schools that do not traditionally provide a NM scholarship. Some schools didn’t respond…figure it got put in her file, and ended there.</p>
<p>When she made her final decision, she did the “official” notification with NMS, and made sure she wrote “thanks but no thanks” letters to each of the other schools, hopeful that those scholarship offers could find another home.</p>