Essay for National Merit

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

I recently found out that I am a NMSF (a very pleasant surprise indeed!). The application seems very straight-forward, but I have a few questions about the essay portion.

  1. When it says, “limit your response only to the space provided,” what is the approximate word or character count for that?
  2. What are they looking for here/what personal qualities should I try to highlight? The prompt is very open-ended, so I’m not really sure what direction to take. Could I potentially use my Common App essay (which describes an experience, but does not focus on it)?
  3. What role does the essay play in determining who ultimately receives the scholarship?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

2

Bump

3

According to PrepScholar it is approximately 500-600 words

4

I wouldn’t worry too much about the essay. DS19 was a National Merit Finalist last year and he just recycled one of his college app essays. No need to reinvent the wheel.

5

The space fits slightly more than 650 words. The easiest thing is to reuse a prompt that can be used for common app.

When you enter your essay, you will clearly see if it fits or not (anything in the red area won’t be on the application). You can also preview your application at any point to see how everything looks like.