I’m a National Merit Semifinalist, hoping to become a Finalist.
UF says that to be eligible for the Florida Incentive Scholarship a student must have
(a) a National Merit® $2500 Scholarship,
(b) a Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship, or
© a College-sponsored Merit Scholarship,
What is a “corporate-sponsored” or “college-sponsored” Merit scholarship and how is it different from the standard $2500 NM award? Is there something extra I’d have to do to get one of these scholarships?
Corporate sponsored means you are the “dependent” of a person who works for a corporation that is a sponsor for National Merit. Read the National Merit info pdf and look up the corporation you think your parents might be employees of. Some corporations award all finalists and some only award a select number. The people at National Merit are very helpful and if your parents aren’t sure (some companies actually own other companies and you would still qualify!), you or they can call National Merit and they will tell you if your parent’s employer is one of the sponsors and what their specific policy is. Be careful: some corporations want you to fill out their own registration by a certain date as is the case for Lockheed Martin and a few others. National Merit can tell you all of this. The corporate scholarships can be a one time award or a recurring award per year. Either way, it doesn’t matter to the state of Florida; as long as you are a named scholar of one of the three types, you can get the FIS.
The one time $2500 National Merit scholars are usually reserved for very high stats kids ( SAT’s 2300+) and those students would NOT have any corporate sponsorship and usually do not name a first choice school. You cannot be awarded all three (corporate, College sponsored and $2500 National Merit). You cannot do anything extra to ensure the one time $2500.00 award. They are usually only awarded to high stats kids with no other award. You don’t even know if you are a recipient until late in May or June because by then all the college sponsored and corporate sponsored have already been announced. You can take the $2500.00 award to any school but it is a one time award.
Naming UF as your first choice school (and of course getting into UF) will be your best shot for a “college sponsored award” because now UF is back as a college sponsor and will award all named finalists (except for corporate or one time $2500 recipients since they are already named) provided you move on in the competition and you name UF as your first choice school. You do not have to name them a first choice school right away but I strongly suggest you do if you are certain that is where you want to attend. I believe you have until May1st to name them but by then you will probably have decided where you want to go anyhow. For the college sponsored award, by naming UF as your first choice school,and gaining admission to UF, you put yourself in the running for the college sponsored National merit scholarship.
Word of advice: don’t get any C’s and make certain your high school guidance department knows what to do on their end for the National Merit process. Make sure you complete all required application materials in time and make certain your parents answer the email from National Merit and give their permission. Write a clear and concise essay and make certain the teacher /counselor recommendation is done AND submitted on time. You can actually log into your NM account to see if your parents have completed their part and to check on your school’s part as well.
You can look on College Confidential under “Financial Aid and Scholarships” and then “National Merit” and I’m sure you will see lots of helpful information. My daughter is at UF with the FIS as a corporate scholar but her two friends are under the UF college sponsored scholarship, so I know how it is handled there. Good luck!! PM or ask here with with any questions you might have.
@saismom Thank you so much for the thorough response! It was very helpful! Unfortunately it doesn’t look like I’ll be eligible for a corporate-sponsored award because my father is self-employed and my mother doesn’t work.
I am hoping to be accepted to UF and do intend to name UF as my first choice school. It seems that will be my only option for the FIS, considering I don’t have a ridiculously good SAT score or a shot at a corporate scholarship. So, fingers crossed!
Thanks again!
Happy to help! Please do keep an eye on your school to make certain they do their part. Also in the past, a score of at least 1960 or so in one sitting) on the old SAT was a “confirming score” for part of the “semi-finalist moving on to finalist” qualification. As long as you do your paperwork, get at least that confirming SAT score and keep your nose clean ( no chance the guidance department at your school could say you had disciplinary issues)- you should move on to finalist. Having one “C” could make it dicey, though. Best of luck!!