<p>so does any one else know how admissions officers look at awards like national achievement or national merit scholarship in admissions? is anyone else here national merit scholarship commended?</p>
<p>I’m NASF and NMSF. They’re a plus at most schools, usually a big plus at state schools and less so as you go up in school rankings. At tippy top schools, as in HYPSM awards like NM and NA don’t really matter, since so many applicants have them.
Some highly ranked schools put more weight on NM/NA than others. Try to find out which top schools do things like waiving fees or offering scholarships. Some schools also do more for National Achievement Semifinalists than National Merit because 1) fewer people have NA and 2) they want to attract more AA students. I know, for example, that Northwestern, which is ranked about 12 usually I think, so top school, waives the application fee for NASF but not for NMSF (my sister’s friends there are all really jealous that my fee would b waived if I applied).</p>
<p>So, if you’re mainly applying to state schools and schools that send you a ton of “We love NA/NM!” mail, don’t worry. If you’re looking into top schools, you might want to do a bit of research into who likes us NA and NM people more.</p>
<p>a bit too late to change where i’m applying now, but thanks for the insight. at the top level almost nothing distinguishes some candidates from one another and the decision between comparable students can be arbitrary. btw, northwestern should waive the app. fee because their fin. aid is terrible and it’s such an expensive school.</p>