How do they pick the National Merit Scholars from the finalists?

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>I was just wondering if anyone knew. The website was sort of vague.</p>

2

<p>There is a thread on this in this forum if you want to search for it. I haven’t looked at the thread in a while, but I think the results were that we couldn’t figure it out either, although I think there is a percentage from each state (but I could not verify that.) If you plan to go to a school that offers NMF money, it really doesn’t matter if you are a National Merit Finalist or a National Merit Scholar. However, being a Scholar does matter if you got to a school that doesn’t offer anything as the $2500 one time scholarship comes in handly.</p>

3

<p>It’s a mystery…lol</p>

<p>Go to this thread and read thru it…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1318232-2500-recipients-please-post-stats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1318232-2500-recipients-please-post-stats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>It actually can matter even if you get a big merit award. My daughter got a full ride from her school and she got to keep the NMS $2500 on top of that.</p>