How does National Merit Scholarship work?

Paying for College National Merit Aid
1

<p>I've always wondered this! I've heard of people being "semi-finalists" or "finalists" but nobody ever actually winning the award? What do you have to do to become, say, a semi-finalist? What do you have to do to win? What do you get if you win? Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>jhupost…The only way to qualify as a NMSF (semi-finalist) is to score above your individual state’s cutoff score on the PSAT in your junior year of high school. Here is a link to the list of cutoff scores from 2011. They don’t tend to vary much from year to year, so if you’re at least 4-5 points above last year’s cutoff you should be fine.</p>

<p>[National</a> Merit Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.collegeplanningsimplified.com/NationalMerit.html]National”>http://www.collegeplanningsimplified.com/NationalMerit.html)</p>

<p>In order to qualify as a NMF (finalist) you need to take the SAT and receive a score that “validates” your PSAT score. Historically, that score has usually been around 2000 (1960 this past year maybe?). You also must demonstrate continued strong academic performance (don’t allow your grades to slip substantially) and have no major disciplinary action against you at school. Usually about 16,000 students make NMSF status, and 15,000 of those make NMF. The most common reasons for not making finalist status is usually just because they don’t take the SAT or they fail to send their SAT scores to NMSC.</p>

<p>Your school will be officially notified in the fall of your senior year if you’ve made NMSF. Official notification of NMF status comes in mid February of your senior year. There are a LOT of excellent automatic and competitive scholarship opportunities for NMF’s that can make your college planning season a lot less stressful. There are several major universities (Alabama and Auburn) in particular which currently offer 4 year full ride scholarships automatically to NMF’s. Here’s a link to a listing of some of the current offers. Realize that with many states in a budget crisis, funding to universities may change and thus these offers are subject to change as well.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’d suggest reading through the threads in this forum. There’s a lot of good information on strategies for naming first choice schools, etc. Good Luck!!</p>

3

<p>A NMF can become a National Merit Scholar and get money 3 ways…</p>

<p>1) he can be one of the students chosen to receive the one time 2500 NMCorp scholarship (I think 2500 are chosen…a portion from each state…usually those with really high scores).</p>

<p>2) he can receive a corporate scholarship…usually given to the children of employees of a corporation that offers a NM scholarship.</p>

<p>3) he can go to a college that awards a NMF scholarship. If a student chooses to attend a school that gives every NMF student a NMF scholarship, then that NMF student can be assured of being named a NMScholar and be assured to receive NMF money.</p>

4

<p>So if we’re in a state with gobs of high scoring PSATers, it’s a good bet if one doesn’t score a 240 or very close on the PSAT, they won’t get the $2500? We’re in Ca. and my son’s score of 225 wasn’t that high compared to probably a lot of kids in Ca. He did apply for a 6K corporate scholarship through my dh’s company. Hopefully that will come through!</p>

5

<p>CA cut off is 219, so 225 is good. Is your son applying for this year or for next. If it is for this year, most notifications have been made for corporate scholarships and if you have not received one, you should call and check. If it is for next year, then you have time.</p>

<p>The $2500 is one time, so the 6 K is always better and corporate scholarships are usually easier to get as there may not be many applicants. Again, it varies from company to company.</p>

<p>About 1/6 of the NMSF’s get the $2500 scholarship, so it is competitive and higher PSAT does help but I would not rule out your child from being considered. But you should make sure you follow all the rules for the 6K scholarship as that will be best. You cannot get both.</p>

6

<p>mazewander,</p>

<p>I’m so glad you posted about this. So my son, currently a junior, should focus on getting the corporate scholarship. Of course, should my son become a finalist and then he gets accepted at, and decided to attend, a school that offers a full ride, I can assume the corporate scholarship doesn’t get applied. Can a corporate scholarship be used at any school? This was our assumption. So, if my son attends a non-NMS school, he can still count the corporate scholarship as an outside scholarship and apply that towards his COA.</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes as long as it an accredited school i.e. not a vocational school etc.,</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Depends. Scholade has a thread out there explaining how different schools treat corporate scholarships. You may want to read that thread as there is no one answer.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>There is not much you can do really other than continue to do things that you are normally expected to do e.g.

  1. Keep your GPA up and do well on SAT
  2. Keep your nose out of trouble and get good recommendations
  3. Write a good essay
  4. Follow any specific company directions (e.g. contact HR) and respond to any questions or requests for information.</p>

<p>The first three are what you are expected to do anyway.</p>

8

<p>DS is a Merit Finalist. Did they already notify the kids who made it to actual “Merit SCHOLAR”? </p>

<p>Do the notifications come by snail mail?</p>

9

<p>HowtheHeck…Any NMF who is awarded an “official” NMSC scholarship ($2500 one time, school sponsored, or corporate) is considered a National Merit Scholar. I believe it’s about 8,400 out of the 15,000 finalists receive the designation. If your S received any of these scholarships he is a Scholar, but I’m not sure if NMSC sends any other notification other than the “official” scholarship notification itself.</p>

10

<p>NMSC will try to spread the scholarships around. Usually if your son/daughter is qualified for a corporate scholarship, that is what normally they will get instead of the one time $2500 NMSC scholarship. Schools, in general, will treat the corporate scholarship as part of their scholarship package. For example, a couple years ago ASU’s NM scholarship was $23,000 per year for four years regardless whether you get a corporate scholarship or not. My son got a $2000 a year from the company that I work for and ASU just add $21,000 to make it $23,000. If he did not get the corporate scholarship, he will get the full $23,000 from ASU.</p>

11

<p>Of course, should my son become a finalist and then he gets accepted at, and decided to attend, a school that offers a full ride, I can assume the corporate scholarship doesn’t get applied.</p>

<p>A student can actually get both, but in an indirect way. He can take the corporate scholarship which will be the “official” NMF scholarship. And, if a school offers him a free ride, then usually only $1k of it is considered “official” so you decline that $1k and get to accept the rest of the big NMF scholarship.</p>

<p>My son has an annual $2500 corporate NMF scholarship and a nearly-full-ride NMF scholarship from his college.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Unfortunately there is no one answer to this question. It depends on the college i.e. varies from college to college. Each colleges treat receipt of NMSC’s own and corporate scholarships differently.</p>

<p>There is an excellent thread based on Schokoldae’s reserach that I would advise all those interested to read. It gives examples of how different colleges treat this subject and gives actual examples from various colleges.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1103731-how-choose-your-first-choice-college-national-merit-purposes.html?highlight=schokolade[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1103731-how-choose-your-first-choice-college-national-merit-purposes.html?highlight=schokolade&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Some allow you to add them on, some treat it is as either or etc. Rather than repeat his findings, I would suggest that reading the whole thread would be beneficial and will answer many questions that people have on the NMSC process and NM scholarships.</p>

13

<p>Do you need to be a US citizen to even be considered for finalist status or is being a US resident enough?</p>

14

<p>If you go to NMCorp website, there is a section about that.</p>

15

<p>I’m a Junior (graduating 2012), I received a 229 on my PSATs from NY. I got my commended letter and sent my two top schools and already took the SATs (2200 and retook it last week). I was told by some that I need to send an official score report with an equivalent score as a validation? Can someone who has done this just sort of lay out the process with an approximate timeline?
Step 1: Take PSAT and meet standard for commendation.
Step 2: Receive letter of commendation and notify the top two colleges.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: ???</p>

<p>I have an amazingly bad guidance department. Thanks in advance!</p>

16

<p>I will post some guidelines shortly</p>

17

<p>With your score, you will become a NMSF…then…</p>

<p>It’s pretty easy to become a finalist…15,000 out of 16,000 make finalist.</p>

<p>1) follow the directions on the semi-finalist packet that you’ll receive in September & meet deadlines (If you don’t receive the packet by mid Sept, ask your GC where it is.)</p>

<p>2) don’t be a discipline problem at school</p>

<p>3) have a good GPA and good grades (no D’s!!! one C might be ok for a semester grade)</p>

<p>4) write a respectful essay</p>

<p>5) Take the SAT between now and Dec and score a safe 2000+ (your SAT does NOT have to be equivalent to your PSAT…it just has to be above the minimum…which is why a 2000 is considered safe.)</p>

<p>6) Send SAT score to NM Corporation…code 0085</p>

<p>7) make sure the GC at school sends the info to NMCorp on time.</p>

<p>you’ll receive notification that you made finalist in Feb of senior year. If you don’t make it, you’ll be notified mid January by mail.</p>

18

<p>Last year (October of my sophomore year) I scored a 189 on my PSATs. I didn’t study at all, but this year I’ve been studying substantially. Do you think it’s possible to break my state’s cut-off score, which is a 216?</p>

19

<p>You MUST have your SAT scores officially sent to NMSC. I strongly urge you to call them at once, and write down everything they tell you.</p>

20

<p>Definitely! My D’s scores went up 25 points between 10th and 11th grade. Good luck!</p>