<p>I was notified of my semi finalist position today, and in the packet my counselor gave me it says that 8400 out of 16000 semi finalists are named finalists. However, I've read on CC that 15000 become Finalists? And becoming a Finalist does not guarantee any scholarship money, right? I think 15000 are named finalists, and then 8400 receive some sort of scholarship... Does NMSC just choose from the 15000 based on applications? Or is it something else?</p>
<p>I will coucn this with “I think”–The 8400 refers to those who receive official NMSC scholarships. The 15K number is those that are considered Finalists. The 8400 are pulled from the 15K pool. Many of the larger universtiy scholarships are not “official” NMSC scholarships. Alabama, and others award the scholarships to National Merit Finalists. I am sure others with more knowledge will chime in on this topic. Also see the thread on NM scholarships. UTD, UNT, etc all offer virtually full rides to NMF. Good luck</p>
<p>To become a Finalist make sure you jump through the rest of the hoops to do that–essay, etc.
Actual Merit scholarships are awarded by colleges (not all and widely varying amounts) and corporations. It helps if parents work for a corporation that awards merit scholarships. Or you apply to a college that gives merit awards. So it is possible to never actually be awarded a monetary scholarship for your achievement if neither of those scenarios apply to you. The 8400 are those that actually receive money.
Basically 15000 are qualified to receive money but only 8400 will.</p>
<p>And don’t forget that you have to send your SAT scores to the National Merit Corporation direct from the College Board (and yes, you have to pay to do this)</p>