<p>Got the one time $2500 NM award in mail today ("National" one, not corporate).
Can this be used ONLY at the list of colleges on the NM's literature? ie can it be used at Ivies or any non-listed school? This is so confusing- I don't understand why this was not a school sponsored award? The school listed as "first choice" did not give $1000/year as they stated they would. Anyone else have this happen?</p>
<p>Your NM Award can be used anywhere. It is considered to be like an outside scholarship.</p>
<p>I got mine today too 
And yes, I think you can use it anywhere</p>
<p>Yes, this can be used at any school, including ivies!! Sometimes schools that offer their own scholarship will still give you their won school-sponsored NM even if you get this, but sometimes they don’t. And then some let this replace their scholarship for freshman year, but then still give you their scholarship (i.e. the $1000/year from your first named school based on the original post) for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years.</p>
<p>It is confusing and you need to check with the scholarship dep’t of your named school. If the school will cancel their scholarship if you take this and they give more, then it might be better to decline this and take theirs IF THEY GIVE YOU THAT OPTION.</p>
<p>oh (sigh) thank you all- I feel better now!</p>
<p>I know that you can use the $2500 scholarship at any college, but but the form i must sign to receive the scholarship still lists the college that I listed as my first choice. the letter says you can change the college “as soon as your college plans are firm”, but the form has a reply deadline of april 8. </p>
<p>does anyone know if the april 8 deadline is for the scholarship only, or also for the college change?</p>
<p>IDK about the April 8 date? The changing schools date is later in April -maybe April 29?</p>
<p>Do you guys think a 214 psat and a 2100 sat in fl will be enough to get the $2500 award? All my friends got it today, but sometimes with other things I get my mail 1 or 2 days later, but also sometimes on the same day.</p>
<p>I’m FL too</p>
<p>215
2310</p>
<p>i haven’t gotten anything yet, i did put a college as my 1 choice also…</p>
<p>do all NM finalists get some money?</p>
<p>I got my letter yesterday!</p>
<p>I have the same question as mc1600, though… I want to change my school, but I don’t know what to yet… should I send in the scholarship agreement form (which has the wrong school name on it) or wait until I find out where I’m going and then send in the change school request form and the agreement form later, cutting it close to the deadline? Hm…</p>
<p>it says on the for that says “Re: Your National Merit $2500 Scholarship offer” that you should return your reply form even if you no longer plan to attend the college named in your offer." So go ahead and reply. It says you can return the college change form later.</p>
<p>congrats everyone! we’re all special :)</p>
<p>Only about 2500 of the 15K NMFs get a corporate or national level scholarship. The remainder rely on schools to get an award. If the school offers a NMF scholarship you should get one through them. The national level awards are very competitive (the org tends to take the higher score/grade combinations).</p>
<p>So… With this $2500 from NM, we can still get money from a college, right?</p>
<p>2500 get the national one-time award of $2500 that can be used at any college (even those that do not participate in the program). If you do not get this award you may get the college-sponsored award or a corporate-sponsored award. For college-sponsored you must list as your first choice a college that participates in the program (those listed in the NM pamphlet) and actually attend that college, for the corporate-sponsored award you must have some affiliation with one of the participating corporations (those listed in the pamphlet).
It is my understanding that you may NOT receive more than one of the three types of awards. So if you have received the national $2500 award and plan on attending a participating college or would qualify for a corporate sponsored award, you should check on the amounts and find out how to choose the larger award.</p>
<p>=( So do they send out the $2500 award to kids who don’t qualify for the corporate or college sponsored one?</p>
<p>It is my understanding that they send out the offer of the $2500 award to the 2500 students that they select regardless of whether they qualify for the other awards. This is becasue the selection is done before some students have been accepted and or decided on a college. But the student may decline the $2500 if they are offered another award for more money.<br>
If you are in that situation (received $2500 award offer and may be qualified for corporate or college award), call NM to have these issues cleared up.</p>
<p>the $2500 award is given to top 2500 students based on a selection review of everything submitted - essays, school record, service, leadership etc. there are no strings and it cane go with you wherever you want to attend college.
corporate sponsored are next and college sponsored later. not all finalists get $ depending on where one goes to college.</p>
<p>good thing about the $2500 award is that it is good for colleges that do not sponsor national merit, like the ivies. so if you want to attend ivy and don’t get a $2500 award or a company sponsored award, you are out of luck even though you are a national merit finalist.</p>
<p>But if the college you’re going to also has a greater monetary award ($2000/yr), will they accept both the $2500 and college award? Or is that up the college itself?</p>
<p>NM Scholarship Corporation tries to make the best use of the 3 separate categories of funds. They now awards monies in a way that will reach the maximum number of Finalists, to direct the maximum possible scholarship to each. Since relatively few Finalists are eligible for corporate awards, these are given out first to those who have Scholar-level credentials and are also eligible for one of these. However, not all Finalists who are eligible receive corporate scholarships, because corporations can limit the number of awards they sponsor, so these can also become very competitive for a given corporate award when numerous Finalist qualify. Winners are decided by the NM Corporation. They are usually notified in early March. If students haven’t indicated a sponsoring college as their first choice to NM, then they become part of the pool considered for the one-time $2500 award, and they hear towards the end of March. Because NM’s own funds are limited, not all Finalists in this pool receive awards, so this is also competitive. Students who selected a sponsoring college as their first choice are notified later, to allow for acceptances and final college choices, and thus maximum use of those sponsor’s funds. Again, some colleges limit the number of awards, so this can become competitive too, depending on how many Finalists selected a given sponsoring college as their first choice. NM decides who gets what award–not the corporations or the colleges. PSAT scores do count in their decision process. Thus no one category (Corporate vs NM $2500 vs college sponsored) is more prestigious or competitive than another. No student can receive a NM Scholarship from more than one source.</p>
<p>You might want to read through the info you can find on The National Merit website (e.g. <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a>). Page 3 of this PDF file/leaflet states that a student may receive only ONE National Merit scholarship (corporate, national merit scholarship, or college-sponsored).</p>
<p>I do not believe that it means other college scholarships. But, let’s say that you receive the letter for the $2500 National Merit Scholarship AND you attend a school that will give you any amount of scholarship for being a National Merit Finalist. I believe it means that you cannot receive both of THESE. I would think you could, however, take either of these National Merit scholarships (through Nat’l Merit or through the school) AS WELL AS whatever other merit scholarship the school offers you.</p>
<p>This link to the PDF leaflet also gives the information about the due date for your final college choice! If you reported a college choice but are now undecided or have changed your mind, send in the form and write “undecided.” I THINK it has to be received by April 29th. Then, you can send in your actual top choice to them by May 31st, once you’ve made your honest choice!!</p>